Sanyo Xacti VPC-C4

Sanyo's C4 is miniscule, but does its small size compromise its quality?

Sanyo's upright MPEG-4 camcorder gets a megapixel upgrade (now capturing four-megapixel stills) and a larger 1.8-inch screen, with the same characteristic one- handed pistol action.

THE GOOD
The tiny C4 is anything but a handful to use, with a sprinkling of buttons within easy reach of your thumb. The voice prompts are a little unnerving at first but actually quite helpful. A 5.8x zoom and four-megapixel chip make this a more than competent stills camera and image quality is fine. Highest quality movies (captured at 3Mbps) contain deep, rich colours and have full, lively stereo sound.

THE BAD
Advanced features are limited to sensitivity and white balance settings, plus a few scene modes and manual focus. Unfortunately, even full-quality movies look slightly soft, lacking the sharpest details, and high-contrast scenes are also problematic. Budget at least an extra £50 for a 512MB SD card.

THE VERDICT
The C4's a stylish, supremely easy to use camera-corder rather than a serious threat to MiniDV. A good-value all-rounder.