Sanyo VPC-HD1 First Impressions Camcorder Review

Automatic Control
The Xacti features automatic options for every manual option it has and usually a few preset options as well. Auto Exposure (AE) presets include: auto, sports, portrait, nightview, landscape, fireworks, and lamp, and can be selected in the menu system. Whichever mode you chose is linked to the Program option for manual exposure control on the camcorder; when one of the other exposure modes (explained below) such as Aperture or Shutter is selected, the Program AE feature deactivates.

There are automatic controls for both shutter speed and aperture as well as white balance available in the menu system, and these automatic adjustments seems okay, though not quite as good as Sony’s automatic controls. On such a small camcorder, adjustments aren’t expected to be stellar, but for an HD camcorder, I was hoping for something a little better.

Three Spot metering options exist for exposure in order to help guide the camcorder in its automatic adjustments, which is kinda nice. They include Multi-point, central-area, and Single-spot metering, and are available in the menu system. Also in the menu system are focal metering options of 5-point auto focus and spot auto-focus. Automatic options for ISO also exist.

Overall Manual Control
For such a small camcorder, the manual control options are impressive. When we get this bad boy into the testing tent, we’ll be able to give you a better estimate as to exactly how good these options are, but as of right now they seem comparable in scope to those of the JVC Everio series, though perhaps slightly more expansive.

The Xacti HD1 offers manual control over focus, exposure (both shutter and aperture), and white balance, and while it is amazing for such a small camcorder to feature such a wealth of control, it also wouldn't be taken seriously as an HD camcorder if it didn’t.

Zoom
With 10x optical and 100x digital, you can really feel the zoom in this little guy. I can’t say whether the motor noise will show up on the audio track, but we had a huge problem with motor noise on Fisher’s FC1 (made by the same company) a couple years ago; that camcorder had a design remarkably similar to this Sanyo’s. Our testing should reveal whether or not this is the case. Fortunately, if motor noise is a problem because of the optical zoom, at least you can purchase an external microphone and hook it up to the microphone jack on this little beast. Perhaps anticipation of this motor noise problem prompted the jack’s inclusion; after all, I think this is the smallest camcorder to feature an external microphone.

Focus
The Xacti HD1 features a variety of focusing modes, both auto and manual. Inside the camcorder’s menu system are four manual focus options. They include: standard range, full range, “MF”—manual focus, and macro. Standard, full, and macro options function almost as presets, or windows to govern the automatic and manual focus ranges of the camcorder. MF allows users to manually adjust focus using the joystick. It has 22 steps.

When not in the menu system, users can press down on the joystick, towards the little flower icon, in order to engage manual focus. This appears as a horizontal meter on the bottom of the LCD screen. While a bit cumbersome to use, especially with only the LCD screen for “eye-balling” adjustment, it is nice to have manual focus so close at hand. Such a small joystick with so much control…

For still capture, the Xacti features two auto focus modes, 5 point and Spot, switchable in the menu system.

Exposure (Aperture)
There are multiple exposure adjustments available on the Xacti HD1. The first is a simple exposure offset system, easily accessible using the camcorder’s joystick. To engage the offset system, the user presses to the right on the joystick, and then can toggle, either left or right, moving a cursor across a meter from lighter to darker. The offset system range is from +/-1.8 EV at 0.3 EV increments.

The camcorder also features typical manual exposure with standard F-stop steps. To engage manual F-stop adjustment, the user must set the manual exposure mode in the menu system. Four modes are available: Program, which adjusts exposure according to Program AE; Shutter, which allows for manual adjustment of the shutter with F-stop automatically compensating; Aperture, which allows for F-Stop manual adjustment with shutter automatically compensating; and Manual, which allows for manual adjustment of both shutter and aperture. The F-stop range is from f/6.8 to f/3.5.

The Xacti HD1 also features three exposure measuring modes, so you can select how you want the camcorder to adjust exposure. It then does so automatically. These modes include multi (for metering across the entire frame), center (for central metering), and spot (for single spot metering).

Shutter Speed
Manual shutter speed rates for still photographs include 1/2-1/2000 of a second. In the burst shooting mode, rates from 1/15-1/2000 exist when the flash is not used, and from 1/30-1/2000 when it is used. A maximum four second shutter speed is available, which is what Sanyo calls “lamp” mode. For video recording, manual shutter speed levels from 1/30-1/10000 exist. Shutter speed is adjusted using the camcorder’s joystick to select manual shutter speed in the camcorder’s menu system. Users then adjust the rate by moving the joystick, as in exposure adjustment. To manually control the shutter the user must be in either the Shutter or the Manual exposure modes.

White Balance
A number of white balance options exist on the Xacti HD1, as on the JVC Everio camcorders. These options include a number of automatic modes, some of which act like exposure presets in that they anticipate certain environments and light temperatures. Presets and Automatic modes include: Auto (full auto TTL), Sunny, Cloudy, Fluorescent, and Incandescent. Full manual white balance adjustment is available as the Sampling option.

White balance must be searched out and adjusted in the camcorder’s menu system using the joystick.

Gain
There is no manual gain option on the Xacti HD1, though a number of ISO features exist (see other features).