Tagged Products - blue+waterproof

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Olympus Stylus 1050 SW 10-Megapixel Digital Camera - Blue

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I adjusted light levels on the camera, I tried different modes, different qualities of picture, anti-shaking mode, a fixed camera position, and of course I tried the AUTO mode. God help me, at one point I am pretty sure that I sacrificed a live chicken. All the while, I had my older Olympus taking shots in the sames settings on AUTO. The older camera took great shots. I must stress, I took well over 200 test shots with each camera. The 1050SW was returned for a new camera from a different brand...which is taking great photos out of the box with no time spent on the manual yet.

Maybe it's me. I hope it's just me. Bottom line: if you're like me and want a "point and shoot", this may not be the camera for you. An advanced user might have a better go of it...but 10.1MP and a sexy design won't be of much help if you can't easily take a photo.

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Oregon Scientific ATC 5K Waterproof Action Cam Flash Memory Video Recorder with 1.5-Inch Color LCD Screen, Still Image and Web Cam Capabilities (Blue)

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difficult to depress (need to use a tool or probe)
DISPLAY: poor out in daylight, typical of small LCDs, OK for aiming though
BATTERY AND CHIP CHANGING: annoyingingly difficult.

If I hadn't already thrown away the packaging, I would return it. Will sell for half price.

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Olympus Stylus 1050 SW 10-Megapixel Digital Camera - Blue

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difficult to depress (need to use a tool or probe)

DISPLAY: poor out in daylight, typical of small LCDs, OK for aiming though

BATTERY AND CHIP CHANGING: annoyingingly difficult.



If I hadn't already thrown away the packaging, I would return it. Will sell for half price.

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Sanyo Xacti VPC-E2 Standard Definition Waterproof Digital CameraCorder - Blue

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in a crowded location and have my camera make lots of noise.
-I use Windows Movie Maker (Vista) for editing. I could drag a movie file copied from the Sanyo into Movie maker, but the file would apear in the Audio section only. I couldn't get the video to load or else I would have uploaded a comparison of my Digital Tape Sony camera versus this one. I also couldn't get a video to upload here to show the quality. The video is recorded in mpg4 format which on my computer is playable by iTunes.

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Sanyo Xacti VPC-E2 Standard Definition Waterproof Digital CameraCorder - Blue

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accurate over its entire range. Focus is good and quick. Movies are good at fairly low light levels, and stills can use the built-in flash where needed. As with most cameras, brighter lighting produces better pictures. The ISO values increase to compensate for dim light, but the noise level becomes noticeable at ISO levels above 400.

The camera has a very good macro capability that permits good focus down to about 0.5 inches. This feature can be a lot of fun or can be simply useful for recording extreme detail.

The fact that the camera is waterproof to a rated 5 feet means that you can safely use this at the beach or poolside where there is a lot of splashing. Underwater photography seems to be an interesting application, but I have not tried that (it's winter now).

Picture and movie playback are easy using either the included USB cable (non-standard) or by moving the SD card directly to your PC using a card reader (my preferred method). The quality is surprisingly good from such a small camera. Zoomed images were sharply focused. There is some small delay in focusing when tracking objects, but this is not a problem in most situations. The large rotating view screen is a pleasure to use for taking pictures and for playing them back. When taking movies, the sound quality during playback is quite good.

The included case is almost useless. Throw it away and get another small carry case (less than $10).

Overall, I think the user will be pleased with the camera in a wide variety of situations.

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Sanyo Xacti VPC-E2 Standard Definition Waterproof Digital CameraCorder - Blue

