Link : http://www.dreamwarecomputers.com/reviews_2009/samsung_r10/index.htm

Samsung R10 1080 HD Flash CamcorderReview by: Steve June 2009

Introduction:In the past year or so we've seen Samsung make a jump into making all their camcorders flash based and eliminating the older and less convenient miniDV/miniDVD formats. In that time I've reviewed a few of the models in their lineup and even decided to get myself one to replace an old and failing camcorder of mine. In only a few short models I've seen them really build up this camcorder arsenal into a fairly strong product line - something that will go along great with all the new Samsung photo cameras we'll see emerging this year. Their latest flash camcorder, the R10, looks like something straight out of the future. With a compact body size, silver colour and angled front lens, it jumps out as not following the trend of the other Samsung flash camcorders currently on the market. Let's check it out further and see what it's all about!

In The Box:

(1) R10 Camera(1) Battery(1) Wrist strap (1) Carry pouch

(1) AC charge adapter w/AC cable(1) USB cable(1) Component cable (2) Ferrite cable wraps(1) Manual/warranty package

Specs:

Signal Type

Signal Type NTSC

Storage Media

Storage Media SD / SDHC slot

Image Sensor

Sensor Type CMOS

Sensor Size 1/2.33''

No. of pixels 5,3 M / 9 M (video / still)

Lens

F Value F3.5 ~ 3.7

Optical Zoom 5x

digital zoom 100x

Filter Diameter glass 0.55 mm

Type Full HD lens

Display

Main Screen

Device Type touch LCD

Size 2.7'' (wide)

No. of pixels 230K

Viewfinder

Device Type No

Size No

No. of pixels No

Light

Light No

Flash

Flash Yes

Shoe

Shoe No

Video Recording Feature

Video Spec.

Recording Format H.264 / MP

Recording Resolution

video HD: 1920 x 1080 @ 60i (SF / N), 1920 x 1080 @ 30p (SF), 1280 x 720 @ 60p (SF)

video SD: 720 x 480P @ 60p (SF), VGA @ 30p (SF)

Shutter Speed

Manual Shutter 1/60 ~ 1/10000

Auto Yes

Slow Shutter Mode (LSS)

auto, 1/30, 1/15

Image Stabilizer EIS

Focus Auto Focus Yes

Manual Focus Yes

Power Night Capture No

Video Still Capture Yes

Back Light

compensation Yes

Low Light Sensitivity 15 lux (slow shutter)

White Balance Auto Yes

Manual auto, daylight, cloudy, fluorescent, tungsten, custom

Audio Recording Feature

Audio Format AAC (stereo)

Sampling Rates 48 kHz

No. of Channel 2 channel

PC CODEC PC Decorder Yes

PC Encorder Yes

Others Worldwide AV Output No

Speaker Yes

Volume Adjust Yes

Built-in Microphone Yes

Wind Filter(WindCut Plus) Yes

Real Stereo Yes

Audio Effect

Voice No

Music No

Wide No

Echo No

Audio Dub No

Operation

Play/Still Yes

Stop Yes

FF/FPS Yes

REW/RPS Yes

Line Recording No

Slow Motion Yes

Frame Advance Yes

Shuttle Search Yes

Auto Rewind No

Zero Memory No

Slide Show Yes

Protect Select Yes

All Yes

PB Option Select Yes

All Yes

Delete Select Yes

All Yes

Still Imaging Feature

Still Image

Format JPEG

Resolution

12 M: 4000 x 3000 / interpolation9 M: 4:3, 3456 x 2592

6 M: 16:9, 3328 x 18725 M: 4:3, 2592 x 19443 M: 4:3, 2048 x 1536

2 M: 16:9, 1920 x 1080VGA: 640 x 480

Quality super fine

Recordable Media SD / SDHC card

Interface

PC USB Yes, USB 2.0

IEEE 1394 No

Video Composite Yes

S-Video No

Component Yes

HDMI Yes (ver 1.3 c / Anynet+)

Audio Ear Phone Jack No

Memory Card Card Slot Yes (SDHC)

