Camcorder Reviews

We were about to have a baby and my wife and I realized that having a simple camcorder would be nice thing to have. I wasn't shopping for anything fancy, and I certainly wasn't in the market to make films, however, for the price, this little Hi-8 camcorder does a great jop. In fact, its taping quality is fantistic.
The only thing that I wish that it had was image stablization. A tri-pod fixes that problem. It has many features that we would never use, but is still nice to see them there. My wife and I were impressed with the quality of the picture the very first time we watched a video.
Also, one thing to look out for, Samsung camcorder batteries are hard to find. For some reason, other than Samsung, Rayovac is the only company that makes a backup battery for this camcorder.
But enjoy, you won't be disapointed.

I was so thrilled about the quality of this camera! After reading the previous reviews I decided to buy it (Had intended on a more expensive camcorder but changed my mind after reading about this camcorder) To say it is worth the money is definitely an understatement! It is really a great camcorder. The only small complaint I would have is that the person's voice that you are recording is not as loud as I would like it to be. The one doing the recording is much louder than the one being taped. That may be with all camcorders since the microphone is right near the recorders' mouth, but I expected the subject to be louder in volume than it was. Overall, I am not at all dissapointed. Although I am not an expert with camcorders, I would definitley purchase this one before spending alot more on another one with similar features. Very well made!

For the beginner or someone needing a second, inexpensive camcorder, this one is great. Generally, easy to use but with many features. I didn't expect this much from an inexpensive unit. This Hi8 camcorder is easy to hook up to a VCR for copying to a standard VCR tape. The battery charge lasts for the full time, as advertised. My only complaint, if you can call it that, has to do with the marking of the buttons on the top of the camcorder (EDIT-, LIGHT, EDIT+, and DATE/TIME). They have dual functions depending on which mode (Camera or Player) has been selected. However, they are marked for only one option. The user has to remember which button to press. For example, to PLAY, press the LIGHT button). This can be confusing intitally. Regardless, this is a fine item for the price.

This camera is not on sale anymore. Get it at Radio Shack for the same price plus personable customer service. An OK camera, however.

I buy a Samsung SCL-860 and I hoped to can use on a PAL VCR, but when I try to record on my VCR with PAL60 features I had a real deception because my recording is black and white. What can I do now?

I think this is a great camcorder for someone on a tight budget, but I don't like the fact that there is no cartridge to play the Hi-8 tape in the vcr there is a cord you hook your camcorder to the vcr with and use the camcorder almost as a vcr to play the tapes and you hae to record the Hi-8 on to a vhs from your vcr in order to not have to use your camcorder. The only good part about that is that you can use the Hi-8 tape as many times as you need to and then jsut record it on to a vhs and reuse the Hi-8 tape.

I have had this camcorder for about a year. I have not had any trouble with it. I take it to the drag races with me. With the great zoom I can record the cars all the way to the end of the quarter mile track. The battery life is great. It recharges quickly. This is a great camcorder at a great price. It's really easy to operate. I would recommend it highly.

I have used my camcorder about 5 times, on my 7 month old's 1st trip to Disneyland I went to change the tape at the end of recording, and put a new tape in. After changing the tape, the camera would no longer play nor record. Of course I was just out of the 1 year limited warranty, and now it will cost almost as much to fix the camera as it would to buy a whole new one. It has never been dropped, nor mistreated. It just stopped recording or playing for no reason at all. What a waste of money.

I may only be 15, but I know quality. Over all this camera has some good points, I must admit. The zoom on this camera is phenominal and it charges quickly.
This camcorder, though, only lasts about 30 minutes, so it is hard to do any filming. The digital effects- simple, the quality of the product- Okay. I think that for the price you pay, it's an overall decsent camcorder.

I have bought a refurbished SCL810.

For the price you pay, you get a very good product. Value for money, I would say. I was also considering SONY products, but they cost atleat a 100 bucks more for similar features.

What I liked about the camcorder was that the decent picture quality in poor lighting.

I have recommended this camera to one of my friends and even he picked up one piece.

Do not buy this camcorder, if you want to use it exhaustively. Because it lacks many features that a $600 camcorder does not offer, like still shots.

The specs erroniously mentions that this is a dual system camcorder (NTSC and PAL). What they offer is a PAL 60 system compatiability, which I do not think is what is generally followed in countries like India.

Good: Good picture quality. Very cheap Hi8 camcorder. Good built quality (you can feel the sturdy construction). Good battery life.

Cons: No high end features like Still camera functions. No standard PAL system compatiability.

Pretty cheap for a Hi8 camcorder, but quality is unacceptably poor. The zoom lever is hard to operate, and when you put in a tape the mechanism makes tons of noise, really making you nervous. LCD screen is a little flaky, deciding to quit working occasionally so you have to turn the machine off, wait 10 seconds and turn it back on. It also destroyed a new TDK Hi8 tape this past winter. I think I wasted my money, and look forward to getting a Sony this summer when I get a new job.

The camcorder worked only a couple of times.Then the playback picture was totally .......

