Digital Home Thoughts: Sanyo Announce Waterproof HD Camera

"Sanyo has announced the world's first waterproof Full HD consumer video camera with optical zoom. The Sanyo DMX-CA100 Dual Camera Xacti has a 14.3-megapixel CMOS sensor capable of capturing full-resolution stills at a speed of one frame per second (fps), and 2-megapixel stills at 7fps. The lens has a focal range of 6.8-34mm, equivalent to 38-190mm in 35mm terms, and an almost constant maximum aperture (f/3.5 at wide angle, f/3.7 at telephoto). Waterproof down to a depth of 3m for up to 60 minutes, the Sanyo DMX-CA100 Dual Camera Xacti can be used underwater while snorkelling. As a video camera, it can shoot Full HD footage while taking advantage of Sanyo's "Double Range Zoom" technology, which changes the size of the video capture area on the image sensor. Compatible with Eye-Fi and SDXC memory cards, the Sanyo DMX-CA100 will be launched at the end of this month."

Sanyo is the latest camera manufacturer to release a camera aimed at helping us record our active lifestyles in HD no matter what we do. The DMX-CA100 Dual Camera Xacti is waterproof to 3m for 60 minutes though I am not sure whether that's when the battery runs out or when the water finally works it way in! This is definitely one for the beach lovers and snorkellers out there but as it doesn't mention that it's rugged, be careful not to drop it!