Memory Application

Movie Clip Recording Yes

Memory Application Compatible Card SD / SDHC

Built-in Memory No

USB Application

Motion Picture Streaming Format No

Resolution No

PC Camera No

External Storage Yes

Direct Print System DPOF Yes

PictBridge Yes

Others

Indicator

Power LED Yes

Tally Lamp Yes

Recharging Indicator Yes

Function key LED Yes

AF Assist Lamp No

Disc Access Lamp No

Tripod Screw Yes

Lens Cover No

Charging in working No

Color Variation black / silver

S/W and PC OS

OS Compatible OS Windows Vista / XP

Bundle PC S/W 1 built-in S / W (Intelli-Studio)

Bundle PC S/W 2 No

Bundle PC S/W 3 No

Accessory

Power

Ac Adaptor/Charger Yes

AC Cord Yes

Battery Pack Yes

Strap

Hand Grip Yes

Shoulder Strap No

Neck Strap No

Case Carrying Case Yes (soft pouch)

Cable A/V Cable Yes (multi 10 pin)

USB Cable Yes (multi 10 pin)

Others

Remote Control No

Bundle Recordable Media No

Intruction Book No

Pocket Guide Yes (quick guide)

Power

Power Supply Type output (5.0 V, 2.0 A)

Power Consumption LCD off, VF on 3 W

LCD on, VF off 3 W

Battery

Cell Material li-ion

Model No. IA-BH125C

Shape Type hidden type

Running Time (For This Model) approx. 80 min

Dimension & Weight

Dimension 38.3 x 56.8 x 128.2 mm

Weight 229 g

Other Feature

Worldwide AV Output No

PB Zoom Yes

Features:Taking a slightly different colour path than the past Samsung flash camcorders I've reviewed, the R10 has an entirely silver body - different from their usual gloss black. If you look close enough at the side where the screen folds out, they've given it a brushed aluminum pattern on top of the plastic. All the writing is etched into the plastic with only the Samsung and HD logos being glued on. If you look long ways down the camera you can see that it's actually quite thin. I'd have to say it's thinner than almost any other 1080 handheld flash cam I've previously used.

A closer look at the body reveals that it's very simple looking when it comes to the buttons. There's only three physical buttons on the outside of the body; photo, mode and record. Beside the record button is the first of two zoom toggles. Open the screen, and inside you'll find a power button, display/iCheck button and EasyQ button. On the frame of the screen is the QMenu button (discussed more later), a second zoom toggle and a second record button. With the R10's main features being operated and programmed via the touch screen there is quite simply no need for a large number of physical buttons.

A small cover on the back edge of the R10 can be opened to reveal the DC charging plug, an AV jack and a built-in HDMI port. It's nice to see the built in HDMI back again, Samsung had done this on their HMX10A but removed the feature from the HMX20C, and now it's back again on the R10.

When you first look at the R10 you are likely to think "something looks really weird at the front of the camera". Well, in a way this is very true. The lens is mounted on a 25 degree upward angle. Want to know why? Hold your hand in the position where you would normally hold a video camera to film something - it isn't perfectly level is it? Since most people hold their video camera's about a foot or so away from their breast bone, the hand itself has roughly a 25 degree downward tilt. To compensate for this, Samsung gave the R10 lens a 25 degree upward tilt. It seems weird at first, but when you actually give it a go, it feels very natural. The lens is actually behind a glass cover on the front of the camera, which further adds to the slightly unusual look up front. Although this glass is scratch proof and designed to protect the lens itself, I still don't agree with Samsung's idea to not include a lens cap. Although it may not help much with scratch reduction, I still would like a lens cap to keep this glass clean and free of fingerprints.

Unlike some of the past Samsung flash camcorders I've reviewed here, the R10 does not have any internal memory. You must provide memory yourself via SD and SDHC supported cards. Downloading to your computer is made easy by the R10 appearing the same as a USB flash drive would when connected to your computer.

