Sanyo has enter the market for Ultra mini camera with its Sanyo Xacti, the forerunner in pushing the matter to stop the Panasonic D-Snap. It is true that small Xacti, despite their very compact size, remain easy to handle and provide good image quality.
Where the Xacti DMX-CG65 excels is in its concentration of technology. With a box as big as a pack of cigarettes (68 x 100 x 35 mm for only 150g), Sanyo was able to put a camcorder, camera, large screen, a flash, stereo microphone, buttons control, a SD card reader and the necessary connections! This makes the weapon absolute buzz for any self-respecting man, this Xacti slips into any pocket and starts a quarter turn to the Lucky Luke … the video or photo.
While some might say that the products of this magnitude, generally do a poor quality video and often catastrophic picture. Quality of the latest Sanyo was surprised! The video is good and the photo at the height of many mid-range camera for major brands.
Key Feature
Effective Pixel Count Approx. 6.0 megapixels
CCD 6.37-megapixel CCD (total)
Recording Media SD memory card, SDHC memory card compatible (up to 8 GB)
Recording File Format Recording
Still: JPEG (DCF, DPOF, Exif Ver2.2 standard)
Video: Video: MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 (ISO standard)
Audio: 48 kHz sampling, 16-bit, 2-ch, AAC-compression (stereo)
Resolution (Pixels)
Still:
[10M] 3680 x 2760
[6M-H] 2816 x 2112 (low-compression)
[6M-S] 2816 x 2112 (standard-compression)
[16:9] 2816 x 1584
[3M] 1536 x 2048 (vertical)
[2M] 1600 x 1200
[0.3M] 640 x 480
Video:
[TV-SHQ] 640 x 480 (30 fps, 3 Mbps)
[TV-HQ] 640 x 480 (30 fps, 1.5 Mbps)
[Web-SHQ] 320 x 240 (30 fps)
[Web-HQ] 320 x 240 (15 fps)
Lens
f = 6.3 – 31.7 mm (equivalent to 38 – 190 mm on a 35 mm camera)
5.0x optical inner-zoom lens, F: 3.5 (wide) – 4.7 (tele)
Auto focus: 9 groups, 12 lenses
Built-in ND filter
Photo Range Photo Range
Standard: 10 cm (wide)/80 cm (tele) to infinity,
Super macro: 1 cm – 80 cm (wide)
Shutter Speed
Still: 1/2 sec. – 1/2000 sec.(flash: 1/30 – 1/2000 sec., lamp mode: max. 4 sec.)
Video: 1/30 sec. – 1/10000 sec.
Digital Zoom
Shooting: Max.12x
Playback: Max. 58x (in [10M mode], depending on the resolution)
Focus
Auto (Stills: 9-point AF/Spot AF, Video clips: Continuous area AF), Manual (16 steps)
Scene Selection (Program AE)
Auto/Sports/Portrait/Night Portrait/Landscape/Snow & Beach/Fireworks/Lamp
Filter Function
Standard/Cosmetic/Monochrome/Sepia Standard / Cosmetic / Monochrome / Sepia
Photometry
Multi-section measuring/Center-weighted measuring/Spot measuring
Sensitivity
Still: Auto (ISO 50– 400), Manual (ISO 50/100/200/400/800/1600, switchable)
Minimum Illumination for Movies
7 lux (Auto, 1/30 sec.)
2 lux (Lamp mode, 1/15 sec.)
Exposure Correction ± 1.8 EV (in 0.3EV steps)
Self-Timer 2 sec. or 10 sec.
White Balance
Auto: Full automatic TTL
Manual: Sunny/Cloudy/Fluorescent/Incandescent/Sampling
Flash
Auto / Forced / Off
Flash Range
GN = 3 (10 cm – 1.7 m [wide], 80 cm – 1.3 m [tele])
Audio Audio
Microphone: Built-in stereo
Speaker: Built-in mono (L/R mixed output)
LCD Monitor
2.5-inch amorphous silicon color TFT LCD
110,000 pixels (100% coverage, 7-level brightness)
Interface Interface
AV output (Video & audio): composite video, NTSC/PAL, stereo audio
AV output (Audio only): 3.5 mm stereo headphone jack
USB 2.0 in high-speed mode (Storage Class + PC Camera + Video Class)
The AV output can be used either for video & audio or audio only.
Power Source Lithium-ion battery (DB-L20, included), Battery charger (VAR-L20NI, included)
Can also be charged from PC via USB cable.
Approx. Approx. Battery Life Battery Life
Stills: CIPA standard 155 images, Video clips: 70 min.
Playback: 200 min.
Dimensions (W x H x D) 67.7 x 100.3 x 34.5 mm (when LCD is closed), Volume: 144 cc
Weight Approx. 150 g (main unit only), Approx. 169 g (including battery and SD card)
Operating Environment
Temperature: 0°C – 40°C (32°F – 104°F);
Humidity: 30% – 90% (non-condensing)
Plus:
Ultra compact
Ultra light
Fast
Beautiful image to this category of camcorder
Easily connectable
Supports standard SD
The battery was no problem for a whole day
Minus:
VGA instead of a standard classical video DVD
Conclusion:
This Ultra mini camcorder Xacti DMX-CG65 allows you to make the video on the fly, at will … but now, which makes me hesitate to buy one, is that it offers only VGA (640×480) maximum and no choice of a standard DVD (720 × 480 NTSC or 720 × 576 PAL) video recording, the fate of the coup almost exclusively for the dissemination of the Internet, where it very target-oriented buzz / web.
So a good product for those who want videos online quickly, always have a camera at hand or without a head on their website (I think it’s the ideal tool for a videopodcaster).
