Comments on: Sanyo Xacti VPC-E2 Digital Camcorder and 8 MP Digital Camera

By: B. Ravi

B. Ravi — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 01:00:41 +0000

After reading the reviews here, I ordered the camera as a replacement for my Sony DCR PC-100 camcorder. Obviously my expectations were high. These were the few things I was terribly disappointed when I received the camera :

1..The camera is just not ergonomically designed. It was just so wierd to hold and operate with one hand. Just didn't feel right.

2..The videos I shot were so full of jerks and movements that it was impossible to watch them without feeling dizzy. I tried the special features on the camera that suppesedly help you to minimize the shaking.

3..The picture on the video was just OK in natural light but as soon the camera hit the indoors and areas with shade, it just went black - literally.

4..Even the still pictures were very average. Nothing to write home about. Same problem with the light issue.

5..I didn't buy this camera just because it is water resistant. So, I didn't even try that feature. It's cold and I had no intention of jumping into the pool to just try the water-tighness of the camera. For me, the camera was a failure in its basic function of taking clean, non-shaky, crisp pictures. It is small but not small enough to keep in a pocket. Doesn't have a cover for the lense and the cover it comes with is very tacky... Rating: 1 / 5

By: Winifred A. Ricco

Winifred A. Ricco — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 00:52:23 +0000

The camcorder takes poor video. I did not test the waterproof function.

Upon installing the software and taking a video, the software did not allow me to view the video on my computer – only to burn to a dvd. The quality was very grainy and unclear. Perfect size camcorder though – would be wonderful if the quality was improved.
Rating: 2 / 5

By: Royski

Royski — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 22:50:24 +0000

The text in the description “Audio Input: Microphone” is misleading. The camcorder has no microphone jack, only the built-in mic.
Rating: 2 / 5

By: Holger Henkel

Holger Henkel — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 20:38:55 +0000

Hello everybody,

I only want to warn to buy this camera, if you want to use it really at the water. Even if you keep all restrictions of the manual (5′, 60min) you can get problems.

But if you want help from Sanyo you get the answer “Maybe you didn’t closed the battery door well.” But after loading the battery nearly every day it could be happen or it comes in a hair, a grain of sand, maybe a dust particle. So they proposed me to repair the camera for more the $400! Now I have to buy a new camera, but not from Sanyo, that’s clear!
Rating: 1 / 5

By: D. Nelson

D. Nelson — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 19:31:35 +0000

I really wanted to like this camera, but found that I couldn't.

The first problem that I had with it was the "ergonomic grip" on the camera. It's fine for just holding the camera, and would work well for video shooting. I just found the buttons to be hard to use for still photos when trying to use it with one hand. The camera never felt comfortable in my had when trying to rotate my thumb up to hit the photo or video button. When it comes to using the D-ring and the center button, they felt fine.

The next major issue I had was with the image stabilization for photos. According the the manual the image stabilization won't be used under the following conditions.
1. Setting the flash mode to forced flash
2. Setting the shooting mode to the sequential shots mode
3. Setting flicker reduction to "ON"
4. Setting the scene select function to the night view portrait, fireworks, or lamp mode.

What I found is if you set the flash to any mode other than "OFF" the image stabilization automatically turns off. Then you have to deal with the crazy menu system to turn it back on. There's no easy way that I could find to have it temporarily shut off for the above situations then automatically turn back on. Given that I was concerned about camera movement while rotating my thumb up to the button on one handed use, image stabilization seems really important.

I also didn't like the confusing menu system on the camera. By default the menu system is in "normal mode" and then there's a "simple mode" that you can select. That all sounds find in theory. The only thing is I expect every function to be adjustable in the normal mode, and then basic functions to be available in the simple mode. That somewhat seemed to be the case, but it wasn't clear what some of the options really were in simple mode. For example to adjust the video recording in the normal menu it give you a lot of different TV options and a couple of different web options. How do those relate to the selection of recording size in the simple menu? Maybe I just didn't find the answer in the manual, but I don't think that was the case.

As far as the water proof, it's really limited to 5 feet of depth. Not something that will be useful if you go scuba diving, but maybe will be ok for light snorkeling. I think for the most part it's just a gimmick to lure people into buying an inferior product.

I really can't comment on the actual photo or video quality. Because I got so frustrated with the menu system, the image stabilization, and how awkward it seemed to use; I never bothered transferring the data to my computer to check it out.

All in all, I would say avoid this camera and see what else is out there. Rating: 1 / 5