Overall, I'd like to say that this camera is a beautiful and inexpensive camera with great features. I bought mine at [a physical store] becuase Amazon.com didn't have any in stock but it has 22x optical zoom, and 880 digital zoom which is amazing!! The main reason I bought this camera is beacuse I will be goin to Italy for this summer and also Tunisia and I needed a camcorder, (It is my first one). It has a PAL system built in which means that you can basically use it anywhere in the world. The visuals are great and it has digital effects such as, black and white, fade, black light, mirror, sepia, negative picture, art, mosaic, 16:9, and cinema. Maybe the only bad thing is that it doesn't have an image stabilizer but it doesn't really bother me beacuse the other Samsung that does costs about [much more]. I would reccomend getting a Camcorder bag and an extra Lithium-Ion battery if your going to use it alot. It has two features that one is, EASY which everything advanced is turned off, more for begginers, and then a CUSTOM setting where you can customize everything the way you want it. It comes with the AC Adapter and the cable, a Lithium-Ion battery, hand strap, shoulder strap, lens cover, and AV cables which work great! Another great thing about it is that it is very small and it has a light you can turn on that helps just as good as if you were in a pitch black room and you couldn't see and you turned on a flash light. I reccomend this camera to begginners and expirienced people. I LOVE this camera!!

This is my first introduction to the world of Hi8 camcorders(having previously owned a VHS-C format camcorder) and I must say the SCL610 from Samsung really surprised me. The first thing that caught my eye was the price and how many features it had. Next, was the ease of use and picture quality. I'm the type when taking home a new gadget, wants to play with it already before even reading the manual. So, I opened the box took out the camcorder (wow, and how light it felt in my hands) plugged it in and charged the battery. I also installed the lithium battery for the memory and the date and time settings which I will adjust later. After an hour or so, I placed a blank Hi8 tape in the camcorder and started recording! The 500x digital zoom is really cool, I was able to focus the camcorder on a small object about 10 feet away from me and read the tiny little label. The light is bright enough to be able to record in total darkness. The microphone picks up human voices really well and does not distort it. After a couple minutes of recording, I plugged it in the VCR, played it, and voila! - I recorded my first segment and copied it into a VHS tape.

I have yet to explore this camcorder's vast features, I am overall very impressed with it. The only bad thing I could say about it is that the button placement could have been more ergonomical for people with tiny hands. I found the viewfinder to be of exceptional quality and it really makes recording that much more easier. The Samsung SCL610 is truly a great buy!

Fantastic picture. Excellent zoom and clarity along with the night light makes for recording in any condition.

We brought it to take video of the Kids and send to family, we are not pro's and this is the first camcorder we have owned, and it is great!!!

Very easy and clear picture I cannot recommend this more, go ahead and treat you're self you wont regret it!

We bought the camera as a return from a major department store that had taken it back from someone who had bought it one day and returned it the next. Most of the attachments were still in their bags. We got a price of $300 because it is a closeout and it was returned.

The first thing I noticed is that you can't even charge the battery without reading the manual. While that isn't a big problem for some, I am sure that it would be frustrating for people who want to pick it up and play with it. I am a little concerned that the dc (power)attachment and the pc (computer)plugs are approximately the same dimensions and are both rectangular. They are not particularly near each other but with someone who doesn't read instructions and is prone to forcing things, something could get damaged.

You get an 8MB memory stick (upgradeable to over 128Mb) for still photos and very short videos but you need to buy tapes. Then you need to be sure that you select the correct recording media on the side of the camera.

The camera portion is 1MB resolution; hardly high quality clarity for a digital camera these days but the video will operate in almost dark conditions. You can send the signal from the camera to a VCR, a TV, or a Computer, so it is extremely flexible.

Overall, if you are looking for a vacation camera that does videos and will take snapshots, this is a good choice. However, you need to read the manual. There are 17 buttons and switches on the outside of the camera alone, so you can't just point and shoot out of the box.

The best thing I liked about this camera is price per feature. I got this camera few days back and have tried all the features in the manual. I am very satisfied with pretty much all the features. The still digital camera mode is ok. The quality is ok for pc application, but just ok for printing. I did not, however expect a lot for this price.
It has everything nite pics, dig effects, back light comp, stab comp, memory stick and a lot more. I am happy with it at this moment. This is my first samsung product so reliability and cust support is yet to be seen.

I spent a lot of time researching the best video camera to buy and decided on the DuoCam. At first I was thinking of getting a Sony miniDV HandiCam, but after trying it out in the store I was afraid I would break it, it felt more like a Fisher Price toy than a serious (and expensive) piece of electronic equipment. I saw a review in Wired Magazine for the DuoCam and it peaked my interest, both a miniDV camera with a 4 mega pixel video camera in one package...hmmm. Well I tried one out in the store and although it is a little bigger than a HandiCam, it is much more solid and once you learn the controls is very convenient. One of the reasons I bought this was because we have a new baby, with this camera I can video tape him and when he does something particularly cute I just switch to the digital camera and take a shot, no switching or anything, pretty convenient when you have diaper in one hand and your camera in the other. I found the video quality to be the equivlent of the the HandiCam and the photo quality and features are excellent. Considering how much you would spend for both a decent miniDV camera and a good digital camera, this is a great deal. You also get a remote, USB cable and memory card. I am very happy with my purchase, way to go Samsung!

