Sanyo VPC-GH2 High Definition Camcorder and 14 MP Camera w/12x Optical Zoom
by SANYO
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Photo Product Details
Manufacturer: SANYOModel: VPC-GH2
Product features:
- Full HD 1080, 60i Video (1920 x 1080)
- 14MP Photos
- 12x Dual Range Zoom Video
- 5x Optical Zoom Photo
- 2.7-inch Wide LCD Monitor for HD Playback
- Pinnacle Studio HD V14 [OLD VERSION]
- Roxio Creator 2010 [OLD VERSION]
- Sony Vegas Movie Studio 9 Platinum Pro Pack [OLD VERSION]
- Adobe Premiere Elements 9 [Old Version]
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Sanyo VPC-GH2 High Definition Camcorder and 14 MP Camera w/12x Optical Zoom
Customer Review: Get Class 10 Memory! - You'll be Glad you Did
Summary: 4 Stars
Won't bother repeating well-documented Specs. What I love about this camera; it offers a TON of adjustments and settings that can usually offset many of the shortcomings of the auto settings, and compensate for many shooting environments, and also make it fun to learn some photo techniques.
This is a great little camera, but sadly I don't know if it can handle what I need the most; indoor footage, low to moderate light, with moving subjects-parties, pets, and kids. To be fair, to the Sanyo, neither could the Sony Bloggie MHS-CM5, which I returned, and neither can my Canon S80 still camera. But I still love the Sanyo GH2!!
Some of the many settings (5 easily navigatable menus worth!) include; several different recording frame rates/resolutions, ability to adjust/disable auto-focus methods, Time-lapse, ISO(light sensitivity) zoom range, etc! Even has White Balance, with several automatic settings including Manual/One-touch!(this lets you hold up a piece of white paper in your own environment, the camera then adjusts, so it can accurately record colors)
The LCD display is sharp and bright! (turn down the brightness for better battery life!) When you close the LCD, camera goes to power-save-open it, camera springs to action, faster than Power On/Off switch! While the camera does feel a little plasticky, the way to avoid that is... go spend DOUBLE the price, LOL.
The camera truly is small; I would say TOO small !! It fits easily within your hand-easy to jostle it, :-( and the small battery is really only good for about 50-55 minutes. Most buttons are about diameter of a pencil-eraser. The battery is only a little thicker than a graham cracker. I just don't understand why Japan Inc.(I guess China Inc. now?) doesn't make the GH2 a measly 1"(2.5 cm) thicker,(easier to hold steady) and give us double the BATTERY LIFE, which is what we really want!!
If you plan on shooting indoors, you really must use some kind of tripod /monopod,(or even that cable that rolls up like a tape measure) Otherwise you will get annoying shaking & jiggling, and when you try to zoom, then forget about it... It will look shakier than a Tony Scott movie, lol. I tried Image Stabilization while on 1080/60 but I couldn't see much improvement.
In a living room setting, I estimate you would easily need at least 1000 watts of light, for example, 4 or 5 GE REVEAL 200w bulbs GE 89371 200-Watt A21 Reveal Reader Light (I've used them before, they help tremendously with color balance, BTW) I was able to get it to work w/less than that, but it made the picture/focus softer, and faces & shadowed areas were pretty dark. The "High Sensitivity" setting really helped the darker areas, but then movement would cause the Autofocus to struggle. I won't say the picture looked terrible, but now that we are all used to 9-15 mega-pixel still photos(can you believe that, LOL) those kinds of focus issues are very noticeable.
Even the dimmer footage that I shot looked better than expected when viewing my 47" HDTV. It helped brighten things, and there's plenty of actual data/Pixels there; but at the end of the day, more light is better. Of you are mainly intending to VIEW movies, and not create DVDs, I think you might be perfectly happy with the indoor results. A note about Autofocus, I found the setting, that only uses the Center of the screen to be more effective and stable. As others mentioned; If you don't anchor the camera, you will get the jell-o effect on vertical lines, as your camera pans side to side, and blur as the Autofocus goes in and out.
I thought the outdoor/bright light performance was great, especially for a <$200, and by the time you read this, probably <$175 camera. Again, if you have any expectation of using the digital zoom, or even full optical, some kind of steadying technique is a must.
Using my Dual-core 2.7Ghz computer,3Gb ram, I too experienced choppiness, when playing back the MPEG4 files, but this is just for a reference, and no fault of the cameras'. Interesting side note, my Sony PS3 was able to play the clips just FINE; No choppiness whatsoever! Not sure how that works, lol. I hope this long-winded review was useful to you,. All in all, this camera is unbeatable for the flexibility and capability at this price.
More Sanyo VPC-GH2 High Definition Camcorder and 14 MP Camera w/12x Optical Zoom reviews:
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Description of Sanyo VPC-GH2 High Definition Camcorder and 14 MP Camera w/12x Optical Zoom
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