The Sanyo VPC-CA6 Xacti digital media camera combines the functionality of a digital camera and digital camcorder in a compact, weather-resistant design, and records both 6-megapixel still images and 640 x 480 resolution digital video.
This Digital Camera and Camcorder requires no tape, all images are stored on an optional SD Memory Card. Amongst the smallest and lightest camera to carry with you where ever you travel, the VPC-CA6 has a 2 inch LCD monitor, built-in electronic-flash, Optical and Digital zoom modes. Take remarkable still pictures at up to 6 megapixels and video images at up to 480p VGA resolution with digital Stereo sound. Images can easily be transferred, edited and stored on either a PC or Macintosh with the included software and through the High-Speed USB 2.0 port. View images on your TV through an S-Video Output Port. Print without a computer using the Integrated PictBridge and compatible PictBridge printers. White balance - Auto, Full Auto TTL, Manual, Sunny, Cloudy, Fluorescent, Incandescent, Sampling 2.0 inch Amorphous Silicon Color TFT LCD monitor Interface AV output ( Composite Video, NTSC & PAL, Stereo Audio) High-Speed USB 2.0 High-speed Languages - Japanese, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Russian, Korean, Traditional or Simplified Chinese Power source - Lithium-ion battery (DB-L20 included), Battery Charger (VAR-L20NI included) Dimensions - Width 77mm x Height 100mm x Depth 36mm ( When LCD is closed ) Weight - 174 grams (including battery and SD card) Webcam capability Talking navigation guide for first-time users Super-quick 1.3-second camera start-up PictBridge and Exif Print compatible Simple connection to TV, VCR, DVD recorder or computer
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 Awesome Camcorder |
| Review Date: April 20, 2007 |
| Reviewer: G. OHara, San Diego, CA USA |
Unlike the rest of the reviewers here, I bought this camcorder at a STORE in Singapore. This gave me a HUGE advantage to try out the camera BEFORE I bought it! I paid about US$450.00 for the CA6 [which included all the required cables, 2 CD-ROMs of software, carrying case, 2 batteries {one 1.5-hour and one 3-hour battery}, 4GB Ultra High-Speed SD card, 2 tripod mounts {no charge}, Multi-port USB hub for 4 different types of SD cards, power cords and adapter for U.S. and Singapore voltages].
After reading all the reviews here I can agree with SOME of the "Cons" comments.
Yes, it does NOT come with a tripod mount hole. But, the salesperson gave me two black plastic tripod mounts for FREE. It fits like a glove--no problems. Sorry, I don't know where to find these in the U.S. but I'm sure they're out there somewhere.
Yes, the hand strap is useless. Seriously, throw it away! It's not worth the effort. My wife gave me her camera strap to use and it can be fed through the bottom ring and that works much better.
The only way to protect the LCD screen and camera lens is to keep it in the carrying case when not in use. This case was a real convenience with the metal ring that could attach to the belt loop of my shorts or pants.
A lot of people are complaining about low light situations. I haven't noticed too much of this. The salesperson told me that this was a "Sports" model version. I was shown several other models by Sanyo that were similar to the CA6. This gave me the impression that the CA6 was geared more towards outdoor use and it has proved itself worthy.
It IS a small camcorder so it took a few days to get used to filming with it. PLUS, I'm LEFT-HANDED and used it like a stubborn left-hander in my left hand--but I finally got used to it. I know it wasn't designed with this in mind. But, I reckon it gave me an advantage over right-handers with larger fingers. I didn't have to worry about using all the buttons and hold the camcorder at the same time. I know this sounds amusing but if you're a left-hander you might appreciate this info. Yes, I AM one of those who has to use TWO hands to dial a phone number or play games on my small cellphone, hehe.
Oh, and using the highest quality DVD setting for video gives you about 2 hours and 45 minutes with the 4GB SD card.
Be sure to get some type of camera strap for this device--not the one provided [I reckon this was an Sanyo afterthought]. I realized this one day as I was 100 feet up in a skyride in Singapore. As I was dangling my feet, I wondered how dreadful it would be for the CA6 to slip out of my hand and watch it shatter into a 1,000 pieces below me.
