I feel the same about this product as the previous reviewer.I was so excited about this camcorder. I had been looking at the other Xacti models and was about to purchase the waterproof Xacti when I found out that this HD version was coming out in a few days. I ordered it immediately.
When it arrived I was very impressed with the size and feel. It is so small and compact, yet is very easy to hold and operate. Much easier than my large sony camcorder. It is a beautiful piece of technology. The screen is large and easy to view, the controls and buttons are well placed, and the overall build seems to be of high quality.
The first thing I did not like about the camcorder was how narrow the field of view was. Even when at the widest angle, most zoomed back position I felt very "zoomed-in" on the subject. I found myself having to walk farther and farther back to get all of the action in the video. This was frustrating, but I would forgive this issue if the images looked good.
I took several videos and still photos in various conditions inside, outside, bright, dark, etc. and then looked at the results. I was very disappointed in the quality of the videos. The stills were passable (although not nearly as good as from my Canon G9), but the videos were grainy, often out of focus, and overall of poor quality. For this price I expected more, especially of an HD camcorder.
I am returning the Xaxti today, and will either purchase a different, less expensive Xacti or will simply use the video capture of my Canon G9. If you purchase this, I highly suggest you do some tests in the first few days and save all of the packaging materials just in case!
I decided to give the camera 2 stars due to the amazing size, beautiful design and ergonomics.
On a side note, why is it that people find positive reviews so much more helpful than negative reviews? This is a trend I have seen throughout Amazon.com. It seems like people only want to read good things about items they are interested in, but I think it's much more important to hear from people who did not like the item especially if they did a thorough test of the product and seem knowledgeable. Any ideas about this?
I was optimistic that maybe the HD700 had been slammed by videophiles, and that it would be more than good enough for my needs, which largely involve taking family videos.
Out of the box, I recorded a few videos of my three year old bouncing around on the sofa. With the light of 3 sixty-watt bulbs 10 feet above the sofa, the video was grainy. I tried both the SHQ and the HQ modes for 720p, both were grainy. I tried the same modes with image stabilization turned off, both SHQ and HQ were just as grainy. Biggest thing I noticed was how far away from the sofa I had to stand in order to capture the entire sofa (which shouldn't be too hard, since this is a 16:9 widescreen camcorder, right)?
Next, I did a little experiment. I set the HD700 up on a tripod a large distance from a wall, and measured the size of the camera's field of view at widest zoom. To do this, I stuck removeable labels on the wall, staking out the corners of the camera's image, and marked a center dot. The camera and center dot (on the wall) were the same height above the floor. The camera lens was 152 inches from the wall; at this distance, the rectangular field of view was 67.5 inches high and 119.5 inches wide. Trig-savvy readers can verify that the field of view is 25 by 43 degrees, with a solid angle of 1075 square degrees (0.327 steradians). A theoretically perfect fish-eye lens would view a full hemisphere, or 6.28 steradians. We do not expect the Xacti HD700 to see like a fish-eye lens, but it does only see 1/19th of a hemisphere. That's pretty narrow.
I believe this would be a great videocamera if you are shooting small things far away from you, and in bright light. For example, birdwatching on a sunny day. But, if you want to shoot something large, like a 40-foot bus, you will need to stand at least 50 feet away! My next phone call is for an RMA number so I can send the HD700 back. Sorry, Sanyo, I wanted it to work, I really did. Maybe I will try the HD1000.
By the way, the HD700's shoe uses a full-size HDMI connector. If you are buying an HDMI cable to watch your HD700 on your HDTV, buy an HDMI cable with normal-sized ends. There is no way to hook up the HDMI cable directly to the camera itself, the HDMI cable is connected via the shoe only.
