Sanyo Xacti VPC-C40 4MP MPEG4 Digital Camcorder with 5.8x Optical Zoom
By: Sanyo Average Rating: 4.5 Total Reviews: 12
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 On: 2007-07-15
As others have noted, this little unit falls a little short when compared to a MiniDV camcorder. Sound quality is very modest, and the video quality has more artifacts that you expect from a MiniDV unit. Still, its so tiny, and handy to shoot with, youll likely catch a shot youd miss with your bigger camcorder, as you left it back home.
The amazing part is the still camera. Fairly quick time to shot, and very respectable image quality. It actually does better in low light than my pricey Olympus. The teeny flash has more output that you might expect too.
 On: 2007-01-18
Purchased this camera to replace my old digital camcorder. Still picture quality is above average which is a bonus since you dont need to carry both a camcorder and still image camera on trips. The 4 megapixel shots should be just right for most casual photographers. Higher resolution just makes it harder to manage and share photos since the picture files become too large to email and dont really add anything in terms of quality to anything smaller than a 5X7 print. Great video performance except in low light conditions. When capturing video in low light, the color fades and turns brownish. Other than that, performance far exceeds what you would expect for the price.
Where this camera excels is in value. What most people dont realize is your true cost doesnt stop at what you pay for the camera. For my first camcorder (which was also a Sanyo), I had to purchase an extra high capacity battery for about $40. The standard battery lasted only about 45 minutes and the extended battery lasted about 90 minutes. Plus, countless mini DV tapes which run anywhere from $5-7 each or more for 60 minutes of recording time. With the xActi, I was able to find 2 extra batteries online for $30 (for a total recording time of 3 hours), plus cheap and readily available 2Gb SD cards for $15 each (each card can hold 2 hours of video or over a thousand stills). So not only do you get a great value with the camera, the add-ons are reasonably priced, and reusable for the life of the camera. Total investment was under $300 which you would be hard pressed to beat with any other digital camcorder on the market if you included the accessories and tapes.
Picture this....you go on vacation overseas with a full-sized camera bag. In the bag you have your camcorder, still camera, tapes, film or memory media, chargers, and anything else you need to take video and stills. All this probably weighs at least a few pounds, plus the headache of packing it with your luggage or carrying it on a plane and to your sightseeing destinations. Or, you can carry the xActi, plus batteries and extra memory all in your purse or pocket. Travel light and be ready to take the picture at right moment.
So if you fall into the 99% of casual shooters out there, this is definitely the camera to buy. First rule of technology, unless you have money to burn, never buy the "cutting edge" products. Youll pay through the nose and it will be half the price you paid for it within a year or two. For convenience, ease of use, features, and total investment cost, you cant go wrong with this camera.
On: 2006-12-27
I own this camera and have to say it is a very good with stills and video. It doesnt compare with a 3CCD camera or even to a mid-grade MiniDV camera but the portability and ease of use is fantastic! This unit can easily fit in your pocket/purse and within seconds can be turned on to capture video. I cannot do this with my regular MiniDV camera as it is too big to haul around. In low-light the unit performs okay but not crystal clear. I am able to easily capture Christmas lights, etc. with the unit @ night time. There are add-on lights you can purchase. If you are into archiving video, such as converting footage to DVD, the MP4 video codec it uses allows for easy editing; only if your video editing program supports MP4 format (I use VideoStudio 10). Most important is that when you convert your video to DVD the quality is still very good for viewing on a TV. I had tried Aipteks, Samsumg, etc. but always during DVD conversion the video quality degraded substantially. Not with this unit. When converting remember MP4 to AVI then to DVD.
There is the C6 model to always consider. I choose this one instead since the difference in price between the two models doesnt justify.
One note, if purchasing this unit, make sure you have no bad pixels on the CCD sensor. A simple test is to put the lenses cap on and take a picture. Then examine the picture on your computer screen and look for any visible white or pink dots- hint boost zoom up to 300%. Google this topic if you have any concerns.
Cheers,
On: 2006-12-26
I own this camera and have to say it is a very good with stills and video. It doesnt compare with a 3CCD camera or even to a mid-grade MiniDV camera but the portability and ease of use is fantastic! This unit can easily fit in your pocket/purse and within seconds can be turned on to capture video. I cannot do this with my regular MiniDV camera as it is too big to haul around. In low-light the unit performs okay but not crystal clear. I am able to easily capture Christmas lights, etc. with the unit @ night time. There are add-on lights you can purchase. If you are into archiving video, such as converting footage to DVD, the MP4 video codec it uses allows for easy editing; only if your video editing program supports MP4 format (I use VideoStudio 10). Most important is that when you convert your video to DVD the quality is still very good for viewing on a TV. I had tried Aipteks, Samsumg, etc. but always during DVD conversion the video quality degraded substantially. Not with this unit. When converting remember MP4 to AVI then to DVD.
