Sanyo Xacti CG 9 ..My very first camcorder

As some of my friends probably know, my Panasonic camera "konked" out on me during my trip to Hokkaido and thus I've recently been on a camera/camcorder hunt.

So on my second day back in Singapore, I headed straight down to Sim Lim Square to get my camera. I had done quite a bit of research on the internet and had ended up totally confused with the barrage of information online and wanted to get some help from the "experts". (It turned out that I knew a lot more about cameras than some of them did!!)

After a little deliberation, I finally settled for the Sanyo Xacti CG9. Its very much an entry-level camcorder (and my very FIRST!) and although there were several alternatives that provided much better pictures, I chose the Sanyo Xacti CG9 for its size, weight, acceptable image quality and affordable price. After a day of fooling around with it, I must say that I am not disappointed with my purchase so far.

My latest toy - Sanyo Xacti CG9

Some specifications for the CG9 (which are particularly informative when choosing a digital camera) as follows:

1. Effective Pixel Count: Approx. 9.1 megapixels
2. Image Sensor: CMOS sensor, 1/2.33 inch, 9.12 megapixels (total)
3. Recording Media SD memory card, SDHC memory card (up to 32 GB), Internal memory (approx. 40 MB)
4. Recording File Format: Still (JPEG - DCF, DPOF, Exif Ver. 2.2 standard), Movie (MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 (ISO standard), Audio -48 kHz, 16 bit, 2 ch, AAC-compression (stereo)
5. Lens: f = 6.8 - 34.0 mm (Equivalent to 38 - 190 mm on a 35 mm camera); Optical 5.0x inner zoom lens; F: 3.5 (Wide) - 3.7 (Tele); AF: 8 groups, 11 lenses, built-in ND filter
6. Photo Range: Standard - 10 cm (Wide)/80 cm (Tele) to infinity; Super Macro - 1 cm to 80 cm (Wide)
7. Shutter Speed: Still - 1/2 - 1/1500 sec. (Flash: 1/30 - 1/1500 sec,; Lamp mode: Max. 2 sec.) , Sequential - 1/15 - 1/1500 sec. (No flash), Movie - 1/30 - 1/10000 sec.
8. Digital Zoom: Shooting - Max. 12x; Playback - Max. 62.5x ([12M] mode; varies with resolution)
9. Focus: Auto (Still: 9-point AF/Spot AF; Movie: Continuous area AF); Manual (16 steps)
   

I'm still trying to get used to the Xacti. (I set the ISO settings to its maximum and notice that the videos turned out too bright so now I've got to set the ISO settings back) but anyway, here is a picture of my dog taken with my Xacti.

Twinkle at the car porch

(it was actually quite dark outside as it was going to rain)

Here is another picture taken in the garden.
Note: It was very interesting for me to note that the Sanyo Xacti's face recoginition software could immediately identify and zoom in on Obama's picture on the book cover. Nice!!!)