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do not bother this gadget. Also, it shoots movies in H.264 which means your IPhone plays them and you can post them up on YouTube faster than I can explain what H.264 stands for. It can shoot movies at 640x480 with 60 frames per second - definitely not HD, but much better than your average compact camera in movie mode. Oh, and when somebody asks you how many of those ergh... megapixels this camera has, you can shock him or her with a lazy reply, "Ah, eight...". Yeah, right! We will talk about this a little bit later. It also features 5x optical zoom with fair wide-end (38-190 in 35mm equivalent), electronic image stabilization, EV shift, macro mode, and even manual focus and face-recognition that works when lightning is good. The LCD screen is large and bright, and can swivel in two dimensions. It supports SDHC cards and the 8 GB card can hold up to five hours of video.
Controls are minimal, but well designed. There are only ten buttons to choose from: four arrows with a central "set" button, a menu button, two dedicated triggers - one for video and other for pictures, as well as an on/off button and a play/record button behind the screen. A well organized menu almost compensates for the lack of dedicated buttons. Left and right buttons can be assigned shortcuts for recording mode (up and down is always assigned to the zoom function) and many functions are easy to select. The menu can be switched to "easy" mode, which limits choices only to necessary basics.
So why I would give it only four stars? First, there is no viewfinder. Second, the flash is extremely underpowered (guide number 3); it is only good at very close ranges. Third, the battery capacity is insufficient; it allows you only about 200 shots or 75 minutes of video (twice as less in real life). Fourth, there is no lens cover, so usage of the included soft case is a good idea. Fifth, this soft case does not have either a handle or a clip, so every time the camcorder is removed, there is a problem - where to put the case?
What else? Proprietary USB cable, no AC power in the box (sold separately). I also have problems accessing up/zoom-in button: it is too small.
Now we get to "out of the niche" one star rating. Yes, one star and I insist on it.
This gadget has a tiny sensor and it is crippled with severe noise. Video is OK, though I can see a lot of noise there as well. However, still image noise is on the brink of disaster. I do not know how many real megapixels this unit has because object contours simply disappear in the ocean of color dots as I try to zoom into the picture. A black line on a white background looks OK, but my attempt to take a picture of Lillet Blank's red-on-yellow label produced huge amount of red specks far away from the edge of red letters. I suspect some sort of processing error here. In terms of resolution it is safe to assume this unit has somewhat around 3 honest megapixels (and your typical cell phone probably has just one half of megapixel being rated on the same scale). Oh, and do not even think of using ISO above 400, unless you want to produce a parody on Claude Monet paintings. Unfortunately in automatic mode unit happily sets ISO above 800 in low light conditions, so I assigned one of the shortcuts to change ISO manually to fight this problem.
What it all means? It means this gadget better not be used for any prints bigger than 4x6. Its video played on HDTV does not look too crisp either.
Despite of all these drawbacks, I like this little gadget. I will never use it to capture beautiful landscape or even a portrait. This thing is for ski slopes, water motorcycles, snowmobiles, mountain bikes, hikes, pools, beaches, outdoor parties - for all those places where action means more than perfect image quality. Finally, it is interesting to notice I made more movies last week using Xacti than I made with my "big" DV camcorder in the last season.

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Sanyo Xacti VPC-E2 Standard Definition Waterproof Digital CameraCorder - Blue

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even how to put the battery in the charger but it doesn't tell you how to get the battery in and out. It does tell you that it takes 90 minutes to charge the battery so at least you know when you can play with your new toy. The QG also doesn't mention needing an SD memory card or how to get it in and out. The QG has 50% of the information you would want to carry with you, so it's kind of useless.

Second disappointment was that no SD memory card is included in the box so you have to run down and buy a card before getting started if you got this as a gift. It does have 44MB of built-in memory, but that isn't going to last I have lots of SD memory cards so that isn't a problem.

The "Instruction Manual" is totally in English. The "Instruction Manual" is an improvement in that the inside of the cover has a foldout that shows you where and how to install the battery and the SD card, then how to take your first video clip and first still pictures, and finally how to play them back. The real manual is 197 pages and is really easy to use and shows lots of thought. Wish they had spent just a little time on a real quick start guide you could carry with you. When you flip the manual over, you find the Xacti Software DVD Instruction Manual which is 21 pages long. However, only the last 7 pages are about the software. It starts by telling you how to "mount" the camera on your computer, how to use it as a card reader and a PC camera (nice feature). Again, the arrangement is a little strange as there is information in this sub-manual that should have been in the main manual.

The camera:
Definitely not a shirt pocket camera. Although small, at 1.6" it is too thick and at 7 oz. too heavy to go in a shirt pocket. The protective case doesn't have belt loops or any way to clip it to the camera and only wraps around the camera so it's only function is dirt/scratch protection when you throw the camera in a purse or jacket pocket.

I'm left-handed, so I always look for ease of use for either hand. Neither hand works well with this camera, but holding it in the left hand at least gives a little leverage. The placement of the video and photo buttons causes the camera to rock whenever you push on one unless you are holding on with both hands. You just can't keep the camera stable when you are pressing the zoom, the video, or the picture buttons.

