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"Unbelieveable quality for a compact Video and Still camera for the price!" on by shooter45acp
Pros: Video Quality is amazing. The 6.36 megapixel still is unbelieveable and user controls are where they need to logically be located
Cons: Zoom button a less tactile and stiffer then I would like.... But I had to think for awhle before I even found something I didn't find perfect!
Summary: As a 24+ year working professional photographer and avid amateur videographer with access to pro video gear. I am used to using Hasselblad still equipment and Canon video cameras. While this is not exactly on par with those cameras, to have the capability of having a 6.36 MP still and superior consumer/prosumer video camera in a single package is amazing. Believe me when I say that I am rarely impressed with my gadget purchases, but when I saw the Sanyo CG6 at my local department store I thought "for $299.00 if it's junk, I'm not out a fortune". Well let me tell you.... I was blown away by the quality of both still and video images from this tiny little unit! I took it to a music concert the very first night I had it and it was so easy to use while capturing the performance as well as my friends enjoying the show that nobody noticed I was taking video and still images. When I got home and downloaded it to my MacBook Pro (more on this in a second) I couldn't believe the quality of the video and still images. There was a wide variety of lighting during the show (daylight, night time, stage) that all of the examples I had captured were (again) amazingly good. The image stabalizer funtion worked pretty well, enough so that the low light situations were sharp. I hadn't had enough time to thoroughly read the manual, so I did a quick MENU check, and simply set everything to auto and it did a great job under all the different lighting situations. Another point of amazement, it even has an audio out jack for headphones so you know excactly what you are capturing on the audio side. Some "so called" prosumer cameras don't even offer that capability. Now on to the real surprise. Being someone who lives in both the MAC and WINDOWS world because of my work, I always have a frustrating time getting things to work cross platform. It can usually happen, but takes some time to figure out the WINDOWS side of Codec’s, importing drivers into software (as usually the native software that is supplied with a particular gadget or device prefers one platform over another but NEVER both. Well here's the kicker! This thing captures video in MP4 format and stills in JPEG...... WooooHooooo! And was immediately able to be recognized simply as FOLDERS on both my MAC OSX systems and my Dell desktop and Sony Vaio laptop. All you have to do is select a file, or drop and drag into ANY software platform that recognizes these universal file formats. CRAZY KEWL!!!!! No proprietary files crap, no conversion from some weird or unheard of file formats. IT JUST WORKED ON EVERYTHING I DUMPED IT INTO!! I took it to my office, went to my Director of our local Government TV channel and he couldn't believe it when I showed him what the stills and video came from. He thought I was joking! He commented that the STEREO audio quality that was recorded during video capture was better then some Canon prosumer cameras he uses still today. He was so impressed that he immediately went out and bought 1 for himself and1 for his assistant to carry as "pocket video and still cameras". The SD memory card capture media is just as easily recognized in ANY media reader, and with the price of memory cards dropping, a heck of a lot cheaper then buying Hi8 tapes!!! And this model is NOT limited to a specific size memory card. You can get about 45 minutes of recoring time per MB of memory. I was using a 4GB card and recording in the highest quality and had plenty of space for the conecrt. I never had to get the other $GB cards I had popped into my pocket. Now this camera isn't going to replace my Hasselblad still cameras, or the Canon GL2's we use, but at less than $300.00 unit and the ease of which these little cameras can be tucked into a jacket or shirt pocket to produce such terrific results, I will never leave the house without my Xacti CG6. And you can bet I will be checking out the next version of this little powerhouse of a camera (that is if it can ever be improved upon). My suggestion........ If you are going on vacation, your kids school play or recital or simply wanting to capture a memory of that special moment, this is the camera to buy for anything close to the price and size. You WILL NOT be disappointed. And for the cynic’s out their, NO I do not work or have ANY vested interested in Sanyo or their affiliates..... This is one of those rare times that something is worth a whole lot more then you pay for it and I think that kind of incident deserves credit!!
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"Excellent travel video" on by drbob54
Pros: Size, weight, picture quality, price
Cons: clumsy battery charger
Summary: Unbelievable value at $299 for the amateur videographer. A 1 gig SD chip takes about 42 minutes of highest quality video. Although it accepts up to 4 gigabyte chips, I found that several 1 gig chips were a better approach. Literally fits in your pants pocket. Although it takes good quality 6 megapixel stills, it is much better used as a camcorder. The reaction time for stills was rather slow and you have to be very careful to not introduce camera shake. At 30fps 640 x 480 pixels the typical home videos are excellent except in the very lowest of light conditions. Sanyo makes an HD model that is similar for double the price. However, the typical amateur would get no benefit from this addition. The 5 times optical zoom could be greater, but combined with the digital zoom still yielded quality home video up to 10 times. It is far better to zoom in on an object before filming rather than trying to zoom while filming. Of course, this is good advice for any camcorder because the typical home movies make the viewer dizzy from overuseing the zoom feature. The battery charger has a thick cord and is inconsistent with the incredible portability of the camera, but that is a minor issue. A direct plug charger would be much better. If still shots are the primary use, many ultra compacts would be better. Used primarily as a video camcorder, this is an exceptional device.
Updated
Available currently from Sanyo direct or at Walmart or Walmart online. -
"Good buy for practicality" on by rrbarcarse
Pros: small size, portability, can take both good pictures and videos, SD card memory, MPEG4
Cons: red-eyes on night shots, wind noise on outdoor shots,
Summary: I've had this for 4 months now, bought it at Walmart for $299 just in time for my daugther's birthday. Video is good but ofcourse not that good compared to miniDV camera (comparing it to Canon Elura 100 which i've used before). So if for me Elura is rated at 8 in terms of video quality, the
Sanyo will be at 6 when viewing both on standard television. I was able to quickly make a DVD after my daughter's birthday and was able to post right away videos on Youtube for friends and family to see. My only gripe is that red-eye is so bad especially on night/low light pictures. I know there is an auto-red eye correction feature but it doesn't always work. Overall, this is a very nice gadget to bring along. I was able to capture on video nice moments with my family. -
"The compromise is a good one." on by TWhit64
Pros: Excellent video and sound. Very cheap batteries are available - I've got 5 batteries. Records forever on an 8gb card in MPeg4 format.
Cons: Photo quality is not as good as a typical digital camera. MP4 format has issues on some devices - sometimes needs to be converted (i.e., mom's photo frame plays the video but not the sound). Uses a manually removable lens cap.
Summary: I'm happy with the compromise between video perfromance and still image performance. The still photos are adequate, but definitely not as good as those from my Canon 3mp Elph when compared side by side. However, the video and sound quality is stunning in comparison to the video and sound from the Elph. And it feels like you can record forever. My file sizes are approximately 1.4gb per hour, so an 8gb card should get almost 6 hours of recording time (I've never actually filled one up). It's not HD video, only 640x480, but that's another good compromise IMO because HD video would cut recording time in half or worse. I think 640x480 is good enough. Batteries are dirt cheap - 5 each on that well known auction site. Bottom line: it's way more fun to have high quality videos of your experiences than still images. I wish I'd spent the extra cash to get the water proof version of this camera. If I had I would be able to take it to water parks, out on rainy days - anywhere it might get wet.
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"Too Small for my hands." on by jhewell
Pros: Great at most all camcorder features, for the price.
Cons: It's just too small for my hands. Difficult to hold steady and use the buttons.
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