Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD2 Camcorder Reviewby John NeelyPublished on May 10, 2007 12:00 PM
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Still Features (10.5)
This "camcorder" offers a still photo suite rivaled only by “digital still cameras” like the Canon PowerShot TX1 – but certainly not by any other camcorders we know of. This is one hybrid cam that lives up to its billing – as long as you can live with the somewhat unusual quality of the video it produces. When we reviewed its predecessor from 2006 – the VPC-HD1 (Review, Specs, $499.99), it performed so well as a digital still camera that we suspected it was built around a still camera chassis and adapted for video capture.
The VPC-HD2 captures stills at a higher resolution than any other camcorder available. The image sizes offered are 3680 x 2760, 3072 x 2304 at either low or standard compression, 1600 x 1200, 1280 x 720, and 640 x 480. The lowest quality VGA setting can be used in both still and "sequential" modes. The 3072 x 2304 setting is the only one offering two compression options, with low compression equating to about 5.3 MP for and 7 MP for standard compression.
Framing a photo proved to be unnecessarily difficult. There is no clear still mode / video mode differentiation – no button to push or switch to flip. Say you want to take a 4:3 aspect ration photo. The LCD retains the letterbox borders right up until the moment you push the shutter button half-way down. Only at that point does the letterbox disappear and your frame take the 4:3 ratio. Now say you want to take a 16:9 ratio image (like 1280 x 720). The letterboxes are there as always. When you push the shutter half-way down, the image appears in 4:3, then when you push down the shutter all the way, the 16:9 letterbox borders re-appear. If there was any sense to this device, the aspect borders would appear right away, or better yet, the camcorder would have a still/video mode switch.
The camcorder’s manual and automatic controls can be applied universally in either video or still photo mode, including aperture, shutter speed, focus, and focus and metering method, filters, and scene modes. The options for shutter speed expand to as much as 4 seconds when using the onboard lamp. Noise Reduction can also be enabled to reduce image noise in still mode, but is only effective when the shutter speed is ¼ second or slower. Noise Reduction is located in the Option submenu.
Other settings offered on the VPC-HD2 make much more sense in still mode, such as the mysterious ISO ratings that are akin to gain during video recording. The same ISO settings apply, including 50, 100, 200, 400, 800, and 1600. The use of ISO to describe still photo sensitivity on the VPC-HD2 mirrors the terminology used by most digital still cameras. On digital still cameras, ISO has no correspondence to film speed, but describes the effect of each setting to users who are familiar with analog nomenclature.
There is a pop-up flash on top of the camcorder with automatic, forced flash, off, or red-eye reduction mode settings. The flash release button on the right side of the flash doubles as a mode select button. Pressing it repeatedly after the flash is open cycles through the various flash settings. Like an increasing number of camcorders, the VPC-HD2 includes a Sequential or burst mode, auto bracketing, support for simultaneous video and photo capture, and 2 second and 10 second self timer options.
Still Performance (7.76)
Still performance for the Sanyo VPC-HD2 was tested by shooting a standard Gretag McBeth Color Checker chart and running those stills through Imatest imaging software for information on color accuracy, noise, and saturation. At best, the camcorder produced a color error of 7.73, with a noise percentage of 1.39% and a saturation of 93.48%. The VPC-HD2 differed from most camcorders in that its best stills were the ones taken in full auto mode. Most camcorders perform best after slightly lowering the exposure. This points, again, to our belief that the HD2 makes a better camera than a camcorder.
Still Resolution (23.48)
Still resolution is tested by shooting an Applied Image 12233 resolution chart and running those stills through Imatest imaging software. At best, the VPC-HD2 produced a horizontal resolution of 1327 line widths per picture height (lw/ph) – with a clipping of 1.58% and 11.3% undersharpening – and a vertical resolution of 1053 lw/ph – with a 1.60% clipping and undersharpening of 22.2%. These resolution scores are very good for a camcorder. The undersharpening is unusual, too. Most camcorders oversharpen to mask how poor their still performance generally is.
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