New hybrid camera/camcorder, the Sanyo Xacti HD700

So I was browsing Amin's Photo blog, which you may remember for their excellent Ricoh GX100 vs Leica Digilux 2 shootout, and I noticed in their news pipeline the announcement of a new camera. More specifically it is a hybrid camera/camcorder from Sanyo.


Details on the camera from digitalcamera.jp (computer-translated) and Let's Go but I'm sure more links will spring up any minute now. This is the computer-translated Sanyo press release

Meet the Sanyo Xacti DMX-HD700

7mp 1/2.5" CCD sensor

Supports up to 8gb SDHC

2.4fps (5 still frames) burst mode (aka "connected copying" in computer-translated speak)

A 5x optical zoom lens (38-190mm)

PSAM!

Interpolates up to 10mp for still images (although interpolation has become a dirty word in recent years)

At the highest quality mode you can store almost 2 hours of 720p high definition video on an 8gb SDHC memory card

This camera is really tiny and stores video on SD/MMC memory cards only using MPEG4/H.264

It has a "eFace chaser" feature and digital image stabilization. Apparently "face chaser" is the actual name of the feature, it is not a computer-translated term, although it sure does sound like one. Most companies call it face detection.

Goes on sale in Japan in mid-October for around 70,000 yen

Available in three colors, red, brown and silver

Initial monthly production output is 20,000 (per month)

USA price is $600 with an October 2007 release date. You can pre-order now!