There is the C6 model to always consider. I choose this one instead since the difference in price between the two models doesnt justify.
One note, if purchasing this unit, make sure you have no bad pixels on the CCD sensor. A simple test is to put the lenses cap on and take a picture. Then examine the picture on your computer screen and look for any visible white or pink dots- hint boost zoom up to 300%. Google this topic if you have any concerns.
Cheers,
On: 2006-12-07
This is a great camera and camcorder. The daytime pictures and mp4 clips come out good and is comparable to the more expensive Sony. Nighttime/indoor pictures are okay. The MP4 clips indoor and at night is good enough for TV viewing unless you are looking for high def stuff which will run your at least a thousand bucks at this time.
If you want a camcorder that captures to a memory card instead of DVD or tapes, then this is the one with an affordable price and quality. The size is small enough to slip into your pocket so you dont need to carry a camcorder bag around with you all the time.
On: 2006-11-22
I was hesitant at first to buy it, after reading about the blurry images but I went ahead anyway, after all I could always return it. There was no need to worry. I found my photos came out fine with no blurryness at all. The trick? Press the button halfway and then wait for the autofocus to do its job. This is really no different to a lot of cameras such as my Minolta. Many people expect to be able to press the button all the way down straight away. Digital cameras are often slow to focus compared to film cameras. Of course there are many that are much quicker now, but this Sanyo is not one of them. Once you get used to it, its a fun capable little device.
Also remember that this is primarily designed to be a camcorder first and a still image camera second. If your needs are mainly still images with a little bit of video now and then, you would be better off getting a regular digital camera with a video mode, since they will be optimized towards better photos over video. On the other hand, if you like the concept of a palm sized video camcorder that also happens to take very good still images then this is the device for you, especially when you consider that it can fit approximately 41 minutes onto a (now inexpensive) 1GB SD memory card. This is due to the use of a more efficient compression than is still used on most current digital cameras. You also dont need a highspeed SD card, the cheaper regular ones will do.
When there is sufficient light the video quality is very good and the camera is not as bad in lowlight as is often suggested either. Using it in poor indoor lighting still produces usable video. Overall the video may not quite be up to regular miniDV camcorder standards but then you probably only use that for main events such as birthdays, graduations etc. and rarely get it out for more seemingly frivolous use. With this, you can be far more spontaneous due to its size and the ability to instantly transfer the video to your PC for viewing or emailing etc. The only real problem is that editing the resulting video files is more difficult due to there being hardly any software that supports the format at the moment. On the other hand, if you tend to shoot lots of short clips of kids etc. and dont do much editing then its really not such a problem.
These are part of the future of camcorders. As the memory card capacities increase, the quality of video for the same recording time on future devices will only get better.
On: 2006-10-20
After our Canon took a [...] from the dreaded E18 error code, we decided to replace our digital camera and our camcorder. Ultimately we wanted a camera that took pictures and video; one that took great still pictures and decent video. We found both and more in this little gem. I am a novice when it comes to photography but its very important to have a camera that takes great pictures of my kids since you can never recover a lost shot. I have not been disappointed at all by this camera. Not only can you shoot video and take still pictures, you can take still pictures while youre recording video!! Also if youre playing a video back and want to capture a still picture, you can do that, too!!
As far as the quality, when we first got it, we set it to the automatic settings and the first video we shot was less than stellar. I read the manual and re-set the settings and the next video we shot was perfect. Clear as day. Some of the other reviewers mentioned low lighting and I would agree that its not the greatest in low light situations. One other thing I read was about the voice/microphone. I havent experienced any problem with ours, if anything Id say its very sensitive - especially of the person recording.
So, to sum up, if youre looking for a great digital camera and a great video camera, definitely look to the C40. Make sure you read the manual and adjust the settings as needed and you should have NO problems!!
On: 2006-08-21
Buy the Xacti-C40 for quick, convenient web-cast quality video. This camera is great for making 640 x 480 videos but it is no substitute for a conventional DV camera in terms of image quality.
Low light performance is barely acceptable, nothing like as good as my Sony or JVC DV cameras and the image is quite contrasty, so bright, flat lighting is needed for good exposure. Outdoors under cloud or bright indoors works well.
