Advice on Sanyo HD Camera

Hi,

Some diver buds and I are contempating purchasing the new Sanyo VPC/DMX-HD1000 camera and the appropriate Epoque housing.

We've had good results with the Sanyo VPC-C5 in the past and have heard good things about the new HD version, but we've also heard some bad things as well.

Has anyone got any advice or opinions on this camera?

My Alternative is the Sony HDR-S7 in an Ikelite housing but that is nearly treble the price.

Regards

Barny

I can't speak to the new model, but I've got a VPC-HD2 in the epoque housing. The housing is fantastic, the camera not so much. It gets OK results, but not wonderful, and you really must have good light. Also again not speaking for the HD1000, but with the epoque housing I found I really needed the wet wide angle.

Basically I think you get what you pay for, if you only use it once and a while for happy home video, or plan to practice a lot and wait for the next great camera, then it's fine. Myself I wish I'd gone for an HV20 straight away, now as I have lots of flash cards I'll wait and see if there's a housing for the HF100.

Derek

I can't remember which model i had but it was 1 or 2 before the hd-1000. it was a 720p model. The epoque housing was great. small, and all of the buttons were right where they should be. felt good holding it. The white balance feature on it worked wonders, but you do have to have good light. I had the Inon WA lens for it, and it worked okay (still had a good bit of blur around the corners). I came across a great deal on a greenforce hid100 light, and used that with it, and got some great close up stuff (like clownfish in anemones, and things of that nature). the video looked great on the HD screen. had a few problems with the setup including editing the mpeg4 format. premiere elements said it would work with that file type, but i had many problems. also, the battery length wasnt great. i bought 2extended length batteries from sterlingtek and they lasted a bit longer, but only enough for a full lengths dive (no good for 2 tank boat dives). the last problem i had was with moisture. i did use some of the small moisture muncher packets, and i either got a bad package, or they would only last for one dive. i tried doing 2 dives on the same pack and ended up with some foggy footage. all in all though, it was a good basic setup, but unfortunately, i learned quickly that i wanted more than a basic setup and had to upgrade.