The QMenu is essentially a user programmable set of four hotkeys that show up on the touch screen when the button is pressed. This gives you access to any of the camera's critical features and settings with no more than two button presses. For example, my current QMenu has a resolution button, exposure control button, back light button and focus control button. I'd like to note a few changes in this QMenu from older Samsung camera models: it's been cut down to four items instead of the old six and it is now user editable (you never used to be able to change the options in the menu). I must say that I absolutely love the ability to now modify what I have control of in the QMenu but the reduction from six items down to four means that if I'm a power user, I may still have to do a lot of menu navigation for more of my commonly used features. Of course a complete menu can be brought up at any time by using the menu button on the lower corner of the screen.

The R10 is capable of recording both high definition and standard definition movies ranging from VGA (640x480) up to 1080i/p. Audio is recorded in stereo AAC format at 48kHz. Below is a summary of all supported recording modes and the qualities they are available at. Note: SF is super-fine and N is normal when it comes to quality, and i is interleaved and p is progressive when it comes to resolutions.

HD: 1920 x 1080 @ 60i (SF / N), 1920 x 1080 @ 30p (SF), 1280 x 720 @ 60p (SF)

SD: 720 x 480P @ 60p (SF), VGA @ 30p (SF)

Still image capture quality ranges from VGA up to 12 megapixels (interpolated), the camera's native quality is 9.0 megapixels. All photos can only be taken in the super-fine quality setting. There is a flash on the front of the camera that can be set to off, auto, red-eye reduction or fill modes (quite a bit of variety for a camera designed primarily for video!) An outline of all photo quality settings and resolutions is shown below:

12 M: 4000 x 3000 / interpolation

9 M: 4:3, 3456 x 2592

6 M: 16:9, 3328 x 1872

5 M: 4:3, 2592 x 1944

3 M: 4:3, 2048 x 1536

2 M: 16:9, 1920 x 1080

VGA: 640 x 480

Both video and picture modes have face detection. This means the camera will automatically sense the faces in the picture and work extra hard to make sure they all stay in focus.

Installation:IntelliStudio is another one of those new features that we're seeing emerge on the R10's

design. Embedded on the flash memory inside the R10 is video/photo playback and editing software called IntelliStudio. Much like U3 on USB drives, this program will execute and run directly from the camera on any Windows XP or newer system (sorry Mac users!).

Testing:Since the R10 lacks the traditional hand strap to slide your hand into, I did find it somewhat awkward to hold onto at first. The feeling of a hand strap being there also gives me the security that if something were to happen causing me to open my hand while filming that my camera would not simply fall to the ground.

The quality of the video I recorded was superb and I have no complaints from that area of functionality. Keep in mind if you're shooting in high definition that you will need a fairly new computer to be able to play them back due to the super high resolutions (when compared to most computer resolutions). Of course the ability to switch the R10 into standard definition will allow you to use it much the same as any older video cameras - just with the convenience of flash memory instead of tapes!

When you're in video mode, the photo button will simply grab a snapshot of the current frame. These are not high quality snapshots though, to attain full image quality you must be in photo mode. When you flip into photo mode, you now get a whole new set of options in the menu and QMenu. I switched the camera over to the highest quality, 12MP, and took a variety of shots with the flash on and the flash off. I placed a few of these

shots below for you to check out! Although the pictures appear to have fairly good colour, and in a high resolution, they still do not match up to those from a true digital photo camera. They get grainy very fast and you can almost notice this in the shots before zooming them. This all comes down to how the lens is designed - since it's a video lens designed for 1080 video, a high-quality digital still photo lens is simply not in the same ballpark.

Conclusion:For a price cheaper than most competitors, the Samsung R10 has shown to be a solid 1080 high definition flash camcorder for under $500USD. Alongside the usual camcorder features found on most camcorders in this range, the R10 jumped out to me with it's unique 25 degree lens angle and built-in PC editing/playback software. Although I wasn't left too fond of not having a secure hand strap or a lens cover, this will likely be something that won't bother everyone.

Pros:Great quality 1080 videos25 degree lens angle is an innovative idea to reduce wrist strain!Some minor firmware and software improvements over past Samsung flash camcorders stand outIntelliStudio built-in software Photo quality is good and photo mode gives you a variety of options (keep in mind it won't compare to a digital photo-only camera though)

Cons:No proper lens cover! No hand strap. This also made using the buttons on the back of the camera extremely hard without crossing my other hand over to operate them.