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Samsung SC-HMX20C 8GB High Definition Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom |
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| The samsung S-HMX20C really rocked during our vacation in hot Africa. |
| The camcorder was a hit. It was lightweight, took excellent HD video clips and wonderful pictures under night conditions, easy to dowload to a PC or external hard drive. Only draw back is that the software is not easy to use and requires more than 2GB memory to handle very large clips for HD production. Looking for suggestions in that area. Thanks |
| Jan 06, 2009 |
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| Perfect for what I (and my son) was looking for... |
I was offered a Samsung SC-HMX20C 8GB High Definition Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom via the Amazon Vine program for review, and it had some intriguing possibilities. Easy-to-understand menu structure, and great video quality. I'm far from a vid expert, so I won't be able to intelligently detail pros and cons that someone who shoots professionally. But the design lends itself to my son's expectations perfectly...
He rides a fixed gear bike and has competed in a number of alleycat competitions. He's also quite adept at trick riding, and has often wanted to do some YouTube videos. The Samsung ergonomic design is perfect for shooting those types of clips. The tubular shape fits perfectly in the palm of the hand for excellent angle control. It can also be held with the hand facing downward to get ground-angle shots with no strain. The view screen swivels for easy viewing as he's shooting under different conditions. And best of all, the zoom controls are located perfectly for one-handed fingertip control. All in all, he's extremely excited about the camera and the results he can get for shooting his way to YouTube fame.
I'm very happy with the camera for what I had in mind, and I'm sure we'll get plenty of use from it over time... or until he runs over it... whichever comes first. |
| Dec 21, 2008 |
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| Great Quality & Durability |
Samsung SC-HMX20C
I'm in no means a professional at using video cameras, nor am I willing to spend the kind of $$$ required for such equipment, but I did want a video camera that would record in HD, not break the bank and still offer plenty of cool features and acceptable performance.
I found what I required in this Samsung HMX20C. Priced right for what you get at around $600-800, offers good battery life of about 90 minutes and enables you ease to carry by slipping it into your jacket pocket, hold about 2 hours of video in 1080P mode, edit ability through your Windows XP, a full 8gb hard drive built in so additional cards will not be necessary unless you plan on being gone away from your computer for more than a day and it offers slow motion if you need it, although not while in HD mode.
I've used the little Samsung for my daughters programs at school inside of a well lit auditorium and outside in good daylight and I was very impressed with its performance. I have not tried it yet indoors in poorly lit areas, but if it performs nearly as good in doors as it does outside, I'll be content. The optical zoom of 10X is more than plenty adequate.
I like Samsung products, as I have always had very good luck with their performance and durability. This camera was dropped once while handing it over to my daughter. I was a little worried because it fell about three feet onto concrete, but I was extremely happy to see it worked flawlessly even after the drop with no damage what so ever or even a scratch.
I don't believe you will see this camera in the hands of any professionals, but for using it for basic functions at school, at home or for any family type of get-together, you'll be completely happy with it.
I rate this camera a 4-Star. I could have given it a 5-Star except like so many other new electronic products, they tend to load it with a lot of whistles and bells that will probably not get utilized much by everyday type photographers.
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| Dec 18, 2008 |
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| It's a nice unit, but has some major flaws... |
Imagine that you're out on a date with a beautiful lady. Everything's going great and you're having a wonderful time. And then something weird happens and the whole night sort of folds up. That's how I feel about this camcorder. The specs make it sound great, but the bottom line is how the pictures come out and that's where I've been disappointed.
First the good stuff... If you're outside and have a tripod (or monopod), the pictures are terrific. At HD 1080p, they're sharp and the colors are great. Take it to your kid's sports activities or a picnic, Bar-B-Q or camping trip and you'll be really happy with the results. The docking/charging station can stay at home and remain plugged into your home theater system...when you get home you just place the camera on the little pedestal and you can play your movies and (assuming that you've connected the USB port) upload files to your computer. Using the camera is equally simple. The display is a touch screen. It's really easy to navigate through the menus and control the camera. I've found it to be much easier to use than other cameras with lots of buttons. (Of course, a traditional "record" button is still found on the back of the camera body.) The use of the internal flash memory, along with additional SDHC cards means that the camera is absolutely silent. If you're trying to be unobtrusive, you can also disable the red recording light...that's useful when you're trying to capture a candid shot.
Now, the not so good stuff... First, my indoor pictures, shot using the available light, haven't been that great. The still pictures, in particular, show a lot of multicolor noise. The noise affects the movies (although it averages out somewhat in the moving image, there's still a loss in overall quality) but the still frames have been unusable. I'd give it a "C" for indoor movies, but an "F" for indoor stills. Frankly, this was really surprising since both the Samsung's image sensor and lens opening are quite large and I'd assumed that the low light sensitivity would be good. (I wouldn't give so much weight to the still picture capability if it wasn't so prominently featured as one of the camera's features...the reliance on which resulted in blowing a lot of pictures at my father's 80th birthday...)
Next, the image stabilization is next to worthless. If you can hold the camera almost still, it'll take it the rest of the way and provide a stable image. In practice, I'm not sure that anybody can hold it that still for very long...I certainly can't and I've had a lot of experience with movie cameras. I have a much less expensive Canon (the FS-100) where the image stabilization works a whole lot better.
Last, the widest angle of the zoom is barely wide enough for shooting indoors in close quarters. It's fine for a single person or two, but group shots are impossible unless you can back up far enough. You can, of course, always pan the camera across the crowd, but that's not exactly the same thing.
So...this camera is worth looking at, but think about your needs critically before purchase. Compare the different manufacturers and, if possible, try them out before you buy.
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| Dec 17, 2008 |
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