I worked my way through the manual and tested each of the features. There are two different setups for the camera to select from as far as operation: SIMPLE and NORMAL. SIMPLE is supposed to be only the minimum functions necessary to operate the camera and it puts 3 menu selections down the edge of the screen: TV which allows you to select 2 different movie and photo sizes; Select Focus Mode that lets you switch between Automatic and Macro; and finally Flash which lets you pick from auto or on or off. That's it. There are several other options that should be on the Simple menu scheme starting with access to the 9 Scene Select modes (Auto, Sports, Portrait . . . Under Water, etc.) If you switch into Normal mode, all of the camera features are available by pushing the "menu" button, but it is small and hard to hit. The menu replaces the picture on the screen, so you have to make your selection and then hit menu to get back out and see what it does. Some features that you would want to be able to access immediately are two levels down in the menus. I am not impressed with the menu system, especially when I compare it to the Canon system on their low end pocket cameras.

Videos and Pictures:

Here's where I really began to lower my opinion of the camera. It's slow to start up, slow to focus, slow to take pictures, slow to start video recording, and the zoom has one speed which is either too fast or too slow. It's 5x zoom lens going from 38mm to 190mm (35mm equivalent). It would have been more useful with a wide angle starting point, especially for underwater photos and videos.

The camera allows you to take 8 megapixel still pictures. The quality of still pictures is good and the ability to rotate the screen allows you to shoot from interesting angles. Unfortunately, it is hard to frame the pictures because what you see on the screen is not exactly what you get. The ISO goes from 50 to 1600, but above 400 the quality really falls off just as it does in most other cameras with this size sensor. The problem is getting action pictures which is why we buy a camera like this. I tried the sequential mode -- after I found it buried in the resolution selection menu. You point the camera at the action and press the button . . . then the screen goes dark until you let up or you fill the camera internal memory. A little hard to tell if you are following the action. It is a little too slow to start up and take the first picture to use for quick candid shots. When I blow the pictures up, there is a lot more noise and color shift than I see with my Canon 6 megapixal camera taking the same shot in the same light.

Video is OK , but other waterproof cameras such as the Pentax W60 offer better quality (740p) and have a more useful lens range. To give you a range, the video is not even close to my canon S3IS, but that's a whole different class of lens. However, it it fine for UTube or home videos. You can take 640x480 video at 60fps or 30fps and 320x240 at 30fps or 15fps. The 320x240 is intended for videos for the web. You can take still pictures while you are taking a video, but the resolution is not 8megapixel and is related to the video frame per second level you select. At 640x480 60fps HQ the stills are .3megapixels, at 30fps 2megapixels. Makes me think that the quality is being comprised when you shoot at 60fps and after looking at some video shot at 60 and some at 30 I determined that quality is really affected by picking 60 fps. I shot a bunch of video of our Thanksgiving dinner in normal room lighting. The camera would make adjustments slowly to the light, but when it finally got it the videos were good . . . lots of noise and artifacts, but good enough for family memory videos. I also took the camera out to our Koi pond and started it shooting above the water and then slowly moved it underwater to get pictures of our big Koi. The videos were very clear and it adjusted readily to the change to underwater light. I also tried some underwater still pictures, but those were not very satisfactory as flash washed out the pictures. When I turned the flash off I got some acceptable underwater pics.

Waterproof? The camera functioned properly underwater and didn't have a problem. After I washed it off and dried it, I open the door over the SD card/battery and found that the hinges retain water. A little blast of air cleared them, but this is a possible problem if you need to change batteries after having it in the wet. You will be changing the battery a lot, as the battery life is fairly short.

Since I am a tennis pro, I decided to test the camera in my classes. Here is where I found a great application for the camera! Took good action pics, the 5x zoom is all you need on the court, and the LCD was very clear in the sunlight. I was able to take a series of each student and then discuss it with them with no problem. I could slip the camera in my pants pocket when I wasn't using it and bring it out when needed. Much easier to use for this purpose than our Sony Handycam. Coaches could really make use of this camera as you wouldn't worry about sweat or rain or dirt. Battery life wouldn't be a problem as you typically take a short clip and then show it to the player(s) and discuss. It would be great for water polo or swimming coaches.

Bottom line on the camera: not equal to it's competitors for most uses and overly expensive. However, in certain situations like sports coaching it really is one of a kind and has great utility. I will be using this camera a lot for that purpose.

