Samsung HMX-T10 1080i Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom (White) Review

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(More customer reviews)I just love my new camcorder. First, let me acknowledge The Folded Space's review for its accuracy and relevence. I will only add a few comments from an amateur's point of view.
It was important that my new camcorder have optical as opposed to digital image stabalization. Looking at the makes and models that are less expensive, none seemed to have this feature at this price point. It does work! I do have to walk slow, very slow, and not jiggle the camcorder too much. There aren't too many dizzying moments (unless I zoom too fast or pan too fast).
The picture quality of the HD video is exquisite. The colors are rich, the details are pleasant, and the action is smooth. The 10x optical zoom is plenty for my use. More optical zoom is always better, but, once again, at this price, I am not complaining. The zoom is adjustable on the camcorder itself (allowing for very slooooow zooming) or on the lcd screen (there are dedicated buttons for zooming, but the speed is fixed and fast).
The picture quality of the 4.7 megapixel camera is not so good. The colors and exposure is excellent, but the resolution is just not there. No big deal really, I am sure that it'll serve up some excellent 4 x 6's or 5 x 7's with no problem, and it's nice to know that the feature is there.
The menu is not too deep and has all the necessary goods at hand. I once had a camcorder which had lots of extras built in but were so hard to get too that I never used them. This camera has the essentials right at ones' fingertips: manual touch screen focus, scene modes, macro, EV, backlit etc. With the essentials one or two lcd finger presses away, I find that I actually use them!
This camera, due to the backlit CMOS, makes excellent indoor videos with just basic incandescent bulbs. This was important to me as my house is not very bright (it has wood paneling throughout the house), and I just got a new puppy who is not quite ready for romping in the big open real world just yet. I set the camcorder to Auto Everything (one dedicated button) and voila! inside the house videos that are not grainy but are bright. It's nice to have a product that makes bold claims and lives up to them. The image quality is really as good as it is claimed, the image stabalization works, and the backlit CMOS really does make for excellent low light videos.
The software is a mixed bag, and beware of playback! The software, intelli-studio, downloads the videos and photos to the computer effortlessly and fast. The camcorder saves and transfers in AVCHD mode. I like that, for it's a new and up and coming standard for this type of camcorder. Sadly though, the playback software is horrible and jerky on my computer, which is only weeks old and, though not a speed demon, is no slouch. I almost returned the camcorder at first thinking that the image stabalizer was faulty and jerky. No, it was just the playback part of the Samsung software. When I use Windows player on Windows 7 or Cyberlink DVD Suite Gold to preview the raw footage, I am in awe at the smooth, colorful, details within the recorded data. I bought the Transcend 16 gig card, and it holds about 2 hours at the best video HD setting (1080i) and 4 hours at the other HD setting (720p). I find that plenty. Who has time to edit let alone watch any where near that at my amatuer level anyway, right?
I am happy with my purchase. This camcorder has exceeded my expectations. I have a feeling that this model is going to take off soon once the word gets out about its features and abilities. I would buy this again in a heartbeat.
I'll update if any reliability issues creep up.
Hope this helps,
Michael

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