While there are waterproof camcorder casings in the market, they are necessarily bigger than the camcorder itself. If you are one of those with dainty hands and you do not feel comfortable handling bulky gadgets, these casings may not be for you. Fortunately, there are available camcorders that are by themselves waterproof. One of these is the Sanyo Xacti VPC E2 Digital Camcorder.
The VPC E2 can take videos and photos on land or underwater. It can be submerged up to five feet deep and keep capturing images for one full hour. Videos are recorded at a resolution of 640 x 480 at 60 fps. Still photos, on the other hand, are captured by an 8-megapixel CMOS image sensor. Taking stills is even possible while recording videos.
A 2.5-inch LCD display flips out of the camcorder and can be rotated up to 285°. This capability enables you to take photos from a bird’s or worm’s eye view, or from any other angle, without difficulty.
The camcorder has a 5x optical zoom lens with a maximum aperture of f/3.5, providing a focal length ranging from 38 to 190 mm. Coupled with a 12x digital zoom, the VPC E2 has a zooming capability of 62.5x.
A sophisticated face detection feature can track up to 12 faces even if they are in motion. Once detected, the camera automatically adjusts exposure and focus to guarantee sharp and properly illuminated faces.
Since the camcorder is capable of underwater shots, it is equipped with an underwater scene mode. This mode is intended to address the different lighting conditions of underwater shooting.
Videos and photos can be stored in SD or HDSC memory cards of up to 8G. Sharing files is facilitated with the VPC E2’s MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 compression capability. Because file sizes are reduced uploading to the Internet and e-mailing are quicker and faster. Viewing through the TV, DVD, or PC is also possible via cable connections.