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Sanyo Xacti 8MP Digital Camcorder with 2.5" LCD Monitor - Blue

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shots, too? Pretty good ones, at that. This is the camcorder/camera that I have dreamed about.

I found this device incredibly easy to use, but it will take me a while to become accustomed to all of the features. My teenagers are dying to use it in the pool next summer. I will update this review as I use the camcorder more. I plan on purchasing some accessories (extra battery, new camcorder case) for it and I'll update with what I got and how it worked out.

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Sanyo Xacti 8MP Digital Camcorder with 2.5" LCD Monitor - Blue

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and 1600 came out. They were perfectly usable despite the noise level. While it's not ideal shooting at those levels, the results were better than expected. The results under normal lighting conditions were good too, for a hybrid camera. While the results weren't quite up to what a top stand alone digital point and shoot might take, the pictures were perfectly fine for viewing on a screen or printing at 4x6 or 8x10. I shot the test videos at 640x480, 30fps, high bit rate, using all "Auto" settings. Again the results were very good. The videos were clear. The sound was good. The camera focused well under all conditions. All in all, Sanyo has a winner here. You could call the VPC-E2 a "jack of all trades, master of none", but that would be a little harsh. What it does, it does well. It's not really great at anything, but it's very good at most. I look forward to my next vacation when I test it underwater on a snorkling trip. First thing I will do is order an extra battery, and buy a real case for it. The included wrap around velcro case is a joke. Here is a brief list of the pro's and con's.


Pro's:
Well designed, versatile, and easy to use.
Waterproof.
Good pictures and video for a hybrid.
Usable pictures at high ISO.

Con's:
Battery life is disappointing.
No 16:9 video options.
Price isn't cheap.
Cheesy velcro "case" that is included is terrible.
Non-standard USB cable.

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Sanyo Xacti 8MP Digital Camcorder with 2.5" LCD Monitor - Blue

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The controls, located on the top rear of the camera, are designed to be thumb operated.

The two buttons at the very top take still photos and movies, respectively. They are easy to operate, and the still photo button does the usual "press halfway to lock everything in" function. Below these is the usual four way rocker with the button in the middle. When you are making pictures, this area is used mainly to zoom.

There is also a menu button on the back, and many functions, like turning the flash on and off, can only be accessed through the menus. If you have used digital camera menus before, these will be easy to follow.

So, how well does it work? Pretty well, actually. The macro ability of the lens is outstanding in a camera of this type. It focuses at 1 cm. That's less than a half inch, if you are metric challenged. In addition, it has a full range focus mode that will go from 1 cm to infinity without putting it into a special macro mode. I like to get in close, so that's important to me.

The camera has all the usual settings for ISO, light balance, etc., and will go as high as 3200 ISO. If you get higher than 400, buy a good noise filter plug-in for Photoshop. Once I apply that, even photos shot at 1600 look pretty good. The 8 megapixel stills are 3264 by 2448, and print nice 8x10s. You can grab stills while shooting a movie. If you do that, the stills will be 1600x1200. With 2 megapixels, you could still print an 8x10, but a 5x7 will be better. The 5X zoom works fine. There is also a 12 megapixel setting, but the sensor is 8 MP, so I assume it is simulated. I didn't use it.

Videos are either 640x480, which is plenty for display on a TV, or 320x240, which is perfect for UTube or similar services. You can record at either 30 or 60 frames a second, and I didn't see much difference. At the lower resolution, you can also record at 15 FPS, which makes a small file that's easy to email or upload.

The waterproof feature is interesting. It is supposed to be safe to 5 feet, and it seems to be. I tried it by holding it under water in my backyard pond and bothering my goldfish. Water's a little chilly this time of year!!! Anyway, it worked fine. For many people, the main advantage of this would be that you don't have to worry if you are getting rained on, and you can use it by the pool with no issues.
This camera won't replace your DSLR, but it might replace both your point and shoot still camera and your camcorder.

Pros: Size, easy to use, great macro ability, and very acceptable photo and video quality, with the waterproof feature a plus.

Cons: Not many - Uses a non standard USB cable (included) and battery life is around 100 or so stills if you are using the flash - more if the flash is off. Figure an hour of video.

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Sanyo VPC-E1W - Xacti E1 6.0 Megapixel Waterproof Digital Camcorder - White

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control how everything turns out. A lot of people complained about the slow focusing. Here's how you fix the problem. You simply switch 9 point autofocus to spot focus . 9 point is letting the computer pick its own focus in 9 areas on the screen. if you set to spot. whatever you have in the center will be focus and nothing else. Easy as done.

