Does anybody here use a Sanyo Xacti C4?

[Violent Ken]

I've been looking at getting one along with the Epoque housing after seeing somebody else's footage shot on the Thistlegorm. I was quite impressed with the picture and sound clarity given that the file size was relatively small.

How many hours am I likely to get on a 1 Gb memory card, and how many hours filming do you normally get from a fully charged battery?

[MarkyBish]

I got one this year, they're a top little camera.

I use 1GB cards with it, at the highest quality you get 41mins of video, or 60mins for the next setting down, both settings are 640x480 30fps, just slightly different bitrates. The batteries (of which you can get extras off the net for around £6 last around an hour.

That housing is pretty good too, you'll need to add an extra 5 2p coins to get the buoyancy just right

Only downside is that with such a small housing, keeping a steady shot is more difficult, but if you have to dosh to splash, you could always get a bracket for it so there's something more substantial to hold onto.

There's some examples of video on my Reports page. Quality is lower for the web and the Egypt one was converted to 25fps (PAL) so isn't as smooth as the original footage.

Mark.

[uwila]

Originally Posted by MarkyBish

I got one this year, they're a top little camera.

I have one as well and I agree with everything Mark said. I do have a bracket and have 2 UK Light Cannons mounted for lighting. Works a treat and is a lot more stable than using just the housing.

Of course, I can't afford to dive any more after paying for the torches...

[Violent Ken]

Originally Posted by MarkyBish

I got one this year, they're a top little camera.

I use 1GB cards with it, at the highest quality you get 41mins of video, or 60mins for the next setting down, both settings are 640x480 30fps, just slightly different bitrates. The batteries (of which you can get extras off the net for around £6 last around an hour.

That housing is pretty good too, you'll need to add an extra 5 2p coins to get the buoyancy just right

Only downside is that with such a small housing, keeping a steady shot is more difficult, but if you have to dosh to splash, you could always get a bracket for it so there's something more substantial to hold onto.

There's some examples of video on my Reports page. Quality is lower for the web and the Egypt one was converted to 25fps (PAL) so isn't as smooth as the original footage.

Mark.

Cheers Mark, always glad to find out from somebody who owns one as I know from experience that manufacturer's stats can sometimes be a little...optimistic

Cracking videos too!

[Debs]

I've just seen the size of these cameras (and the small size of the housings) and was wondering what the video quality like - can it be viewed on the tv or just on the computer monitor

[Scuba Dub]

Just picked up one of these. The quality is as good as any other I've seen. You can watch direct on the TV (It comes with all the cables) or download on to computer for editing. I'm happy!

[Justin Owen]

I have a C4/Epoque housing setup c/w 1GB and 512MB Cards, all boxes/manuals etc for sale if anyones interested...

[Scuba Dub]

just wanted to say I got an Xacti C6, not a C4.