Buy Sanyo Xacti HD700 7MP MPEG-4 High Definition 720p Camcorder with 5x Optical Zoom (Red) Now
First, a major problem with a lot of reviews is that people with unknown skills buy things with unreasonable expectations and post authoritative sounding reviews. Most don't seem to even look at the manuals, they just try using the equipment at their own intuitive level and then post bad reviews and take advantage of the return policy. I have a good friend that does this.The people that read the manuals and actually learn to use things and are too busy enjoying them to bother coming back to post. So, we see bad reviews and think that some really cool things are junk.
Personally, I'm no novice. I own three video cameras and a number of digital still cameras that I know and use well, yet I am constantly missing good to even great shots/videos as I don't have a camera with me. I tried, but just got tired of "lugging" them around unless I had a specific purpose in mind. What I wanted was a pocket camera that I'd have with me whether I planned to shoot or not.
I wasn't sure what I wanted so I stared with pocket still cameras that also shot video and, after playing with a few, decided I'd be happier with a pocket video that shot stills. I did a lot of research online looking at web sites with actual still and video samples. Saw some very nice stuff from a Sanyo CG65, CA65 the HD700. The HD700 seemed to suit my needs so I looked at Sanyo's web site and read all the specs, etc. Sanyo seems to have several web site, but one Japan based one, (sanyo-dsc dot com -click on English on the top) has a "Let's shoot more Movies" which shows some things I didn't know the camera could do and even tells you how to do them. Searched some more and found several user reviews of the HD700 with sample videos and stills that convinced me to try the camera so I ordered from Amazon, in brown.
Camera arrived and I immediately loved the feel of it. It slid into my pocket!!! I read the manual while I charged the battery and ran out to play with it in auto mode. Wow! The still pictures were quite sharp, a bit too sharp for me so I set it to Soft which I really like. The video quality was quite nice. I couldn't get over the fact that I could just pull the camera from my pocket and get that kind of quality! I made a print from one of the still pictures and it looked VERY good. Showed it to a friend who has since ordered a HD700 (red) for himself and he wasn't even in the market for a new camera.
I went out the next day and shot all day with it; indoors and outdoors. I shot in a few stores -garden departments are great for color and close-up tests, at a park, shot some construction workers, etc. The results were much better than I expected. The only glitches I had were operator errors, new camera, I'm still at the fumbling stage.
I don't shoot low light pictures and knew from the beginning this is not a low light camera, neither are any of my video cameras. Not a problem as I don't tend to shoot in low light, but if I did and wanted to use this camera (or my others) I'd add light, a tripod (there's a tripod mount on the bottom) or both. I did do some quick low light tests by bracing myself against a wall holding the camera with my elbows in and in a two-handed grip, also by setting the camera and my hand on something (shelf, shopping cart, table, etc.) to steady things during the longer exposures and the results were nice. I'd recommend a pocketable tabletop type tripod or one of the flexible ones you can also wrap around things to help get steady shots.
I, also, knew that the 38mm part of the 38-190mm (35mm equiv.) lens isn't considered wide, however, it's wider than I'd thought and works fine for me. Found a Phoenix Magnetic Mount 0.45x lens here on Amazon that works WELL with this camera giving you 17mm, now that's wide! Search vimeo dot com for this camera and see the test videos.
My suggestions: Step one, download the PDF version of the manual (or use the printed one -I like PDFs as I can search them) and go through it. Most of the "problems" I've seen posted here and elsewhere are covered in the manual. Step two, check out the Sanyo HD700 tip site. Step three, play and experiment with it. Read up on how to do things (the shortcuts features is really cool) and take it with you and see what you and it can do. Step four, search for some Sanyo HD700 related forums and ask questions.
I LOVE this camera and its new home is in my pockets. Mission accomplished.i bought this (red) on Amazon on Black Friday, for$399.
It is an excellent deal considering the price you pay.
I was a little worried with the reviews posted (some good, some bad), but after receiving the gadget and used it myself, I am convinced it is the best value I have spent $400 on.
My friend camped over 48 hour outside BestBuy to get some nice deals, but I didn't have to suffer the cold nights with someone smoking dope or cigarettes a few chairs down; I still got a great deal online on Amazon.
