Sanyo E1 Waterproof Camcorder

Gone are the days when one needed to nurse an aching wrist after hours of shooting. I have been through that with my ancient Sony Handycam, which also requires me to convert videos before I can mail them to my friends. In a refreshing change, Sanyo follows a very different form factor altogether. The company has been instrumental in introducing camcorders that seem to fit your palm just right.

A first glance of the E1 left me impressed. It looks like a gun, and feels like one too. My bad comparison apart, I like that it can fit in almost any nook or cranny of my bulging duffel bag when I go on vacation. It comes with a sturdy carry bag, so you don’t need to worry about scratches when the only place left to port it is next to the iPod.

It shines a deep lime green, with polished white on one side and brushed grey in the middle. The camcorder’s petty handy, and although it does feel heavier than you would expect from something that looks so small, it’s not something you’ll mind after you give it a shot.

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Why do I like this form factor? Well, there’s less strain on the wrist for one. If you buy any Sanyo camcorder, you will be relieved to find the usual buttons in their usual place. The playback and the start/shut button are hidden behind the 2.5-inch LCD screen, which swivels 285 degrees. I would have liked to see a semi-diagonal swivel that some of the more advanced handycams offer.

The E1 is truly amphibian. It offers great clarity both in water as well as on dry land. The manual specifies an allowable depth of 1.5m (5 feet). I dragged it well below that and it didn’t show any strain from the extra pressure, but I’d advise you not to try anything so foolhardy.

The camcorder mainly relies on the SD card to store videos. To enable it to shoot and record more in less space, the E1 uses AVC/H.264 video compression. Usually MPEG4 camcorders will take up more space. How did they manage this? Well, Sanyo has manufactured a dedicated Qpixel brand H.264 video compression IC for this very purpose.

The interface can support up to 8GB. Don’t be content with 1GB though, for you get less than an hour of video, and it wouldn’t really be worth it. I tried it with our 4GB card, and faced no problems at all.

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All videos are recorded at 640 x 480, and the best thing is if you own a video iPod you can easily transfer videos to the player without the hassle of conversion, via iTunes.

For shooting videos the camcorder is equipped with a 5x optical zoom with a maximum aperture of f/3.5, and a wide range of 38-190mm. The start-to-shoot time is under 3 seconds, as I like it. For still photography the camcorder features a 6MP sensor, and as for the image quality we’ll get there in a while.

Videos are quite sharp, and the colors are decently bright too. I assumed it would be so, to be able to capture some vibrancy while shooting under water. Initially I feared ruining my memory card, but I didn’t experience any leaks. As a precaution, wait for the excess water to drain before you try and access the battery or the memory card.

The images are fine for web purposes but lacked the vibrancy of the video recorder. You can also take still shots while shooting a video, but at a reduced resolution. Other features include white balance controls, color tones, etc. On this front, there’s nothing really new.

I was disappointed with the DBL-L20U 3.7V battery though – I wish it had a little more juice to offer. It required a recharge every few hours during continuous shooting, which wasn’t encouraging. The E1 officially costs Rs 24,990, while the street price is around Rs 19,990. Do go for it if you can live with the frequent recharges.