Sanyo Image PC

Presented with yet another 640 x 480 pixel consumer market digital camera to review, I was preconditioned to assume that the technology would not have progressed much.

The Sanyo Image PC is a digital camera similar to Apple, Kodak, Casio and others - storing images internally and download-ing them via a serial cable. Unlike earlier models it resembles a 35mm compact. Images are stored at 640 x 480 (16 shots) or 320 x 240 (32 shots). Resolutions can be mixed, as it has enough memory to store them...

The camera lacks AF, being 'Focus-Free' down to 60cm. As a camera, it replaces the snapshot type perfectly, with the ability to download the files to your PC giving it the sort of 'family' appeal which has made the PC so popular as a home computer.

The software, curiously named Chelsea, comes on two disks - it is here where I started to have problems. My Heinz (57 varieties...) PC system was running Windows 3.1 quite happily, with 32-bit compatibility from Win 32s. Chelsea thought otherwise, and attempted to install Win 32s itself, albeit a different version. Needless to say it didn't work - at a guess, I'd say the replacement was incomplete and support files of different versions were present. I understand that Bannerbridge run Chelsea on a Windows 3.11 system with no problems - my solution was more drastic, and I am now very happily using Windows 95.

Apart from losing 800 x 600 resolution, any form of sound (despite spending several hours messing with drivers, jumpers, screwdrivers and installer disks), I did get Chelsea up and running.

It seemed, at first glance, to be very similar to most image browser software, but it also features a unique live updated on-screen full colour viewfinder, and an onscreen button instead of the shutter. Stored frames are viewed as thumbnail slides, and double-clicking an image downloads it.

The Chelsea software, running under Windows 95, allows a 115,200 port speed, giving a new 'live' frame on continuous update every 3 seconds or so. It is easy to use, aimed at the novice computer user, and the only gripe I have with it is the total disabling of the shutter control on the camera in favour of the button on the screen when using the live preview. Download times are fairly impressive, and all in all the Sanyo Image PC, at around �495 + VAT, is good value as an entry into digital imaging, and is also a fair price for a consumer product.

Follow these links to see the original files as produced by the camera!

320 pixel width image - demonstrating relatively good image quality at low resolution...
640 pixel width, showing the Sanyo's excellent lack of blooming when shooting subjects with difficult reflections.
640 pixel Sunflower, showing the very impressive handling of yellow tints - again, despite a serious reflection on the car in the background, the Sanyo failed to produce any blooming.
320 pixel sunflower. The colour is saturated on this image because I forgot to override the flash! Normally the image would show the same colours as the 640 version.

Colour rendition and image quality is probably the best we have seen so far - each new camera seems to be better than the last - and blooming of highlights is almost eliminated. The restriction to two file sizes is no great disadvantage, and the internal memory stores just as many images as the PC card used on some far more expensive system. The Sanyo has an option to expand the memory to two (�110) or four (�189) Megabytes, using a non-standard memory module. The larger upgrade is better value and allows up to 128 images.

It is clear that the days of low-quality CCDs, colour artefacts and low resolution, as witnessed with early consumer digital cameras, are long gone. Though not revolutionary, the Sanyo Image PC certainly represents a further step in the evolution of digital cameras. For the home PC user, with a 16-bit colour card and a cheap colour ink-jet printer, the quality is perfectly matched - I doubt it will be long before cameras like the Sanyo are a popular addition to home PC systems. It accepts standard camcorder lens accessories, though the optical viewfinder can not show their effects (and also has no parallax correction for ordinary close-ups).

This kind of image can result if you forget that you are using a rangefinder camera! Compared to 35mm cameras, the distance from lens to viewfinder is fairly large and as a result these effects are not limited to very close shots. For building work and AutoTrader type photography, however, it would have no effect...

Some changes could be made, to make the camera a little more practical for business use. The stated requirement to switch both the PC and camera off before connecting the camera is inconvenient (and did not appear to be necessary!). It could just be Sanyo being careful. I have connected the camera with the PC on, and the camera off, with no ill effects. Secondly, the camera's own shutter release should work when the camera control window is open. Finally, the Mini-8 cable connector should be replaced with a more robust flat connector, like that used on Motorola mobile phones, designed to be frequently connected and disconnected.

When first testing the Sanyo, it seemed to encounter problems caused by a cheap Aztech sound card fitted. I replaced the card with a Creative Labs SoundBlaster AWE32 (the genuine article, so to speak, and not cheap) and for some reason this solved serial communication failures.

PC owners everywhere will understand; apparently unrelated components can often conflict with Windows 95.

- Richard Kilpatrick

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