great little camcorder

This was my first camcorder and I was looking for one that was lightweight and simple to use. This model is perfect for those reasons. The battery lasted at least what it said on the box, though I did buy an additional battery in case. The camcorder is easily held in one hand and the anti-shake helps if you are walking about filming. The large screen is clear and easy to see. It doesn't have the still photo option but we have a good canon camera for that anyway. Super value for money in my opinion and all good so far!

Excellent Camera for a Fantastic Price

I bought this camera recently with the arrival of our first child to be able to record general bits and pieces as all new dad's do!
For the cost I wasn't expecting a great deal but I've been really surprised at how easy and well this camcorder performs.
For someone who just wants to take general video of 'stuff' you really can't do much better than this for the price, a friend of mine was a bit dismissive of it however he's a professional and spends more on his kit than most people do their houses but for the price he had to conceed it certainly does the job!

Experience with Sony DCR-SR75E

I purchesed this camera just before going on a cruising holiday to the mediteranean. This was a disaster an absolutly uselss product. Users can only film it in dull light. In the sun where we were [high reflections etc.] all you can see on the screen is your own image. There is no view finder rendering the whole experience usless. Annoyingly is has an on button which is difficult to move, a tempermntal focus adjustment, a screen with press controls very hard to learn and generally a poor set up.
On return I took the camera back on my first day and got my money back fortunatly.
Discussing the problem with another retailer the assistant knew exactly what the problem was he said it was well known. Cutting out the viewfinder was a classic error. Now for the first time I have no proper film of our holiday very disapointing. Don't waste your money on this item. Sony should be ashamed of itself.

Sanyo Xacti VPC-CG65 Black Digital Camera - Battery Life

The batterry life of the camcorder is hopeless. It can't even stand for 3 hours. If you happen to take still images with flash on, all the more worse.
Though all other features of the camera is great.

Simple and great value for money

Wasnt expecting much...I now use it all the time.

Easy to use, records straight onto an SD card which then plays back in reasonable quality on my TV and my Windows Media Player.

Takes both still pictures and video with ease. I probably use this more than my main camcorder as I do alot of You Tube clips and post them online. This is perfect the that!!

Not bad at all

I brought this camera a couple of weeks ago now and it's really not that bad to be honest. I'm a filmmaker and my previous camera was a canon xl1, which is a semi-pro model, so I do know what i'm talking about in terms of cameras etc.
To start off, its not perfect, there's camera shake which I ironed out with a mono pod, but its difficult to get rid of.
The exposure isn't that great, it tends to underexpose and so I'd recommend that one over-exposes the picture, unless its very very bright using the exposure compensation.
The auto focus is sluggish, but you can adjust it in various ways, you basicly need to get used to the camera and find out the limitations etc, then its not so bad. Use the focus lock to avoid any problems, also you can't manual focus while you're filming.
And lastly the lcd monitor is very poor at giving you an accurate color and exposure, for some reason the monitor is independant of the actual picture and so while the picture on the screen looks correctly exposed, it doesn't come out like that, so just as a rule of thumb, overexpose slightly.
Okay, problems aside, the camera performs as good as any HD camera that are used on films, I do know about this stuff. The colors are good, the sound isn't bad, as you'd expect, and thankfully you have a mic socket, so i'm able to attach my rode ntg-2 for example.
What else? It has white balance which is good, and it basicly has every manual option you'd have on any pro camera, but you can't change the setting's while filming.
You can change shutter speed (up to 1000), aperture etc but it won't recongnise on the monitor for some reason.
At the end of the day avoid the auto stuff, you gotta feel your way round the camera and use it a lot, you'll find the limitations etc and learn how to adjust this.
I use it for shooting random stuff I see, but I would be more than happy to shoot a film with it, and I will do soon. Infact i'm surprised that people aren't using it for tv stuff etc.
My one adjustment to the camera i've made is to make a lead weight and attached it to the battery compartment, because for my uses the camera is just too light believe it or not. A weight will steady it a bit more, and that is a trouble with it, no matter how smooth the camera looks like its moving there probly is camera shake.
Otherwise i'm very pleased with it, and it takes very good clear photos on top of that.

If you spend your life in the garden in a sunny climate .......

......then you'll probably love this dinky little video camera (that is if you can forgive its tinny feel, out of sync audio/video and the fiddliest of lens caps).

Trust me, if you have a hand any bigger than that of a porcelain doll, you'll find this difficult to hold without fearing you're going to drop it at any moment.

At £186, which is what I paid for it, although I wasn't expecting the slickness and build of Panasonic or Sony midrange camcorders, I was expecting more than what I got. I was willing to compromise in order to have a portable camera for ad hoc video moments but not this much. I would have settled for something a bit bigger with a better build and paid a bit more for it.

I feel it's just an expensive gadget.

Fantastic Camcorder

I'm really pleased with the clarity of picture and ease of use.
Loading the software on to my pc made it crash so just be careful !

I am not happy with Amazon though - part of why I ordered it through them was because they said I could have a free tripod and case - I must have mis keyed something and it didn't arrive - usual case of good when selling and rubbish after service me thinks

Great idea, execution left wanting

The concept, styling, weight, size and battery life are fantastic, but there are aspects of this product that leave you flat.

This type of camcorder is the way of the future for all of us who want quick family holiday snaps and especially, videos. Tiny size, incredibly low weight, long battery life allow you to literally put it in your top pocket and when necessary, take it out and start shooting in a few seconds.

