If you are a regular on tracyandmatt you’ll remember that I recorded the Palm Treo Pro launch event a few weeks ago. At the time I mentioned that the Camcorder that I was using at the time didn’t perform very well in the low light conditions at the event and that I was looking for a replacement.
So over in the last few weeks I started looking for a new camcorder that I could use to record our unboxing videos but that would also be small and light enough to take out to press events without contributing too much to my already overloaded kit bag. I for the sake of convenience, also wanted a camera that recorded footage on to memory cards rather than DVD or Tape (yes the still make DV camcorders). I preferred to have camera that could record HD but this wasn’t essential, it was the recording quality that mattered most as our videos would always be scaled down for web-streaming anyway. Finally I didn’t want to spend a fortune on the camera; about £200 – £250 was ideal.
As you can imagine, there are a lot of models to choose from within the requirements set out above and it was difficult to decide which one would suit me best. So I decided it would be a good idea to perform a group test of some camcorders that fit the bill. Not only would it help me to select the model I wanted but would also make for an interesting series of posts here on the site.
The models that we short-listed (and were able to get hold of) are the Sanyo Xacti HD700, Panasonic SD7, Canon FS100 and Toshiba Camileo H10.
All of the cameras record on to SD memory cards. The Sanyo and the Toshiba are capable of recording at 720p whereas the Canon and Panasonic record SD.
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Sanyo Xacti HD700
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Canon FS100
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Toshiba Camileo H10
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Panasonic SDR-S7
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Effective Pixel Count
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Approx. 7.1 megapixels
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1.07 megapixels
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10.48 megapixels
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0.8 megapixels
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Camera Element
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1/2.5 inch, 7.38-megapixel CCD (total)
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1/6" Interlaced CCD
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1/2.5 inch, 10.48 megapixel CCD
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1/6" CCD 800k Pixels
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Recording Media
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SDHC (up to 8 GB)
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SDHC (up to 16GB)
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SDHC (max cap. Unknown)
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SDHC (up to 16GB)
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Recording File Format
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Still: JPEG
Video: MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 Audio: AAC-compression (stereo)
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Still: JPEG Video: MPEG-4 Audio: AC3
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Still: JPEG Video: MPEG-4 Audio: MPEG1-L2
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Still: JPEG Video: MPEG-4 Audio: MPEG1-L2
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Resolution (Pixels) Still:
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[10M] 3680 x 2760 interpolated [7M] 3072 x 2304
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1152 x 864 1152 x 648
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4608 x 3456 max
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JPEG size:640 x 480
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Resolution (Pixels) Video:
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[HD-SHQ] 1280 x 720 (30 fps, 9 Mbps) [HD-HQ] 1280 x 720 (30 fps, 6 Mbps) [TV-SHQ] 640 x 480 (30 fps, 3 Mbps) [TV-HQ] 640 x 480 (30 fps, 2 Mbps) [Web-SHQ] 320 x 240 (30 fps)
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standard-definition video resolution of 720×480
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H.264 – 1280 x 720 – 30 fps H.264 – 720 x 480 – 30 fps H.264 – 640 x 480 – 30 fps H.264 – 320 x 240 – 30 fps
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640 x 840 XP (10Mbps/VBR) 640 x 480 SP (5Mbps/VBR) 640 x 480 LP (2.5Mbps/VBR)
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Zoom
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5.0x optical zoom lens
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37x optical zoom lens
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5.0x optical zoom lens
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10.0x optical zoom lens
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Digital Zoom
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Shooting: Max. 12x Playback: Max. 58x (in [10M mode], depending on the resolution)
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2000x digital zoom
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4x digital zoom
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10 – 700x Digital
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Focus
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Auto (Stills: 9-point AF), Manual
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Auto/Manual
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Auto
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Auto/Manual
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Sensitivity
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Still: Auto (ISO 50–400), Manual (ISO 50/100/200/400/800/1600/3200)
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1.7 Lux Minimum Illumination
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?
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2 Lux Minimum Illumination
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Self-Timer
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2 sec. or 10 sec.
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2 sec. or 10 sec.
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10 sec.
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No
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Flash
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Auto/Forced/Off
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No
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Auto/Forced/Off
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No
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Audio
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Microphone: Built-in stereo Speaker: Built-in mono (L/R mixed output)
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Stereo Mic Built in mono speaker
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Stereo Mic Built in mono speaker
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Stereo Zoom Mic, Wind Noise Reduction Built in mono speaker
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LCD Monitor
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2.7-inch, TFT color wide screen LCD, Approx. 230,000 pixels
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2.7” Wide LCD (123,200 pixels)
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2.7” Wide LCD (123,200 pixels)
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2.7” Wide LCD (123,200 pixels)
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Interfaces
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Via docking cradle: AV output (HDMI/component video/S-video/composite video, Audio: stereo sound), USB 2.0
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AV output (S-video/composite video, Audio: stereo sound), USB 2.0
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AV output (HDMI/composite video, Audio: stereo sound), USB 2.0
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AV output (S-video/composite video, Audio: stereo sound), USB 2.0
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Power Source
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Lithium-ion battery (1200 mAh)
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Lithium-ion battery
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Lithium-ion battery
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Lithium-ion battery
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Approx. Battery Life
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Stills: CIPA standard approx. 180 images Video clips (HD-SHQ): Approx. 80 min. Playback: Approx. 190 min.
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TBC
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TBC
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TBC
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Dimensions
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73.7 x 109.0 x 35.0 mm
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58 x 60 x 124 mm
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56 x 117 x 65 mm
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41.0 x 59.0 x 102.0 mm
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Weight
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Approx. 189 g (main unit only), Approx. 214 g (including battery and SD card)
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260 g with battery
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340 g with battery
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Approx. 165 g w/o Battery
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Price (Amazon)
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£249.00
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£215.00
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£173.00
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£228.00 |
Over the next few weeks, with Nigel’s help, we are going to be testing the four camcorders under real world, general use conditions as well as for the specific job I need them for. We’ll have an unboxing and a sample video from each camera as well as a short review and then we’ll have a final summary post at the end where we’ll pick the camcorder that we’ve decided to buy.
If you have any questions or comments along the way then please do get in touch through our contact page!
Part 2 of the group test is now live – check out the Panasonic SDR-S7 review!
Part 3 of the group test is now live – check out the Toshiba Camileo H10 review!
Part 4 of the group test is now live – check out the Sanyo Xacti HD700 review!
Posted by: Matt
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