Sanyo Xacti

[rjdm]

Does anyone have any experience with the Xacti and Epoque housings? I'm looking for a good video combo that is light weight, compact and affordable. This combo looks good. Am I missing something?

http://www.epoque-japan.com/e-digitalhousing-ehs510h.htm

 

[marshallkarp]

I had a long and hard look at the Sanyo Xacti high def camcorder and epoque housing. Here's where I came down on it. From the sample videos, and what I have read, the quality of memory cards is not as good as dv tape.

Having said that, if, Number One, you are looking for a combo that is light weight, compact, and affordable, I would go with this. However, my Number One is the best quality video at the end. So I would stay with the DV tape camcorder, or a hard drive camcorder.

 

[rjdm]

Hmm... it's a hard choice. I'm worried about the quality of the Epoque housing and possible leaking. Does anyone have experience with these housings? I'm not looking for hollywoodesque quality here. While not cheap the Epoque housing and the camera is less than half the cost of a Blue Fin housing. This is my first video cam for diving and I'm looking for something that doesn't distract too much from my diving.

 

[chrisal]

I'm also thinking of this combo - I will probably wait for the new Xacti HD2 though as it's (supposed to be) better in low light conditions. Any opinions from current users would be great....

 

[Dive Bear]

So

Has anyone gotten any new information on this combo. I looked at the website for that housing and they don't seem to have a dealer in the US.

However, I do like the camera. I think I'll just wait and see.

 

[JamesD]

I have the prior one (the EHS-500X and VPC-C5 camera)

My quick take

Pros: The system is TINY, the camera easily fits in my pocket, when adding the housing it's slightly larger, but still very small and compact, easily fits in my Reg Bag for taking on planes etc. System takes okay photos and video. Epoque housing seems to be very good, while it's got a fairly large opening, it seems very secure, I gently clean the O-Ring every time I use it and in over 20 dives have yet to have any issues at all. Video file size is good so a 2GB card will hold well over an hour of video.

Cons: Battery life is shoddy (about 45 minutes max life when constantly on) video quality is definitely not as good as my old DV camera, although it doesn't have some of the issues tapes do have (never have to clean the camera heads etc). Both photo and video quality is... okay, so while you can use it for both it doesn't do either particularly well. Performance in low-light is not so great (for the VPC-C5, I gather it's better for the VPC-C6, not sure about the HD1 or 1A).

Overall I really like my camera/housing combo, for the CASUAL video/photography that I do I find it works really well and is a pleasure to use, I don't have to lug tons of equipment around and I still get some reasonable quality videos/photos.

If you want really good quality video then don't get this, it will not work. Currently I'm hoping to end up with a Canon one day, but currently the video files they store are so huge that you need an enormous card to store it, the SD800 is what I would like, but I'd also want a 16GB memory card to store a good hour or two of video on.

edit: Video sample from Metridium fields in Monterey CA
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2389501519270896745

 

[Dive Bear]

So if I want one of these, where do I get one. Where do I find the housing in the USA. Does anyone sell a pakage (camera and housing).

 

[JamesD]

I'm 95% sure I got my housing from here

http://www.camerasunderwater.co.uk/d_stills/epok-hs400x.html

(and yes, I live in the US).

Alternatively you appear to be able to get it here as well

http://www.divervision.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=311

(doing a quick Froogle search for it)

Also if you are interested still, might be worth reading this

http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/sanyos-xacti-hd2-high-def-camcorder-delivers-7-megapixel-stills/

I don't know how good (or bad) it will be, but I would hope the HD2 might be a bit better than the HD1 (or 1A) hopefully with the same form factor so it would fit the same case.

 

[rjdm]

let me know how things work out b/c I'm thinking about this same system but i'm waiting for the HD2.

 

[chrisal]

It looks like the HD2 is available to buy now at Amazon and a few other places are showing it in stock...