Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD1000 Review

The HD1000's viewfinder display in SD video mode - In the upper left are the still image settings - 4Megapixel, High quality, 1694 pictures available, no flash, F1.8, 1/30 shutter speed. In the upper right are the motion video settings - Full HD video is 1920x1080 @ 60fps at the highest quality bit rate, we can record 35 minutes and 36 seconds of action. Anti shake is also turned on. Whenever the zoom is changed an onscreen gauge is shown for a few seconds.

When you half-press the still image shutter to achieve the focus and exposure lock, the AF target marks will display and show what area it is focusing on. The same information is shown on the left side as before.

When shooting in full auto mode, you will always see the blue auto icon located in the bottom left corner. In this mode, the camera controls every aspect of the camera.

Scene modes: AUTO (default - camera automatically selects the scene mode), Sports (faster shutter speeds), Portrait (optimized for "people" pictures with blurred background), Landscape (infinity focus), Night Portrait (flash illuminate close subject but also capture background night scenery) Snow/Beach (for shooting in very bright outdoor situations), Fireworks (fireworks at night) and Lamp (low light non-flash photography).

The Lamp Scene mode allows you to use faster shutter speeds for flash-less photography in low light. The ISO sensitivity can be automatically boosted as high as 1600.

Record Menu options:

Movie -
Full HD (1920 x 1080, 60 field/sec)
HD-HR (1280 x 720, 60fps)
HD-SHQ (1280 x 720, 30fps)
TV-HR (640 x 480, 60 fps)
TV-SHQ (640 x 480, 30fps)
WEB-SHQ (320 x 240, 30fps)
Voice Memo

Photo - 8M, 4M-H, 4M-S, 3.5M (16:9), 2M (16:9), 2M, .9M (16:9), .3M, Burst (2288 x 1712)
Scene Select - Auto, Sports, Portrait, Landscape, Night Portrait, Snow & Beach, Fireworks, Lamp
Filter - Cosmetic (enhance skin tones), Monochrome, Sepia
Flash - Auto, Forced, Red Eye Reduction, Off
Self-timer - 10 sec., 2 sec., or Off
Movie Stabilizer - On or Off
Photo Stabilizer - On or Off
Focus - Total, Standard, Manual or Super Macro
Focus Mode - 9-point (default) or Spot (center only)
EXP Measure - Multi-section, Center-weighted, Spot
ISO - Auto, 50, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200
White Balance - Auto, Sunny, Cloudy, Fluorescent, Incandescent or Manual
Exposure - Program, Shutter, Aperture, Manual
Digital Zoom - On or Off
Face Chaser - On or Off
High Sensitivity - On or Off