Like it, but with some reservations
Written: May 26 '07 (Updated May 26 '07)
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Pros: Handy and compact, inexpensive. Well thought out user interface. Sturdy design.
Cons: Poor audio quality. Video pauses when still pictures are taken.
The Bottom Line: A good video camera to keep handy for easy access when something comes up. It's hampered by poor audio quality, though. Very user friendly. Included software is limited in flexibility.
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| yospiff's Full Review: Sanyo Xacti C40 Camcorder |
I bought this as a Christmas gift for my wife. She had been wanting a digital camcorder for a while, and after hearing about this on a podcast, I decided it would be perfect.
The C40 is actually a model that has been on the market for about 3 years (as of this writing), and now sells for quite a bit less than when it came out.
It uses SD cards for recording, and this results it it being very compact in size. I find using a memory card reader to be far more convenient and is probably faster that attaching the camera to the computer. It uses a proprietary battery, which seems to last about an hour. Thats roughly how much TV quality video you can put on a 1GB SD card as well. Note that this camera only does up to standard tv resolution. No HD to be found at this price.
Video quality is highly compressed, though acceptable. There is image stabilization on this camera, and it does seem to reduce the shakiness of a hand held device. The digital zoom, as with digital zoom in general, does not work well. There is an on-screen indicator to let you know when you cross from optical to digital zoom, and as soon as you do, there is a lot of visible fuzziness and artifacts that you can see even on the Xacti's small display. I don't hold this against it, as I limit myself to only using optical zoom. (for those unfamiliar with the term, digital zoom is the in-camera equivalent of cropping & enlarging the image on your computer.)
The audio quality is where it is lacking the most. Several months after this, I bought a point and shoot still camera, and found the movie mode on it has a much clearer and louder audio than the Xacti.
Movies are saved in M4V files, which is an apple quicktime format. It's a common enough format that one should not have any trouble finding plenty of software that can read and manipulate them. On thing I did not like was that every time I stop and start the record mode, it begins a new file. If I want to put them together I must do it in software.
Speaking of software, the Xacti C40 comes with a copy of Ulead DVD movie factory and several accessory programs from Ulead. I've found this software to not be terribly flexible in letting me do what I want, though to be fair, it is an older version that was current when this camera was a new product. I have heard good things about this software, and I must assume it was a more current version that was being discussed.
The camera also functions as a 4 Megapixel still camera and a convenient feature is two camera buttons right near your thumb, one for movies and one for still. Taking a still picture can be done while recording a movie, however I discovered upon playback the movie pauses for a moment when the still picture is taken.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 200
Recommended for: Budget Buyers - Best Values to Fit the Budget
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Epinions.com ID:
yospiff
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Reviews written: 35
Trusted by: 0 members
About Me:
USAF 13 years. Office equipment technician since '92. Tech geek forever.
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