Pogue Reviews Waterproof Cams, Sanyo Xacti E1 Floats Above the Competition

Brian Lam — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 19:02:06 EDT

Pogue takes a a few waterproof cams down to the local waterpark for testing and finds Sanyo's 6MP Xacti E1 to be of better image and video quality than the rest. I've always found the Xacti cam's nice, but the low light performance to be lacking. That doesn't matter when you're talking about beach and pool time, however. I believe its image quality is better than the other cams in this roundup, but it's only rated to 5 feet of depth.

He also tests two traditionally shaped 7MP cameras, the Optio W30 ($237) and Olympus's Stylus 770 SW ($270). The Olympus is a fully rugged setup, shock and extreme temperature resistant, good down to 33 feet of water; the Pentax is good for 10 feet at two hours. I've used the previous generation Pentax and loved it for hawaii conditions. But I did lose it on a reef and only then did I learn what Pogue points out: None of these damn things float. [NYTimes]

Sanyo Xacti E1, World's First Waterproof Camcorder

Charlie White — Tue, 22 May 2007 10:07:45 EDT

Here's the Sanyo Xacti E1, the world's first waterproof camcorder. You're not going to be taking this $500 camcorder scuba diving, because it can only be taken down to a depth of about 5 feet for an hour at a time, but still, you're not going to need a bulky underwater housing to take this 4.4-inch-tall, 8.3-ounce package in the pool.

It shoots standard definition H.264 MPEG-4 video onto an SD or SDHC memory card, and compresses it so efficiently that it can fit 10 hours a 640x480 video at 30 frames per second on an 8GB card. It can also take 6-megapixel JPEG stills, and can even capture those pics at the same time you're shooting video. But does it float?

Take the jump to see what this baby looks like wet, and a list of specs, too.

This just-released camcorder will be shipping in June. – Charlie White

Spec List:
-Waterproof: submersible to a depth of five feet for 60 minutes
- No separate, bulky underwater housing required
- Shoots high-quality video (advanced MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 at 640 x 480 pixels/30fps)
- Takes 6-megapixel stills (JPEG format)
- Records onto an SD memory card or high-capacity SDHC card (not included)
- Bright, 2.5-inch LCD color display flips out and rotates for easy viewing
- 5x optical zoom for great close-ups
- Anti-shake digital image stabilizer*8
- Easy, one-handed operation
- While recording video, 6-megapixel still images may also be taken simultaneously
- Utilizing the 16:9 widescreen (4.4M: 2816 x 1584 pixel) photo setting, users can enjoy their high resolution photos on their high-definition televisions in full screen mode
- In "Portrait Mode" pictures can be taken in portrait style without manually rotating the camera to its side
- Set focal distance to one of 16 steps with "Manual Focus"
- Super-macro function able to zoom in up to 1cm (when using wide-angle)
- "Digital Red-eye reduction" function automatically reduces red-eye from images
- Easily upload video and images to a PC or Mac for playback or share online with friends
- Smooth playback on television with 60 frames per second
- "Quick stand-by" makes it possible to start recording or playback immediately after the monitor is flipped open
- Dimensions: 2.8 x 4.4 x 1.6 (W x H x D, in inches)
- Weight: 8.3 oz. with battery and SD or SDHC memory card
- Comes in a choice of Blue, Yellow or White

Gizmodo: sanyo xacti e1

Pogue Reviews Waterproof Cams, Sanyo Xacti E1 Floats Above the Competition

Sanyo Xacti E1, World's First Waterproof Camcorder