Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD2

Camcorders are getting smaller and better, though not exactly in that order. What’s more, they’re getting a lot better at taking still pictures too – Viva la convergence!

The new Sanyo Xacti series of digital camcorders are doing a pretty good job of getting rid of the old side-handgrip design that camcorders have been using since forever. It’s adopted a vertical design that lets you hold the camera a lot more naturally, without stressing your wrists. We checked out the high-definition camcorder from the Xacti series – the HD2. While on the subject of stress-free wrists, I might add that the HD2 is extremely light to hold at 230g (including the battery).

All the functional controls are located at the back of the camcorder, namely the zoom toggle, separate buttons for shooting video and taking a still picture, menu, etc. Even the switch for record and play mode is right there at your thumb’s disposal.

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Only three buttons are located under the screen flap of the HD2: one for switching to High Sensitivity mode, another to switch between high-definition and standard definition resolutions, and finally the On/Off button. The good thing is that the camera automatically switches off when you put the screen back in the closed position and automatically starts up when you raise the screen.

The screen, as in all camcorders, is tilt-and-swivel. So you can get some cool camera angles when shooting your video. Its rotation angle is 285 degrees, so rest assured, you have ample options to play with.

Overall the camera design is clean and very simple to follow even if you don’t refer to the manual to know what’s what.

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Though its video recording capabilities max out at 720p (1280x720 resolution), the HD2 is a perfectly functional 7 MP digital still camera as well. While most manufacturers take the digicam bit lightly, the Xacti HD2 has done a pretty good job of giving you all the basic features expected from a point-and-click consumer camera.

With 10x optical zoom, you have an advantage in shooting both stills and videos. Unfortunately the image stabilization doesn’t complement the zoom level too well, which results in some shaky footage. This is especially evident when viewing HD content on a big-screen HDTV.

Speaking of which, Sanyo has done a smart job of including a set of component cables as well as an HDMI cable for direct connectivity to HDTVs. I suspect the bundled HDMI cable will be a great selling point for a lot of consumers.

The HD2 camcorder gave us mixed performance results. In the daytime, it completely shone with its constantly smooth framerate and great image quality when shooting in 720p resolution.

I’ve taken a few screenshots of the videos I shot with it, and as you can see from the examples, the HD2 loves the sun. As long as there’s ample light around, you’ll get some great exposure and colors.

It did justice to all the colors I threw at it. It did add a bit of saturation from its own end but that helped keep the picture lively.

The HD2 suffers the classic camcorder problem of slow focusing when hand-held. Still, it wasn’t as bad as with many other cameras – it took only a couple of seconds before it got its focus right. In dark areas it obviously took longer, but still wasn’t slow enough to be a problem.

Capturing subjects in motion was a cinch with the HD2. Besides the lack of optical image stabilization, once I had the camera mounted on a tripod, it was pretty much set from there.

Shooting at night was a nightmare. Shooting in night portrait mode really didn’t do much to brighten up the image; moreover the increased ISO filled the image with high levels of digital noise. But it wasn’t as bad as shooting in High Sensitivity mode, which practically obliterated the picture quality with noise.

Screenshot from video

I tried testing the high-sensitivity mode in still images as well, to judge how well it performs there. Though the quality was a bit better, it was still pretty much disastrous. So keep this one home at night.

Still Image

Audio is recorded in stereo though the mics placed on the back of the LCD screen. Though the quality of audio was very crisp and clear, the stereo mic placement seemed pointless as there was no channel separation evident in the recorded video.

Startup took around 3 seconds, which is not too bad for a camcorder, but video-to-video record times would be a lot more. You can record up to 14.5 minutes of HD video on a 1GB SD card. Recording in standard definition can increase that to over 40 minutes.

The Sanyo Xacti HD2 sells at an MRP of Rs 39,990. It sounds like a lot for a consumer camcorder, but considering that it records in high-def and is a fully functional camera as well, it’s not too bad. Even with the flaws, there’s a lot going for the HD2 that puts it above a lot of other commercial camcorders. As long as you’re not a night owl, it will serve you well on your sunny vacations.