Underwater mode on the E2 is nothing more than using the Eye dropper tool in the E1. With the eye dropper tool. you simply let the camera take a sample of your environment and lighting condition and it'll adjust to a perfect fit. I AM VERY SURPRISE THAT THERE IS SUCH A TOOL! I'LL NEVER HAVE PROBLEM WITH THE LIGHTING CONDITION.

the face detection technology embedded in E2 is good, but it's not necessary because you there is another kind of focusing adjustment feature in E1 where you get to manually select how far is your object, landscape +portrait (the computer wont try to focus anything too upclose), macro (very close up) and total range (the computer here decides).

People complain it doesnt focus fast enough is probably because Total range is selected and they were try to shoot a dog running around, a building, or just landscape. The computer is confused! So just use the Landscape +portrait and your problem is solved. if you are filming your kid's play, concert and your position is fixed. Simply simply select manual focus and pick the correct distance. The computer will not run off focusing anything else.

8megapixel vs 6megapixel. 60frames per sec vs 30 frames per sec. 5 frames per sec photo mode for action shot. How is this better you ask? not really better. The trick here is CCD VS CMOS. The new E2 has replaced CCD to a CMOS. CMOS is lower in production cost, the technology allows it shoots much faster ..this is why you can acheive 60frames per sec. BUT the quality of the photo and recording is simply not better than a CCD. CCD is much accurate. CCD eats more battery power though. CMOS consume less energy so that is good because you'll have longer battery life. FYI CMOS technology is also in all cell phone cameras. It allow faster viewing and doesnt eat up all your phone's battery. CCD is better. It picks up and adjust lighting condition more accurately. Go to youtube and type in CCD VS CMOS and you'll understand. I am happy to keep my E1 and save $100 toward memory card , Case and enough for gas.

The grip, most people complaint isn't so great. It feels like you might slip the camera. That is true, but once you wrap the wrist lace over your hand, you'll feel much protected from accidental drop.

What I also like about Sanyo Xacti E1 is that it's a solid built! it doesnt feel cheap like a toy. That's because it's designed to be waterproof and they have to use the better material.

The other non-waterproof sanyo hand-held camera feel plastics and has a cheaper frame! I went to walmart and compared and the plastic on those are flimsy..really flimsy.

What's also great about the waterproof case is that if you dont really plan on using it much underwater, you can just clean it off with water if it gets dirty. Someone gave a good point that if you were to film in a dusty place or gone on a vacation for a week. There will be dust all over. just drop this in a bucket of clean water and you're good to go!.


Sound quality =one word "AWESOME" Very crisp , clean, clear! High digital quality! better than mp3 quality as they stated. Yes that's correct. Better than a Flip ultra (previously own) .

for $250 right now. it is so cheap! Think of this;

battery by itself is $50
Charger " $50
USB cable $20
TV cable $20
-------------------------
$140

Sanyo Xacti E1 by itself $110!!!!!!

it records high quality video better than FLip ultra. It has better sound! it is waterproof!!! waterproof case cost over $100!!!!! You have much in control of the features.


What made me really decide to just keep E1 is has a CCD sensor to capture images which results in better quality.


Bottom line is it's not going to capture DVD super quality, but way better than YOUTUBE VIDEO AND FLIP ULTRA OF COURSE.

The only things I wish it had is:

lens cap

Better soft case

but these are not so important.

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Sanyo Xacti 8MP Digital Camcorder with 2.5" LCD Monitor - Blue

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control how everything turns out. A lot of people complained about the slow focusing. Here's how you fix the problem. You simply switch 9 point autofocus to spot focus . 9 point is letting the computer pick its own focus in 9 areas on the screen. if you set to spot. whatever you have in the center will be focus and nothing else. Easy as done.



Underwater mode on the E2 is nothing more than using the Eye dropper tool in the E1. With the eye dropper tool. you simply let the camera take a sample of your environment and lighting condition and it'll adjust to a perfect fit. I AM VERY SURPRISE THAT THERE IS SUCH A TOOL! I'LL NEVER HAVE PROBLEM WITH THE LIGHTING CONDITION.



the face detection technology embedded in E2 is good, but it's not necessary because you there is another kind of focusing adjustment feature in E1 where you get to manually select how far is your object, landscape +portrait (the computer wont try to focus anything too upclose), macro (very close up) and total range (the computer here decides).



