SINGAPORE : Gadgets rarely get noticed for being slowpokes. But the Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD1010 is an exception.

It caught our eye with its ability to record smooth slow-motion footage at 300 frames per second. That’s not all - there’s a 7-frame-per-second (fps) continuous still shot mode that captures images at resolutions of up to 4 megapixels.

So, the Xacti is a crossover device that tries to meld the functionalities of a digital camera and a camcorder. And it comes in an unconventional and compact form, with a 10x optical zoom lens that’s attached to a pistol-like grip. It’s lightweight at 311g, but the grip takes some getting used to. But it was suited to prolonged use, tiring out your arms much less than other camcorders.

The device can record footage at up to 1080p (30fps) or 1080i (60fps) onto an SD card. The quality wasn’t shoddy at its highest setting, but we preferred the 720p mode that provided a good balance of high-definition quality and allowed us to shoot up to 1hr 27min of footage on our 8GB SD card.

The picture quality was sharp without much noise, but tended to be slightly underexposed. But you can easily tweak the Xacti’s white balance and exposure settings.

Its slow-motion feature has one caveat: Video quality is downsized to a resolution of 448x336, and its performance in low-lighting suffered. Otherwise, the feature works well if you’re filming in broad daylight, and footage looked decent on a big screen and was ideal for YouTube.

The VPC-HD1010 has a dock that doubles as a charger and a hub for you to transfer the footage to your computer via USB 2.0. HDMI support lets you hook up the camcorder to an LCD screen. The Xacti also functions as a video-capture device, a Web camera and a card reader when it’s positioned in the dock.

Still image shots were surprisingly good. Couple this with the 10x optical zoom, face detection technology and a dedicated flash and you have a pretty capable digital camera. You can even take snapshots while you’re capturing video.

The Xacti’s adjustable 2.7-inch LCD makes framing shots and footage a cinch.

We managed to eke out close to two hours of battery life when capturing footage, more than the 85 mins claimed by the manufacturer.

We like the Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD1010’s quirky yet compact form factor and its ability to perform double duty as a camera and high-definition camcorder. The only factor that’s making us think twice? Its retail price of S$3,299. - TODAY/ar