After a long search and compare, I am now landed on this machine. It seemed to meet all these points and also some nice goodies, like the slow motion mode. I'll start at the beginning ...
Ergonomics:
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The pistol grip has given me at the beginning of a lot of fun, because the camcorder has thus a very discreet profile and you can not see, like a Japanese tourist. However, I have very often recordings, which are shifted by 10 ° -15 ° to the left, because I think the thing simply wrong. Only when I am concentrating totally on record just capture images, otherwise they are wrong. Perhaps I have only a kink in optics.
The size of the camera is deceptive in photos unfortunately often. I was a bit surprised when I unpacked the unit. The lens is quite thick and I think you really gain nothing compared to a "normal" shaped camcorder, except that it is less noticeable when shooting.
Video:
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The videos are all very good. The colors are a bit oversaturated, but I personally like it. It makes green landscapes (and people!) Look better than they really are. The sharpness is also very good.
Especially the quality in poor lighting conditions it did to me. Some noise is there in low light, but that does in my opinion hardly the images are still quite sharp and well lit.
I had tested, for example. Also the Samsung R10. This has a slightly better noise performance, but by the much fainter Optics produces veritable black holes at positions which do not reflect much light.
The ability to cope with all lighting conditions, the strength of this camera, the weakness is the image stabilizer. This I knew from other tests and reviews, but it weighs but heavier than expected. To say the stability is poor, this is clearly an understatement. The camera is actually unregulated. Even without zoom is even slight hand tremor recognizable. Each button operation is a Riesenwackler. You really have to always totally focused (or drinking 3 beers ...), otherwise you get images that cause headache quickly.
Actually, this is incomprehensible, because there are also electronic image stabilizers that work well (-> Panasonic). The chip of the Xacti would actually be big enough for it, but Sanyo has decided to use this for an "Advanced Zoom", which, however, did not useful without a good image stabilization. The only remedy is a shoulder stand, but then the Taschencam has the profile of a studio camera.
Another weakness is the wide-angle, which is actually not. A wide conversion lens is probably one of the first meaningful additions to the Xacti.
The slow motion (240fps and 600fps) is to say that the resolution will be reduced accordingly in order to keep the amount of data to be written constantly. Thus the 600fps mode is ever completely useless, because the pictures have the size of a cell phone displays. The 240fps mode is ok, but you can only 10sec. so take (which are then inflated to 24sec).
A timelapse mode is completely missing.
Sound:
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The sound is often rated in tests as weak, I find it really good. A connection for an external Micro is also because, as an accessory shoe.
A wind noise reduction is also available, despite contrary assertions in various tests. It is in the menu hidden under "Noise Reduction". Not very clever, but it exists.
Photos:
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The first thing you notice in the photos, are chromatic aberrations (purple fringing). These usually make me not so much, but at this cam they really occur at any high-contrast transition. And that in a blaze of color and variety, as I have seen it yet nowhere.
The next thing that stands are called. "Lens flares" in the sunshine. These look like a supernova in the middle of the image. One sees this but partially on the display and can be set accordingly.
At 100%, the pictures look as if they were blurred and were then sharpened again. Unlike the video lacks the sharpness and detail photos.
However, the biggest weakness is the automatic that probably auswürfelt their attitudes partly at random. So the flash is consistently avoided, even if it is expanded. The focus often tangled and makes wrong things spicy (happens with videos). The Gesichtserkenner recognizes everything as a face, which is approximately (can be switched off).
We should also mention yet that while recording motion pictures, only still images are stored (ie a maximum of 2MP).
To say something positive about the photos: I was surprised the quality at high ISO's. Pictures with ISO 1600 are for the web still quite useful and certainly better than blurred.
Overall, the picture quality of the Xacti can also compete with the cheapest most compact cameras. Better it is only at high ISO's.
Other:
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The camera has a lot of settings that in the photo and video modes are almost all usable. These include: manual adjustment of aperture and shutter, preset profiles (but not user-defined), white balance, manual focus, self-timer and ISO sensitivity. Of these, one should, especially in photo mode, also make use of.
When you start recording, the screen goes black for 1-2sec, before you start, which is very annoying. The intensity of the flash for still images is very weak and can not be adjusted. The zoom motor is, in my opinion, too soon.
Conclusion:
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My problem was indeed that I wanted exactly in the moments when I film or photograph, my devices had not there (most cell phone). That's why I was was excited at the beginning of the concept of a pure point-and-shoot camera that can make both video and photos. In practice, this concept is unfortunately ruined by some incomprehensible weaknesses.
The Progressive videos, the good lowlight properties and the fact that the only real alternative (Samsung HMX-R10) is even worse, make the Xacti for me but a good choice. Somehow she comes anyway with any situation clear, though often not optimal, but compromises you have to make at the moment in each unit.
