Recent market estimations are bound to show a steady decline in camcorder demand in our ever thriving electronic sector. The reason is quite simple - there are more compact and portable alternatives to camcorders in the form of cell phones, smartphones and even tablets. But, what these multi-tasking devices lack is the essence of the core functionality of capturing a video and recording it. Now with advancement of technology and thus imbibed with enhanced recording capability, there are some handy camcorder systems that can give their more renowned cousins a run for their money (or cost). A good example would be specifically designed water-proof conceptions that can capture underwater marine life in all its enthralling glory.
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1. Panasonic SDR-SW20 Waterproof Camcorder
Utterly robust in its conception, the Panasonic SDR-SW20 Waterproof Camcorder is a 'no-nonsense' piece of equipment. The video capturing component is comprised of a 1/6in CCD sensor with 800,000 pixels, while it can shoot at a non-standard resolution of 704 x 576. The video can be stored in 16GB capacity SDHC card, which allows non-stop footage of around 3 hours. But more than its shooting capability, the waterproof SDR-SW20 certainly exhibits a tough and hardy design. According to Panasonic, it can be dropped from heights of up to 1.2m yet remain undamaged, and remain watertight down to depths of 1.5m.
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2. Samsung W200 waterproof/rugged 1080p camcorder
Looking more like a cell phone than a camcorder, this ultra-petite design is from non other than the exalted Samsung. Christened as the W200 waterproof / rugged 1080p camcorder, the 0.28 pound contraption has being made with fixed user oriented considerations. There are only two video modes -1080p and 720p, with no optical zoom option or any manual control layout. The plastic casing may seem to be not rugged enough, but we would happily pay $150 for the compact features with fine accessibility.
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3. Vivitar rolls out 690 HD camcorder: waterproof, 720p
Another classy yet diminutive design, and this time it is from Vivitar. Named as the 690 HD camcorder, this waterproof contraption can shoot videos at 720p, and that too at a depth of 10 feet under water. The mechanism incorporates SD card storage with a 2 inch LCD round-back. Though, again the user functionality is limited with no optical zoom and lack of HDMI port. But with a price tag of $60, it certainly falls in the dirt cheap category.
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4. Toshiba's waterproof Camileo BW10
Toshiba's Camileo BW10 seemingly manages to address all of the issues projected by its competitive peers. This bantam camcorder can capture videos at 1080p at a depth of 6.5ft under water, has a 5 megapixel still photo capturing capability along with an SD card slot, USB port, and HDMI output. Moreover, the sturdy rubber coating makes it fully waterproof, of course along with an increased price tag of $150.
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5. Sanyo's Xacti DMX-CA8 waterproof camcorder
Coming off as a jack of all trades, Sanyo's Xacti DMX-CA8 is all up for the job if you want to shoot videos in 640 x 480 VGA format. Features include a 5x optical zoom mechanism with 8 megapixels for still images. The main MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 video capturing criteria can be carried out under water at about 1.5 m depth, with around 1 hour of available battery life.