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Extremely pleased with the new Sanyo Xacti VPC-CA6
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| Review Date: September 7, 2006 |
| Reviewer: BJ Ford., Industry, CA |
The VPC-CA6 is only available for pre-order in US. Warehouse123.com had the item in stock already, so I got the Camera from them. I received my order within 2 days by FedEx. Super Quick shipment! Compared to my ancient VPC-C4, both image and video quality is better. My ancient Xacti was excellent for my needs and this new one is even better. Zooming, recording and taking images with one hand is excellent. The CA6's video mode is outstanding and producing picture quality comparable to a excellent digital camcorder. Played back on a large screen TV the picture is sharp, colors are bright and clear, and despite the stereo microphones both being mounted on the back of the monitor panel, the sound quality is brilliant with a distinct stereo effect. Still image quality was ok. Colors rendition, exposure and focusing were all brilliant, the camera's image processing engine is working very well. Image stabilization is very excellent.
Battery duration appears to be above average, especially considering that the CA6 is powered by a small 3.7V Li-ion battery, which appears to be the same as the one found in most of the Canon range. I charged it up last week, and have used the camera quite a bit since then, but it's still reading as full. I will high recommend you get extra DB-L20 battery and you keep a recharged battery for spare. As for memory usage, the new CA6 support using 4GB SD card which provides enough room for 2000 images at maximum quality, or over 2 hours of SHQ video.
The only problem with this camera, it has 3 dead pixels in the 640x480 video areas. So I called warehouse123 who sold the CA6 to me. Their tech support told me that the problem can be fixing by firmware. So I sent the camera back and received my fixed camera within a week. I have a pretty excellent RMA experience! Just wonderful! |
Excellent quality for the money
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| Review Date: October 15, 2006 |
| Reviewer: H.M., Oceanside, CA United States |
I received the XACTi a few weeks ago and it's performing like I hoped it would. The controls are a very simple and intuitive. All the required hardware is included. Does not require any additional software to run on Mac or Windows.
I have a MacBook with Boot Camp running Windows XP Pro. The camera works easily with either platform. It is recognized as another drive and does not require any additional software to download the images and movies onto the hardrive. I am using a SanDisk 2gb SD memory card.
Another huge plus is not having to wait while downloading real-time like you would have to with miniDV. The quality may not be the same as miniDV but the convenience and ease of use make up for the difference. The quality is much better than a digital camera when taking movies and people will reckon it's just a camera by it's small size.
My ancient camera was a 2 mega pixel Canon Powershot A60. This is rated at 6 mega pixel. You can certainly see the difference in the pictures and movies. When filming movies, the higher frames per second sample rate makes the images smooth, even when taking pictures of high speed objects like helicopter rotor blades and airplane propellers.
This is my first camcorder so I can't really compare to anything else (except my ancient camera) but the ease of use will make you want to use it all the time and people will start to tell you to place that thing away.
Update: After owning this camera for a few months there are a few annoying quirks that I've learned:
No tri-pod capability.
Weak flash for low light shots (but does take fantastic daylight shots).
Sometimes grainy video during lower light indoor shots. |
A Spectacular Digital Camcorder
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| Review Date: June 6, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Francis Andrew Seidman, Los Angeles, CA. U.S.A. |
This camcorder is unquestionably the best piece of digital hardware I've bought in recent memory, and I would very highly recommend it to any other customer - as long as he/she is willing to work with the options menu and learn to tune settings appropriate to the recording/photo situation. This brings out the best in the camera, which is superb.
After reading the rest of the reviews on the site, I'm a bit surprised at those which mention poor image quality. The images I've taken have been crystal clear at all but the highest resolutions. This camera particularly excels at photography of light and reflection, catching light halos and metallic glints with exceptional brilliance - one of the most creative and fun ways I've found to use it has been to purposefully take photos of quick-moving light sources, which leave spectacular and intense trails in an artistic effect. Conventional photos are also very, very clear, with fantastic emphasis on color. Image quality is particularly crisp if one uses the 10MB setting (yes, it goes higher than 6 megapixels) and then downsizes the photos in an image editor. At the full 10MB setting with no downsizing, grain can certainly be seen, but this corresponds to a resolution of 3680x2760 pixels - unlikely to be used for less than high-level professional editing, which is usually the domain of much more expensive equipment.
Video is sharp and distinct, with videos appearing in the MP4 format - not necessarily the widest-distributed format to convert and work with, as others have noted, but the positive tradeoff is improved quality and smaller file sizes. QuickTime and Adobe Premiere have no problems at all with this format and are excellent choices for video editing. A 2GB memory card provides 1hr20min of 640x480 video, or plus-5-hours of 320x240 video. I used this camera to record several live performances of my roommate's band in dimly lit clubs, with the resulting footage excellent enough to make an underground DVD from - which they did.
