Full HD physically downsized ! New Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD2000 with Epoque/Patima housings

Sanyo’s latest addition to its handheld upright camcorder series goes full HD! Offering smooth,true progressive full HD ( 1920x 1080) 60fps recording, 12 interpolated megapixels of digital still with flash and full manual controls, this dual camera (as Sanyo calls it) appears to be an interesting option for the “travelling light” diver!

Barely larger than my palm size!.....  ....and weighing only 311g including the battery, this tiny teacup Chihuahua sized lil’gadget will surprise many in terms of performance and handling! Low light capability and strong colors are its forte, coupled with 2.7inch LCD screen, 10x optical zoom lens, headphone jack, microphone jack, accessory shoe, a simple, intuitive menu control via joystick. The camera also accepts 40.5mm filters

Camcorderinfo.com  published a comprehensive Sanyo Xacti VPC –HD2000 REVIEW and considers it worthy amongst the top dogs in high definition camcorders!

Click here for  the camera full Sanyo VPC-HD2000

Available housings currently are the Epoque EHS-1000HD and Patima Xacti housing. Let’s take a look at them in that order.

Epoque EHS-1000HD

This housing has been around since the Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD1000, followed by VPC-HD1010 and now it can still be used with the latest VPC-HD2000. A purely mechanical housing made of  ABS resin in the front part and high intensity polycarbonate on the back cover, it offers control to all camera function, including flipping up the flash.Although scrolling through the menu takes some getting used to, however considering the attractive  price it’s well worth spending some extra time learning the controls. Basically the jog dial controls the menu and scrolls 4 ways ie up,down,left,right. The housing controls has only 3 way controls ie left,right,down. To go up simply scroll all the way down, which is not a long way to go.

There’s also a fiber optic connector on the top right side of the housing ( see pic below ) , thus enabling strobes in slave mode to be used. 

A standard M67 thread is available in the front port for filters, wide angle and macro lens. Epoque recommends their popular DCL-20 wide angle lens with CY color correction filter for blue water. 

The latter is the rubberized type which simply snaps onto the lens. Manual white balance (MWB) is recommended with the filter on to achieve proper colours. Once One-Touch WB is pre-selected, MWB is easily done in 4 steps ie

1. Menu

2. One-Touch, Set  

3. Press Set again ( aim at neutral background ie sand, palm, off-white slate)

4. Press Menu to exit.

The housing weighs only 660g on land, -60g underwater and opens /locks with a total of 7 small latches! Those are tiny and could be a bit dodgy for users  with large hands to open , however a tool is provided to aid. Worthy to mention are the accessories as well ie latch opening tool, spare O-ring, silicon grease, 2 pieces silica gel ( button type), hand strap, tripod mount  and a comprehensive manual in English!

The top of the housing has a cold shoe aka hotshoe slot, although nothing is hot wired there , Epoque calls it Clog Shoe.

However judging from the 5 tiny screws holding the " Clog SHoe"  together I wouldn’t attach an Ikelite DS-160 or Sea&Sea’s YS-250Pro strobe on it! Lightweight strobes and/or video/focus light can be used here. It’s not connected to the internal of the housing, so no worries about flooding there, it’s just a pity if it breaks.

Apropo flooding, a few samples earlier versions of this housing reportedly have had some flooding issues, which upon checking was due to user misalignment of the camera in the housing. The camera inserts into the housing with opened LCD directly as it is, without any trays or adapters. 

Epoque attended to the problem and improved the housing by installing a nicely, chromed semi circle bracket on the top and  2 plastic brackets in the middle and bottom part and part to align the camera.

Misalignment should  therefore be passé , however  a caution note is still included in the housing packaging, warning users to be careful. I also emailed Epoque re this issue, here is their reply:

Dear Mr Sim

Thank you for your message.

 Actually we had some flooded problem month ago, but even most of them are NOT manufacturer's faulty,

but due to severe tolerence of front parts of housing there were some trouble on inserting digital camera

into the housing.

 So after some analization and test, we have modified all of parts at front lens port end of Sept, 2008 and

after then we have not had any claims at all and we have not had any trouble on flooded at all.

 Actually there are some quantities of old models in market, but basically no problem if customers

would put digital camera into carefully.

 Also for the production we proceeded from Sept end, there is no flooded problem at all and

you can use the unit we shipped to you last without any hesitation and the unit will not be flooded,

even if customers would put the digital camera carelessness.

Sorry to worry about it.

Best regards

 Nori Nakano
Epoque World Co., Ltd.
hq@epoque-japan.com  www.epoque-japan.com

Click here for full specs: Epoque EHS-1000 HD

Patima Xacti Housing

This is a quite serious piece of machined aluminium housing with very fine workmanship! Very interesting and neat is the integrated remote control in the housing, thus enabling all functions of the camera. 

Rated up to 120m (!) this beautifully crafted housing is made of machined cut aluminium, anodized in silver and the port has the standard M67 thread for wet lens and filter attachment.

Almost all functions of the camera can be accessed except for the built in flash. 

 Cold shoe for accessories on top of the housing and standard tripod mount is available. 

The camera screws onto a fix plate in the housing with the LCD wide open. 

 Holding the housing with one hand  feels very  comfortable and secure  with the neoprene strap . The housing weighs 1400g on land and slightly negative underwater. The weight does contribute positively to better handling underwater.

A very nice housing indeed and the higher RRP of USD $1100 is fully justified by its quality, handling and Patima’s great backup service.

Specs:

Manufacturer: Patima UW Eng Co., Ltd

Useable camera: Sanyo VPC- HD1000,HD1010,HD2000

Housing components: high quality alumimium, acetal,stainless steel

Manufacturing: CNC cutting out of aluminium

Coating: anodized coating after barrel sanding

Color: Silver

Camera attachment: Saddle type

Port: 67mm flat port, wide-conversion/close-up lens underwater exchange

Depth rating: 120m

Weight on land: 1400g

Control: ON/OFF, slow zoom IN, slow zoom OUT, quick zoom IN, quick zoom OUT, Photo/Rec/Standby/Play/Cross Buttons/Menu

More infos at PATIMA

New Xacti 2 houisng is now available but I haven't had a chance to get a hold of it, will do asap.

Stay tuned for video footage......