Colour quality, grain, smear, etc are all acceptable. Stills are very good with some slight barrel distortion on wide angle.
The big failing is the sound. The microphones are virtually useless and I have to almost shout to get any narration recorded while I am filming. Subjects talking to the camera at 1 metre are all but inaudible. There is no external microphone jack so you are stuck with lousy sound unless you have an exceptionally loud subject to film or can separately record sound and add it in post-production.
HTH
Brian
On: 2006-07-24
Starting with the bad news...I purchased the Xacti c40 after being frustrated with my old cameras 2.2x optical zoom. The Xacti has 5.8x optical zoom which was quite the relief, however, many of the pictures (taken zoomed in a little or not zoomed in at all) became just as blurry. This is one current frustration of mine.
Additionally, the compact design of this camera may be difficult for users with larger hands/fingers to operate. Several times now when Ive asked other people to help me take a picture, theyve pushed the record button instead of the camera button and recorded movies instead of still images. People with wider, less dexterous fingers and little patience are not recommended for this camera.
And the hand-held design of this camera is not recommended for beginners. Camera-shake is practically ineffective and unless you also purchase a camera dock, the camera cannot stand up by itself rendering self-timer pictures ineffective as well.
And finally, the manual contains no instructions on how to upload pictures so if you have a computer with not-so-perfect USB connection like me, a card reader or another camera that acts as a SD card reader will come in handy. For some reason, the Xacti itself could not act as a card reader on my computer but I assume others may not have the same problem as I have.
The good news is that this camera has amazing flash and captures beautiful, vivid images when they do not come out blurry.
As perhaps mentioned in other online descriptions, this camera has the remarkable ability to shoot video and take still images at the same time.
The camera has very fast flash-recovery about 1-2 seconds or less. Some cameras like my previous one took 16-18 seconds for the flash to reboot so taking multiple flash pictures in a row was extremely frustrating.
Camera startup is also equally fast. You have to press the on button for a second or two in order to start it but once you hold it long enough the LCD screen lights up within split seconds. The camera starts up with a female audio guide that notes the modes you are in and can be turned off. I found this feature entertaining at first but then it started becoming annoying.
Finally, probably the most obvious up to this camera is its ultra-cool look. This camera is great on the go if you want to whip it out and take sightseeing pictures. Youll become the high-tech tourist or if just taking pictures around town, youll attract many. Ive had many people come up to me and ask whose camera that is, and I get to respond that its mine :)
So this is a nice second camera for me but im still a little disappointed by the blurriness of a good portion of my pictures.
On: 2006-05-27
I originally bought the Samsung ultra compact and regreted it the moment it arrived. I returned it and ordered this feeling very weary. Much to my surprise this camera is awesome, great pics and good video. Highly recommend this camera.
On: 2006-04-30
Ok, here is the real story about this specific model: when it first came out (about 3 years ago), it was the smallest and lightest video camera in the world. Its retail price at the time was around $900! Serious. I bought one in black (only in Japan), and lov it.
Now fast forward to today, and technology has advanced a lot since then. True, by todays standards, the video quality is middle of the road (and the still shots suck), but put it in perspective (when it came out). The price has dropped way down since then, and is still an excellent all-around value if you want somthing light that you can put in your pocket. Their newest models are incredible, but a lot more expensive.
 On: 2006-03-25
I intended to purchase this for a video camera. Apparently that was a mistake because the video was quite grainy.
Returned the camera to Amazon and looking for another one. :(
On: 2006-03-24
I intended to purchase this for a video camera. Apparently that was a mistake because the video was quite grainy.
Returned the camera to Amazon and looking for another one. :(
On: 2006-02-18
Weighing a mere 6 ounces, this very solid feeling camera takes excellent 4 megapixel digital still images with clarity and detail. The camera also doubles as a full-fledge digital video camera capable of capturing 640x480 @ 30 frames per second. For those of you not sure what that means...it means it is a real video camera and not just an added feature. The little Xacti C40 can actually capture both stills and video at the same time. The video quality is great. Image stabilization helps control the 5.8x lens from hand shake. The camera features a swiveling 1.8" LCD viewer that when closed puts the camera into a sleep mode. Opening it returns it from sleep and the camera can actually begin recording digital video in less than 2 seconds. This camera is totally tapeless and records to SD memory cards. Although cards are sold separately, they are available everywhere. 1GB cards are generally $50-80 today and can hold a full hour of digital video.
Hope you found this helpful, I love my Sanyo Xacti and I love the looks I get from people when I use it! I feel like 008.
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