Well Worth The Investment!
Pros:
Great underwater footage, small and convenient, surprisingly nice stills
Cons:
Bad in low light, small zoom, painfully slow shutter lag, slightly unintuitive buttons and menus.
The Bottom Line:
I wouldn't recommend it as the only camera for families, but would HIGHLY recommend it as an additional one.
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
I own a Porsche Boxster and absolutely love it. But as the father of three small children, I could not imagine it being our only car, and, as video cameras go, I feel the exact same way about the Sanyo E1. Is it the best video camera you'll ever own? No. But its unique features make it a superlative 2nd camera for both videos and stills.
My first experience with the E1 was on a recent family trip to Hawaii and what a thrill it was to capture poolside and underwater footage that would be otherwise impossible with other cameras. To be honest, I found myself using the E1 more than my Canon DV video camera or my Canon SLR still camera. It was just so small, so convenient and so downright fun! I took to just strapping it to my wrist and carrying it at all times.
Before buying the camera I read a lot about the video quality and found most people gave it high marks. Sure enough, I too was impressed with the video quality in exterior conditions which would be when you'd be using an underwater camera anyway. Once I got in low light interiors, however, I was reminded of why I schlepped the Canon DV camera as well. It completely blew the Sanyo out of the water (no pun intended). But this was only to be expected.
Where I was more pleasantly surprised was with the stills. I found them more than acceptable, and on par with my small Canon Elph. That's the good news. The bad news is the delay was worse than any camera I've ever seen and, as any parent can tell you, shutter lag can mean the difference between a great picture and junk.
But again, I can't stress enough how great it is to have the underwater footage. It's better than you could ever imagine. It's clear, focused, and somehow the lens remains completely clear even when you reemerge. These shots alone were easily worth the $297 I spent (great one day sale at Frys).
My only other complaints with the camera are 1) it sometimes overexposed in bright light, and 2) the menus and buttons are slightly unintuitive and take some getting used to. But again, these quibbles are far outweighed by the uses and conveniences of this wonderful little camera. I highly recommend it!
