Sanyo VPC-CG65 Digital Camcorder

June 16th, 2009 | 46 views | Posted by admin in Cheap Camcorders

Sanyo VPC-CG65 6MP MPEG-4 Flash Memory Digital Camcorder

Designed to match your active lifestyle, the Xacti CG65 is small and light enough to slip into your pocket or purse anytime. Its slim, vertical design makes it easy and comfortable to operate.

The Sanyo VPC-CG65 Flash Memory Digital Camcorder excels at recording beautiful, high-sensitivity movies. Its 6.37-megapixel CCD and 5x optical zoom help you capture the essence of a scene as it unfolds. When you’re shooting in low light, an automatic frame-rate adjustment feature lets you record more detail. And, since movies are recorded in the highly compressed MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 format, you can fit a lot more of them onto a memory card.Thanks to the high compression rate of the MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 video codec, the Xacti CG65 creates small, manageable image files. These can then be easily uploaded to your PC and then drag-and-dropped into video blogs or sent as e-mail attachments. Or you can bypass your PC entirely and simply print out your favorite snapshots on a PictBridge-compatible printer. What’s more, thanks to the CG65′s Exif Print and PIM III compatibility, still images can be printed with the effects of the camera’s original settings intact.

VPC-CG65 Highlights

DVD-like movie quality The Xacti CG65 adopts the MPEG-4 high compression and recording format that enables VGA-size (640 x 480) video clips at 30 fps. The smaller-sized files are easy to handle and enable many hours of high-quality recording. Users can enjoy the beautiful quality on big screen TV’s too. Audio recording uses the AAC-LC (MPEG-4 Audio) file format that delivers higher compression than MP3 and other earlier formats, thus giving users small sized files. Digitally-produced, high-quality stereo is obtained by 2-channel 16-bit recording at 48 khz. Also, the CG65 is SDHC-compatible, which means that you can record movies for up to four hours on a 4GB SDHC memory card.

High-performance 6.37-megapixel CCD The CG65 incorporates a 1/2.5-inch CCD with 6.37 total megapixels. Using 9-image mixing technology, it enables low-noise movies at 9x sensitivity. It can capture DVD-like VGA video clips or high-quality 6 MP stills.

Still and video images captured simultaneously While recording video footage, still pictures can be taken by simply pressing the shutter button. The CG65 can simultaneously record VGA-size (640 x 480) video clips and 6 MP stills. While recording video, memories of a special instant can be preserved forever without missing that golden opportunity to capture it as a still picture image.

Real-time interpolation for conversions to 10-megapixel recording An original algorithm that utilizes a pixel interpolation filter converts images collected by the 6 MP CCD into a recording equivalent of 10 MP (3680 x 2760). Large prints can be made or specific parts of the image can be enlarged for detailed printing.

Compact, lightweight design At just 67.7 x 34.5 x 100.3 mm (W x H x D) in size and 149g in weight (body only), the CG65 can be easily carried anywhere, and pictures can be taken on a whim anytime. This portable digital movie camera is designed to go with you everywhere all the time. It is styled to a casual form with an active flare and is well balanced to enable picture-taking with one hand. The vertical body lets users retain a natural posture in recording without stressing the wrist or shaking.

Easy in-camera image playback and editing Using the 9-image Display Function feature, users can quickly search for specific images. And with the Slideshow feature, images can be played back continuously. The Art Mode can be used to add a little fun to image playback. Moreover, movies can be easily edited from the camera itself. Another great feature is the time bar. It serves as a visual tool that makes it easier to splice multiple scenes together or cut unwanted images form clips. It also helps to effectively use SD memory card capacity and can be used to extract still frames from movies.

Scene Selected Shot By simply selecting a photo mode, beautiful, fun pictures can be taken according to set photographic parameters:

Sports Mode The high-speed shutter captures fast-moving subjects.
Portrait Mode The subject stands out against a deemphasized background to enhance the portrait atmosphere.
Landscape Mode The entire image is brought into sharp focus.
Night Portrait Mode Subjects come out clear against a nighttime backdrop.
Fireworks Mode Fireworks are captured in all their vivid brightness.
Lamp Mode Pictures taken under minimal lighting such as lamps come out beautifully.
Snow & Beach Mode Beautiful pictures can be taken in the snow and on the beach without white-outs.

Filter Functions Snapshots are more fun to take when using one of the filter modes

Cosmetic Mode Skin comes out beautifully in close-ups of people.
Monochrome Mode Pictures have the atmosphere of a black-and-white photo.
Sepia Mode A nostalgic look is achieved using sepia toning.

5x optical zoom lens The CG65 incorporates a high-performance 5x optical zoom lens with a maximum aperture of f3.5. Subjects and people far away can be captured in beautiful quality. Coupled with the 12x digital zoom, users can capitalize on a maximum 60x zooming.

Super Macro shooting In the wide-angle mode, it’s a possible to capture images in highly-detailed close-ups; the lens can be as close as 1cm from the subject.

Other Features

19 MB internal memory
Thin, compact Lithium-ion battery delivers 80 minutes of sequential video clip recording
Front-side headphone jack
Talking navigation guide
Zoom-and-crop recording
Autofocus captures nearby or faraway targets without the need for Macro mode
Self timer (2 seconds/10 seconds)
9-point AF or Spot AF for still images
Voice Recorder function
Multi-language: German, English, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Traditional or Simplified Chinese, Portuguese, Turkish

Sanyo VPC-CG65 Camcorder Review

I’ve been reasonably impressed with Sanyo’s offerings in terms of digital cameras in the past and have used the predecessors to the CG6, including the HD1 and VPC-C6. Both cameras are reasonable, but were absolutely hopeless in low light conditions (ISO400), the CG6 has an ISO of 1600 (finally) giving one of Sanyo’s offering standard low light capabilities on par with the other high quality cameras, meaning I could video most of my more embarrassing pub crawls, but not my night club adventures. The mic (built into the screen) is surprisingly sensitive, especially to sounds emanating close by, but very resistant to wind and background noise including tapping or brushing of the mic. The video quality is 640×480 and is in MP4 format (quicktime) which is comparable in quality to the latest iTunes movie downloads of the same resolution, though you can adjust it to be of lower quality. The photos are 6 megapixels which speaks for itself.

PC or Mac Connection is done by a standard USB cable which also doubles as a charger. Battery life also seems reasonable as does the charge time, but having never filmed for more than an hour without a recharge I would be cautious on long trips.

Despite a few minor drawbacks I would highly recommend this camera, it’s reasonably durable and fits easily in ones pocket or a generic soft compact camera case. Personally I take it everywhere, I like to start filming and then pass the camera among friends for a few minutes, after a short while people forget it’s there, after which you’re left with a multiple perspective view of the previous night, very much worth the high price.