Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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50 of 50 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Pretty good, April 9, 2009
I got this camera yesterday and after shooting for a bit I'd have to say it's better than I expected, but you really have to know what you want it for.
Unlike another reviewer I would not go by the camera's LCD to adjust the image, since it's probably the weakest part of the camera, not very high resolution. The auto functions of exposure and white balance do a pretty good job. The colors are a little saturated and in some situations it does crush the blacks creating a high contrast look, but overall it works well.
The controls are simple and I was up and running in no time. I am used to shooting with manual controls, especially for exposure and focus. I was leery of what I could get with this camera but it handles well using the auto functions which can easily be locked off when need be. You can also assign four functions to the back arrow keys as shortcuts which makes it a snap to adjust the various focus modes, and lock the exposure, etc.
The macro is excellent and the zoom is great in a pinch but the image can become distorted on 30x. I did a long shot along a sidewalk and the image really broke up with the haze. When I was completely zoomed in on branches there was a great deal of purple fringing as well.
It worked perfectly underwater where I was in macro mode and the detail was excellent.
Getting the clips onto the computer is easy. I connected to the USB port and dragged them onto the desktop and from there directly into FCP. The only problem for me is my Mac is a G5 (relatively old) and there was a noticeable jerkiness in the video when played back on the computer. So the power of your computer has a definite impact on playback. Also, when editing this footage in with other HDV footage in FCP it took a looong time to render, i.e. two hours for about 12 minutes. But if you're editing it by itself, aside from making my system a bit sluggish, there were no other problems.
I was disappointed with the stills. You have to have them quite small to be decent, so I won't be using the camera much for that. Not sure why the CA9 is 8mb stills and the WH1 only 2mb!
The size of the camera is nice, it can definitely fit in a jacket pocket (not a shirt pocket) and the battery lasts a couple of hours which is great. Wasn't impressed with the stabilization and I'll definitely be using it on a tripod or braced against something solid.
My main camera is a Sony HDR-HC9 and there is a noticeable difference in quality. The WH1 image is more pixelated. But the underwater aspect is great and for that reason I'm glad I have it. So it really comes down to what you want the camera for. If you want it as your main camera and are seeking a good HD quality image, I probably wouldn't recommend this due to the pixelation and the shakiness. But if you want something for You Tube, want the underwater feature, or a very portable camera, this one is great.
I put up some sample footage and a still here: http://www.robertjohnthompson.com/page1/page1.html
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22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
If something is too good to be true..., July 7, 2009
At first sight, this little machine looks almost perfect: an up to 10 feet waterproof, compact, dual camera/camcorder.
Unfortunately, there is grain of salt in almost every aspect.
First, I need to mention that I am a happy owner of an older Sanyo EX2 camcorder and, despite minor drawbacks, I really like it.
I can understand the good intention of Sanyo engineers when they ventured to create a new camcorder that would outdo the previous model in every way possible. The original EX2 was only waterproof up to 3 feet, not HD, and had mediocre battery.
In VPC-WH1, Sanyo engineers fixed and improved everything, but in the process they made several dangerous compromises.
Let's start with new ten feet waterproof rating. I would really adore this new feature if not for one small problem - all the o-rings are not user-replaceable and the manual specifically tells you that they are only good for one year. Well, if you are buying this camera to go underwater (snorkeling, of course), you know what an o-ring is and what happens when it leaks.
Another problem - the camera body has three(!) covers: one for the battery, another for the SD-card, and the third for the power port. I cannot say I am a designer of underwater equipment, but so far all underwater housings I ever used had only ONE cover... with user-replaceable o-ring.
So the camera seems to be waterproof for one year, but what about next year's vacation?
Despite these drawbacks, I was ready to forgive Sanyo because of the promised HD. Unfortunately, whatever it was they decided to call HD was not really "High Definition". The image is terribly over-compressed and has lot of artifacts. Yes, technically, if you look at the file properties, it is 720p, but only technically. I would not rate it above 300 lines of real resolution. It is hard to believe, but my old EX2 makes much better videos. I have compared the two side by side on a 52 inch TV and the difference is obvious. Even in standard resolution the old EX2 beats the new camcorder, which is slightly embarrassing...
Finally, this is supposed to be a dual camera. Well, almost a camera, because in WPC-VH1 pictures are limited to two megapixels. My old EX2 has an 8 megapixel sensor and it makes pictures as good as a standard 3 megapixel camera. The overall level of degradation from the old camcorder has not changed for this feature, so you can imagine how a two megapixel images from the new camera looks. Let's just say my cell phone does a much better job.
The only good thing is battery performance; it is actually decent now. I just do not know what to do with all this battery performance. My new stylish yellow WPC-VH1 is collecting dust now, while the old EX2 faithfully sits in a side pocket of my photo bag.
***
Frankly, I hate writing negative reviews. For a month I played around with the camcorder parameters and lighting conditions, shot underwater (and, I should mention, underwater footage is generally okay, just not HD), tried different video codecs, but nothing helped. Did I get a defective unit?
It should not be difficult for Sanyo to fix almost all the drawbacks. I would guess the video over compression problem may be fixed with a software upgrade. And a mail-in o-ring replacement service can solve the one year problem (the current manual tells you to go to your "dealer"; with all due respect, I am not sure Amazon would provide such a service). The remaining two megapixels still image camera seems hopeless, but this would not be a big loss after all...
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Definitely Worth The Money, April 23, 2009
After reading some of the negative reviews I was hesitant to purchase this camera. I am really glad that I didn't let them sway me away. I have had no issues with contrast or black areas as other reviewers have had. The video, while not as good as a $1000 camera, is excellent. I have taken videos in a variety of lighting conditions and have been happy with them all.
If you need a good general purpose HD camera then this is a good choice in my opinion. It also has the added benefit of being able to go into the pool with you!
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