The SHQ video would be great if I could view it on anything but the TV. Check that your PC's video card has codecs and is up to the task of rendering HD H264 MPEG4 video in real-time before you set off! My work PC was almost up to the task and I can say the quality looked good, even though the video hiccupped.

The 7.1MP camera produces good pics, but the video, which is its prime function has a few issues. First and foremost is the autofocus. It is incredibly slow to auto-focus. It has a face-tracker function, but the model for this must have been a short-sighted hedgehog, because even in good light it takes way too long to focus. Then there's the auto-focus motor noise which, while low in level, is audible in quiet surroundings. I find it unforgiveable to compromise great electronics with el-cheapo mechanics. On the issue of mechanics, the power and SD slot cover are flimsy, and just waiting to be broken.

The camcorder's performance is not wonderful in low light (e.g an incandescant bulb at night), but I guess I expected this, and so I wasn't disappointed by it's performance; in fact, I was a little surprised it did so well. I haven't tried the still-flash yet, but it looks a little dinky.

Overall, this is a potentially fantastic product, provided Sanyo get their act together on the focusing issue. Would I buy it again? Hmmmm, maybe I'd wait for the next model, but then I'd be missing all those shots of the kids that I would never bother taking with my"grown-up", kilo-plus, house-brick-sized, digi-camcorder.

Great entry-level camcorder

Canon FS10 Overview-

It took several evenings of searching review sites before we chose a Canon FS10. We'd never owned a camcorder before, and I was after a simple budget camcorder that wasn't restricted to just 30 - 60 minutes of footage, which you're restricted to on the mini-DVD or Mini-DV formats. It also has a long battery life of 3 hours; enough for any situation in my experience. You can record upto 1hr50 mins on the highest quality setting, and 2hrs45mins on the standard quality footage (the standard quality has slightly subdued colours and less sharpness to the picture - almost like it's slightly out of focus - but in bright sunlight the difference isn't as big as you'd think). The Low quality setting gives 5hrs of footage but you'd only want this for really basic shots in good outdoor light. This camcorder also has the added bonus of allowing an external microphone input, and space to expand the memory using a SDHC card at a later date when prices for SDHC have come down.

First Impressions-

The camera is tiny, light and good quality. We have an IXUS 40 digital camera so we trusted the Canon quality and I'm not disappointed by the FS10. The little screen on the side gives an excellent picture, and the menu system is easy to use with a tiny joystick to the left of the screen to navigate around the system. The zoom has to be seen to be believed - very impressive for such a small camcorder. The Canon also comes with a remote control which is an excellent feature - you can set it up on a tripod and then stand back and use the remote to zoom in & out and change settings (all without needing to touch the camera, so you don't get any camera wobble or noise from putting your hand on the camera).

Video Quality-

In outdoor situations (whether sunny or not) the video footage is very good, really pleased. In sunlight the footage is especially crisp with no grainy-ness or pixelation. It can shoot in Widescreen or old format, so you can set it up accordingly & achieve the correct format on the TV screen when you play it back. The only downside is that it has a small 1/6" CCD lense (the better camcorders have 1/3" lenses), so it needs plenty of light to get satisfactory video quality - indoors the quality suffers in low lighting (a very grainy look to the video, with a loss of bright colours) - you'll need to have the lights up to get satisfactory quality from this camera. This is the only downside of this model - for low light birthday parties it won't offer the quality you may want. But if you're after a cheaper, small, and easy to use camera for capturing your family & friends then this is all you'll need. I'd recommend it for those who are on a budget, and simply want to capture the essence of a moment, and transfer it easily onto a PC for burning to DVD later. My advice is that if the quality of the footage in all light conditions is the most important thing for you, take a good look at the 3CCD-lense camcorders that use Mini-DV tapes (the Panasonics seem very good). These get consistently excellent reviews for all-round video quality in all light conditions.

Sound Quality-

The option to plug in an external microphone is potentially very useful. We bought a small microphone, which I will use when I'm filming in very quiet locations and need more subdued sound (by using the external microphone you don't get any of the little 'clicks' and 'knocks' that the internal mic picks up. It gives a significantly cleaner and quieter sound quality - e.g. without the background noise of cars & roads). It really makes a difference to the overall quality of the video footage when you're watching it back on TV. Some will think this is unnecessary, but I would recommend trying it if you find the sound too noisy & 'harsh' when you play it back on TV. But having said all that, the built-in stereo mic is very good, it works extremely well.

From Camcorder to DVD Player-

I use the supplied Imagemixer software to download the footage from the camcorder onto a PC, through the USB port. The camcorder will always need to be plugged into the mains to do this (this avoids the battery dying halfway through a transfer and damaging the Camcorder/SDHC card). So the whole transfer process is easy. I use a separate DVD creation software (Sonic/Roxio MyDVD on a Dell PC) to create the DVD's which play as normal in a DVD player, so I'm unable to comment on the quality of the Imagemixer editing software.

Verdict-

We needed a v-small, easy to use camcorder with long battery life, had plenty of space on the memory to record footage, and was easy & quick to transfer to a PC. The FS10 meets all these requirements, but comes with the bonus of a great remote control and the external mic option.

Great budget camcorder

Good points are excellent, vivid, accurate outdoor colours, effective image stabilisation and totally intuitive usage. The night vision facility is a poor gimmick, but who wants this anyway? No external microphone input, but again, you can live without that. Handling, build quality, weight and range of optical zoom are all great. Bought Amazon's cheapest firewire card and lead for my PC at less than a tenner, so downloading for editing is a doddle. Make sure you have a big hard drive for the video files.
The guy who thought it worse than his mobile phone cannot be serious!