People complain it doesnt focus fast enough is probably because Total range is selected and they were try to shoot a dog running around, a building, or just landscape. The computer is confused! So just use the Landscape +portrait and your problem is solved. if you are filming your kid's play, concert and your position is fixed. Simply simply select manual focus and pick the correct distance. The computer will not run off focusing anything else.



8megapixel vs 6megapixel. 60frames per sec vs 30 frames per sec. 5 frames per sec photo mode for action shot. How is this better you ask? not really better. The trick here is CCD VS CMOS. The new E2 has replaced CCD to a CMOS. CMOS is lower in production cost, the technology allows it shoots much faster ..this is why you can acheive 60frames per sec. BUT the quality of the photo and recording is simply not better than a CCD. CCD is much accurate. CCD eats more battery power though. CMOS consume less energy so that is good because you'll have longer battery life. FYI CMOS technology is also in all cell phone cameras. It allow faster viewing and doesnt eat up all your phone's battery. CCD is better. It picks up and adjust lighting condition more accurately. Go to youtube and type in CCD VS CMOS and you'll understand. I am happy to keep my E1 and save $100 toward memory card , Case and enough for gas.



The grip, most people complaint isn't so great. It feels like you might slip the camera. That is true, but once you wrap the wrist lace over your hand, you'll feel much protected from accidental drop.



What I also like about Sanyo Xacti E1 is that it's a solid built! it doesnt feel cheap like a toy. That's because it's designed to be waterproof and they have to use the better material.



The other non-waterproof sanyo hand-held camera feel plastics and has a cheaper frame! I went to walmart and compared and the plastic on those are flimsy..really flimsy.



What's also great about the waterproof case is that if you dont really plan on using it much underwater, you can just clean it off with water if it gets dirty. Someone gave a good point that if you were to film in a dusty place or gone on a vacation for a week. There will be dust all over. just drop this in a bucket of clean water and you're good to go!.





Sound quality =one word "AWESOME" Very crisp , clean, clear! High digital quality! better than mp3 quality as they stated. Yes that's correct. Better than a Flip ultra (previously own) .



for $250 right now. it is so cheap! Think of this;



battery by itself is $50

Charger " $50

USB cable $20

TV cable $20

-------------------------

$140



Sanyo Xacti E1 by itself $110!!!!!!



it records high quality video better than FLip ultra. It has better sound! it is waterproof!!! waterproof case cost over $100!!!!! You have much in control of the features.





What made me really decide to just keep E1 is has a CCD sensor to capture images which results in better quality.





Bottom line is it's not going to capture DVD super quality, but way better than YOUTUBE VIDEO AND FLIP ULTRA OF COURSE.



The only things I wish it had is:



lens cap



Better soft case



but these are not so important.

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Sanyo Xacti VPC-E2 Standard Definition Waterproof Digital CameraCorder - Blue

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it will improve. shoot with the sun behind you helps with the white balancing & remember that the screen is not exactly where the lens is pointing at.

The one down side is the battery life is not the best, so make sure its charged properly before playing.

I did purchase the Water Leash & an 8-gig card which is still empty.

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Pentax Optio W60 Underwater 10 Megapixel Digital Camera - Blue

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black' in any of my shots. Inexcusable & highly disappointing to have amateur looking vacation photos. The old wpi took awesome - truly awesome - pics straight out of the box.
2. some settings dont seem to stick after powering down. i cant tell you how many times I unchecked the "digital zoom" box, only to find my camera digitally zooming after powering back on. That's the only one I've seen not sticking so far, but I've only been playing with the camera here and there for the last 5 days. digital zoom is useless, in case you're wondering why this is one of my complaints. It basically does on your camera what your home computer can already do... and it sucks battery life. Never be impressed by a camera's digital zoom feature.
3. at full wide angle, corners get faded out. This is a minor issue for me, but definitely true. I read it elsewhere, so I was on the lookout. When you're zoomed out entirely, the corners of your photos CAN (not always) fade a little. eg, took a picture at twilight, corners were darker than they should have been. that being said, the wide angle is an amazing feature. In one frame, I could fit the boat I was fishing on, my fishing companion and his fish, and the incredible landscape/backdrop. I don't know how i lived with out this before.