The picture quality is excellent in mid to well lit conditions.
I shot some footage today while playing weekly badminton in a gym, The result was amazing. It was clear, crisp, and all of the details captured.
The 7.1MP picture quality is not bad either. I have a Sony F828 with 8.1MP quality. I have to say this one, even though lacking much of the functions, the picture quality is not bad.
It's compact size means my 9 year old daughter can play and experiment shooting some videos. I got a 8GB SDHC card and it works wonders. Even though my old SD reader, (7 in 1), couldn't read the new SDHC, by using the cradle, I still can transfer all of the videos and pictures onto my Macbook Pro very easily and fast. Of course the iPhoto and iMovie imported them and offers unprecedented ease of editing.
Some minor improvements or suggestion for Sanyo:
1. the wide angle is not wide enough when you don't use the zoom feature. You need to stand at least 15 feet away to shoot the wide (HD) format.
2. The zoom engages too fast; it doesn't have the pause then fast zoom (accelerate) on the control, so when you push the zoom, it immediately zooms too much. Needs to be more smooth.
3. The picture quality in a darker room, is, I have to admit, not good; very rough.
4. Battery gets hot (not really hot, but begins to bother you a bit), after shooting for 5 min.
5. Wish the playback volume was louder (speaker volume tooooo little).
Don't let the above 5 minor issues bother you. It is overall a very good package for under $500.
Most people, even if they bought the 1080HD camcorder, don't necessary need it or use anything for that quality level. And unless you have a very steady hand or use tripod on everything, your 1080 will show shaking videos very clearly and give you a HD headache.
I am extremely happy with this purchase and highly recommend to anyone.
This one is sure to capture a lot of nice memories for years to come.A few days ago, a storm thousands of miles away brought high tidal waves to my town. When I drove by the beach, I had this toy in my pocket. The footage is raw, mostly auto, no extra lens, nor tripod. Just me, the camera and the scene. (Unfortunately, Amazon doesn't support MPEG4. Here's the clip--http://www.vimeo.com/427079)
This the best part about the Sanyo HD700--you can have it with you all the time without being laughed at by those who know you're not a TV cameraman, or without anyone realizing you carry it at all. That means your camcorder is a lot more useful.
It's also a lot easier to use--shoot, take out the SD card, plug it into a USB reader, copy onto computer hard disk, view, edit, convert or delete. All random access, no waiting for tape rolling. A 4GB card gives you ~1h20m recording time in HD. Two cards are enough if you dump the files to a computer quickly enough. You can also dump video to an external hard disk without a computer.
Other things I like--
* A convenient dock to recharge, connect to computer, TV or DVD recorder in a number of standards (USB, HDMI, Component, ...), and with a remote
* Manual control of mostly everything with assignable Shortcut buttons
* Some advanced features such as face tracking, though I usually turn them off for better response/performance but they can be useful
* Construction, finish and ergonomics
* No moving parts in storage means better reliability and lower power consumption
* Video quality: 720p 30fps 9Mbps and MPEG4
Now something I don't like--
* 5x zoom starting at 38mm tele (35mm equivalent)--see update for solution
* Poor low light performance
* Lack of optical image stabilization
* Short battery life (rated 80min for HD recording) coupled with high price (~$40 OEM)
* No ext. mic input (there's a typo in the manual giving false hope)
One function I haven't figured out--using it as a mighty webcam. It would be interesting to capture video to computer directly with this one.
And one feature wish--give us HDMI video input and let us use it as an HD video recorder using flash memory. Sanyo?
Overall, I like the camera. I carry it almost as much as my cell phone for both video and still. If only it can also do wireless phone and Web...
Update: Phoenix 0.45x magnetic wide angle converter works fairly well with no mutilation necessary. It attaches to the ferromagnetic lens housing directly. You can search Vimeo for HD700 and find the clips.
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