Sanyo
Sanyo VPC-G200 (1997)
Sanyo introduced its line of Sanyo VPC digital cameras 1995. From the start, these cameras were predictable and conventional in appearance and function, at a time of experimentation and originality.
For this reason, this 1997 model appears unremarkable, even behind the times.In fact, the VPC-G200 is remarkable.
It contains an exceptional collection of advanced features. It operates impeccably. It does its job effortlessly.
It has 4mb of internal storage, macro mode, a self-timer, automatic white balance and an optical viewfinder. The LCD screen can be manually turned off to save the 4 AA batteries.
A short audio memo can be recorded for each shot and there is a slideshow function for automatic playback of all the images with their audio on a TV set. The camera body is all metal, giving an expensive feel.
Consumers reacted appreciatively by buying lots of VPC-G200s.
Knowing this, we can now recognise that Sanyo's digital cameras were ahead of their time while appearing to bebehind the times.
Sanyo iDshot IDC-1000Z (2000)
This is the spectacular Sanyo iDshot IDC-1000Z.
It is spectacular because of its looks, but also because of its enormous storage capacity for still photos and video clips. It is the only camera ever made that uses the iD Photo Disk system which was jointly developed by Olympus, Hitachi and Sanyo. It’s based on the rewritable magneto-optical disc cartridge. When it was launched in time for this camera, it was marketed as the storage system for the “next-generation digital cameras”. Too bad about that. By 2002, the failure of other camera manufacturers including Olympus itself to take up the iD Photo Disk technology caused Sanyo and Hitachi to dump it. Flash memory had won the battle for affordable camera storage.
The result left the iDshot camera concept stranded. But I don’t mind – it makes my spectacular complete set extra-precious to me.
Anyone who talks in hundreds of megabytes these days gets strange looks but of course in the year 2000, photos were in the VGA format and small. The disc could store 11,000 images of VGA quality.
Let’s not forget about the camera itself, though. Because it was developed at the end of the pioneering era of digital photography, the iDC-100Z has some attractive advanced features. There is a through-the-lens video viewfinder, audio recording (there’s an included lapel mike), novel firewire connectivity, a 1.5 megapixel sensor, a beautiful lens and a competitive price tag of US$1,500.
And that’s why I love this spectacular camera that arrived at the end of the vintage digital camera era.