I generally don't use this camera for audio recording, but, it should be noted that the above-mentioned band performances were recorded with this camera and came out quite listenable.
As far as ergonomics and usability are concerned, some have mentioned the lack of a right tripod mount - this is probably the largest ergonomic flaw the camera has, but a excellent camera store (or simply some ingenuity - I used an adjustable nylon strap, resting the camera on a spare videogame controller, to rig the camera to my own tripod with quite fine results) should be able to provide a brace or other solution. In addition, the buttons on the control panel are very small, even for my fine-boned fingers, and might be very awkward for those with large hands. But, the camera is a joy to hold and use - I strongly disagree with the comment saying that this camera feels "cheap", and suspect that this person may simply be comparing it to a heavy metal-casing traditional camcorder (apples and oranges there). The screen is large, well-lit, and exceptionally crisp. After using it for nearly a year and a half, the screen has no serious scratches at all, so it's quite durable when properly cared for. The camera is also LIGHT, and can really be taken everywhere with no arm fatigue at all. I routinely take walks around whatever town I'm in, camera in hand, and snap close-up photos to use as textures in my digital artwork. And personally, I've found the handstrap to be ergonomic, comfortable, and it really does secure the camera well - at least for me! (Battery life, but, can tend to be somewhat small, usually giving me about two hours of continuous use, and it's simple to drain the battery if one forgets to disconnect after uploading to a PC, as the PC connection keeps the camera on.)
I can't speak to the water-resistance much, though I have used it in very heavy rain with no problems at all - though it is vital to note that it's water-resistant, not waterproof, so it's not suitable for underwater use.
After pondering the other negative experiences in the reviews on this site with regard to image quality, I really have to believe that these people may be failing to make use of appropriate focus and color settings in the options menu. Any photographer knows that the best photos and videos result from proper focus and color calibration (or film in older cameras); this one is no different and can quite easily produce uninspiring images if the focus is set, for example, to wide-range for a close-up photo or vice versa, or if the white balance is set for indoor lights on an outdoor photo. In addition, it's simple to blur the image with a shaky hand, and I had this problem for about two days, which is really all the practice that's necessary to learn to keep a steady hand when taking pictures - there is also an image stabilizer in the options menu that works somewhat decently. For those willing to really learn the camera's ins and outs, the directional pad on the controls acts as a multi-shortcut controller that can change focus, lighting, and self-timing options on the glide for optimal pictures, though the options menu can be used as well. The only things I'd add would be a real tripod mount and a setting to use the self-timer on multiple pictures, though this last is very simple to do with the above-mentioned direction pad. I suspect those who've had poor experiences with the camera are not using it to its fullest capacity, though I don't know for sure.
To recap, pros and cons:
Pro:
-Exceptional capture of light and reflection
-Fantastic image quality at all but 10 megapixel setting
-Well-lit and highly readable screen
-Extremely lightweight and snug in the hand
-Can be used in the rain or near heavy spray
-Greatly rewards users willing to learn the ins and outs of the camera settings and controls
Con:
-No standard tripod mount
-Battery life is not exceptional
-Buttons are small and require finesse to operate
-Not exceptionally suitable for those wanting a "one-touch" or "idiot-proof" experience
Overall, easily five stars. My personal experience has been more like five and a half; this is due to my willingness to fine-tune the camera and work with it to bring out the sharpest, right-color pictures. I can say this camera really has enhanced my life and become a vital part of my work in computer design. But it might not be the best choice for those looking for the disposable-camera-like, one-touch experience. You'll have to choose for yourself - it's certainly worth a test drive in any case. |
Brilliant !!!!!
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| Review Date: June 8, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Frankie, NJ |
This camcorder was the best buy we have made for yonks!
It was much much smaller that expected, even smaller that our current 3 megapixel camera (which will probably be thrown in the trash now.) It was much better filming quality than we expected, and much better picture quality than expected. The difference in our 3.2 megapixel to the 6 megapixel is worlds apart.
I checked out the filming quality on the Sanyo web site as they have samples. I thought the samples were excellent, but I really reckon the actual quality is better that the Sanyo web site.
I can't place this thing down.
I haven't got the hang of taking shots with one hand yet because it seems a bit too small for my hands.....is that excellent or terrible?
Really excellent Camcorder/Camera...../Toy
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November 30th, 2009 | 
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