Other than that, it's an amazing camera. I just wish I had known about these issues before I bought and shot vacation photos all week. Other cool features include a 'digital panorama' that will absolutely knock your socks off. it stitches three photos together for you... but also leaves a little 'ghost' at the end of each shot so you know where you left off. The result is perfect panoramas. There's a 'digital wide' feature that is similar but combines two 'portrait' (ie rotated 90 degrees) photos together in case 10 MP isnt a big enough pic for you.

my opinion: buy this camera if you spend time near the water, or just want that added layer of protection. it's perfect for your pocket, boat, river, kids' soccer game, etc. Not an SLR, but great for everyday use.

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Sanyo Xacti 8MP Digital Camcorder with 2.5" LCD Monitor - Blue

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mode and I decided that I will be using 30 frames per second, I actually like the quality of 30fps mode better.

I then tried the photography mode. I took most photographs inside in tricky low-light incandescent and florescent light conditions, because I know these give ANY camera, including DSLRs such as my Canon 40D $1300 camera, the most problems. I upped the ISO to 200 and then to 400. You can see samples I posted here. BTW the macro mode on this baby goes to 1 cm!!!! I don't know if E1 had such super-macro to 1 cm. I found the photo quality acceptable and similar to that of other point-and-shoots using the same 1/2.5 and similar sensors. I felt that ISO400 was acceptable. I have not tried ISO 800 and 1600 yet.

E2 has following ISO range: in photo mode 50-1600
in video mode: 100-3200 in high sensitivity mode (3200 I don't believe you can select, but it does it).

The image stabilization feature is tricky, it is EIS, Electronic Image Stabilization, not Optical Image Stabilization, so when you use it, it crops a little bit on sides of your video and photographs, depending on which mode of EIS you use.

The sound is stereo and the quality is acceptable. The camera is tiny btw, I fit mine in case logic case I had from my Canon A75 camera.

I tried this camera underwater in my pool, both video and photographs. All worked fine, even shoots photographs with flash underwater, which makes for very freaky results.

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Finally, some people complained that Sanyo has their own unique USB cable which is a pain if you lose it or don't have it with you, and cannot read it in ordinary card reader. WRONG. I did not even bother taking the proprietary Sanyo USB cable from camera packaging. The card works easily in my HP (windows vista) desktop's card reader. I downloaded PICASA 3 which I recommend. Picasa 3 will find, download, and play all photos and every video you shoot with this camera easily and quickly, just take the SD card, put it in your card reader and Picasa will do the rest. Very easy, so don't need to bother with this cable that comes with it.

Problems: Battery life is not impressive. Battery is tiny. I am used to Fuji F30's 500 shots per charge. This battery sucks. I charged the battery fully. I then took 80 photographs (some with flash), 4 or 5 2-minute videos and my battery showed 70% gone. You need a second battery, and hopefully there are some with more juice in it that the Sanyo one that comes with the camera.

I also wish the lens would start at 28mm and not 38mm as it would make easier to take pictures/videos of oneself without need to stretch your body away from the camera. Also my belief is that the flash only operates in photo mode and not in video mode. However, it is much better than its only competitor, Panasonic SW20, which does not have any flash at all

I will add more photos later.

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Pentax Optio W60 Underwater 10 Megapixel Digital Camera - Blue

...

or the other:
* I'm an avid Canon user and had some difficulty getting used to the controls and settings, they're not as intuitive for me on the Pentax.
* It has face recognition and smile detection, but I'm not sure if they are more than just a gimmick

I'm returning this camera as it not as well built and stopped working for me randomly and the one thing that I need is reliability over features in a camera even if it is a point and shoot.

+ 0 likes

Pentax Optio W60 Underwater 10 Megapixel Digital Camera - Blue

...

has slightly better picture quality, but little noisier.
- Pentax uses SD/SDHC card, Olympus uses xdpicture card, which is more expensive.

Finally I decided to go with the Pentax.

Things I like besides the under water capability:
- Feature rich. There are 24 different scene mode, a good fit to novice users, and there are also face detection, blink detection, smile detection and some on-camera editing capability. You can also do the slide-show on camera.
- Easy to follow interface. I learned to use more than 90% of the functions without even reading the manual.
- Macro that closes up to 1cm, not so many cameras are capable of that.
- Picture color is normally good.
- Live histogram view

Things I don't like:
- Poor low light performance, very noisy
- The so-called image stabilizing is just to bump up the ISO, which cause noisier image
- Below average image quality (comparing other point and shoot)
- Metering/White Balance/EV Adjustment only available in the P mode! This is my biggest complaint. I don't know what's in Pentax engineer's mind. I can live with no AP/SP/manual mode, but I still need these adjustments!
- No lens cover. Even though there is a protective layer in the front, so one can't touch the real lens, but that layer can still get dirty and I'm also afraid to simply put the camera in my pocket with other stuff.

With all that said, am I returning the camera? The hell no! I have my DSLR for better image quality, but I still need a compact one that I can bring with me on trips to ski, beach, or even snorkeling!

+ 0 likes

Olympus Stylus 850 SW 8MP Black Digital Camera with Bonus Kit-Olympus Stylus 850 SW 8MP Black Digital Camera with Bonus Ki

...

has slightly better picture quality, but little noisier.

- Pentax uses SD/SDHC card, Olympus uses xdpicture card, which is more expensive.



Finally I decided to go with the Pentax.



Things I like besides the under water capability:

- Feature rich. There are 24 different scene mode, a good fit to novice users, and there are also face detection, blink detection, smile detection and some on-camera editing capability. You can also do the slide-show on camera.

- Easy to follow interface. I learned to use more than 90% of the functions without even reading the manual.

- Macro that closes up to 1cm, not so many cameras are capable of that.

- Picture color is normally good.

- Live histogram view



Things I don't like:

- Poor low light performance, very noisy

- The so-called image stabilizing is just to bump up the ISO, which cause noisier image

- Below average image quality (comparing other point and shoot)

- Metering/White Balance/EV Adjustment only available in the P mode! This is my biggest complaint. I don't know what's in Pentax engineer's mind. I can live with no AP/SP/manual mode, but I still need these adjustments!

- No lens cover. Even though there is a protective layer in the front, so one can't touch the real lens, but that layer can still get dirty and I'm also afraid to simply put the camera in my pocket with other stuff.



With all that said, am I returning the camera? The hell no! I have my DSLR for better image quality, but I still need a compact one that I can bring with me on trips to ski, beach, or even snorkeling!

+ 0 likes

Olympus Stylus 850 SW 8MP Black Digital Camera with Bonus Kit-Olympus Stylus 850 SW 8MP Black Digital Camera with Bonus Ki

...

has slightly better picture quality, but little noisier.


- Pentax uses SD/SDHC card, Olympus uses xdpicture card, which is more expensive.





Finally I decided to go with the Pentax.





Things I like besides the under water capability:


- Feature rich. There are 24 different scene mode, a good fit to novice users, and there are also face detection, blink detection, smile detection and some on-camera editing capability. You can also do the slide-show on camera.


- Easy to follow interface. I learned to use more than 90% of the functions without even reading the manual.


- Macro that closes up to 1cm, not so many cameras are capable of that.


- Picture color is normally good.


- Live histogram view





Things I don't like:


- Poor low light performance, very noisy


- The so-called image stabilizing is just to bump up the ISO, which cause noisier image


- Below average image quality (comparing other point and shoot)


- Metering/White Balance/EV Adjustment only available in the P mode! This is my biggest complaint. I don't know what's in Pentax engineer's mind. I can live with no AP/SP/manual mode, but I still need these adjustments!


- No lens cover. Even though there is a protective layer in the front, so one can't touch the real lens, but that layer can still get dirty and I'm also afraid to simply put the camera in my pocket with other stuff.





With all that said, am I returning the camera? The hell no! I have my DSLR for better image quality, but I still need a compact one that I can bring with me on trips to ski, beach, or even snorkeling!

+ 0 likes

Pentax Optio W60 Underwater 10 Megapixel Digital Camera - Blue

...

I've tried that on "Infinity" and that works for me. To their credit, Pentax admits this sound issue a couple of times in the truly comprehensive manual.

I was briefly tempted to return the W60 on the basis of these video limitations and exchange it for the Lumix FZ5a, which has 30 fps 720p and a longer optical zoom.

However, the fact that this small camera is waterproof is just darn cool (particularly for those who like to kayak or hang out at the beach). There are few options otherwise (the Olympus, or carrying around a waterproof case), and the W60's feature set is otherwise great. So it really comes down to what compromises you're prepared to make. Frankly, I love the freedom to shoot underwater or in the rain with this camera. I'll live with the video limitations. It's a keeper!