I purchased this camera in Singapore last May and I paid $1100. I compaired this camera to literally hundreds. If you have ever been to Singapore you would know its the electronics super center of SE Asia. This camera didnt simply out perform other models like JVC, Sony and Canon. It destroyed the competition. Night vision on this camera is fantastic compared to the long list of others I tried. This model is user friendly with easy to follow directions. The Samsung website has fabulous tutorials of how to work this camera too. This is selling for a way lower price than I paid. Its a steal at this price. Get the camera and you will know what I mean by performance. The guy that wrote the 2 star review.. he must be writing about a Sony.

This product is great. It's a DIGITAL video camcorder and is just so smartly designed (controls on the back within easy reach, remote control can snap onto/into the camera, etc), for the price of a poor analog camera with less features. Everyone I've talked about the camera is nothing less than enthusiastic about the quality and value for the money. It even has an effect (unfortunately called Make-Up mode) that will only highlight one color (like in "Schindler's List", as CNET noted).

I do have to say that I'm very creeped out by the "Ray Chan" negative review here, in which he copied negative reviews from the CNET boards, and then pasted them (all put together) as his own negative review here on the Amazon site. On CNET, he's known as the "Sony freak", because he goes to all the Samsung products and gives them bad reviews in really bad English, while pushing Sony products. He's managed to bypass the bad English here on Amazon by taking other people's reviews as his own. You can see the negative reviews he copied at: http://reviews.cnet.com/Samsung_SC_D590/4852-6500_7-9879939.html?tag=box
Creepy ...

I first purchased a Sony IP5 and was very disappointed. I hesitated to purchase the SCD590 due to some negative reviews... but I also felt that the reviews may have been staged. Anyway... I bought the camcorder... and we love it. QUALITY is GREAT... and that means picture, features, ease of use, and mechanical. We've had our SCD590 for about 3 months.

The video quality indoors is absolutely horrible, even with the night shot features, and every possible combination of settings, etc. I tried really hard to find reasons to keep this camera. But in the end, the video quality was too horrible to justify it as a $... digital still camera.

Outdoors, the video was OK producing ever so slightly washed out colors, but here is the real problem. Moving between light and moderately dark areas of a small room produced horrible video. During playback you either got something that looked like pure night or the sun all in one room. The video recorder does not gracefully adjust between light and moderately light areas of a room. Occasionally when using the zoom, a pure white line would be recorded vertically as part of the video!!!!!

Now for the camera. One thing that annoyed me after a few minutes was the constant manual flipping of half of the device between still and video. I did a comparison between the Samsung still digital camera and my Sony 3.34 MP camera that I already owned. Disappointment again. Horrible color from Samsung (washed out colors). I was not impressed with the quality after comparing about 10 different pictures of varying light, indoors, outdoors, etc. Hands down the Sony 3.34 MB won.

I returned the Samsung camera and bought instead the Sony TRV70 for about the same price (I would like to have tried the TRV80 but $... more was just not in the cards for an 1" more LCD). What a difference. When it comes to color and light (indoors especially), Sony seems to have those two figured out. Awesome video recording indoors with the Sony. All around the video was so much better with the Sony. The still are not as good as my Sony 3.34 but if you can live with reduced picture size, the quality is pretty good (plus no manual flipping of half the device). I'll still probably take both the video and the camera on the next trip (pending cooperation from the wife). Really, if you ignore such frills as Bluetooth and Internet connectivity from within your camcorder (!!!), you can probably buy something much cheaper than the TRV70.

One day, we'll all carry one device that produces high quality video and stills. But for now, that day is not here yet.

Other than a lack of a few manual overrides for things like shutter speed and logical film speed, the only other negative things I have to say are:

1) It forces too rigid controls on you for some of the more common things. Such as, take a photo and decide you don't want to keep it - to delete it you must first switch out of record mode and into play mode, access the menu, navigate to the memory option, locate the photo you just took and delete it. Then, to take another picture, you must switch back over to record mode (switching modes takes about .1 seconds to flip a switch, but for some reason the camera wants an addition 5 seconds to run a self-test or something before you can use that mode).

2) The LCD screen is not the greatest I've seen. Not bad, but just barely "good" quality. Playback of video or stills can sometimes result in noise, looking like mosaic squares or the occassional line. However, this is only on the LCD screen of the camera - videos and stills sent to a PC monitor, TV screen or printer (as appropriate) are all excellent quality.

I tried to replicate the problems quoted here in a previous review. I could not. I surmise the problems must have been due to either viewing on the LCD screen (already noted as being just barely "good") or due to bad recording media.

Specifically, I ran a panoramic recording of 2 rooms. Both were intentially lit in one corner but not the others. Both had large areas of white and dark patches, shadows under shelves and cabinets, objects up close and far away. I ran several pans of each room at different panning speeds. The ultimate speed was 1 revolution in 3 seconds - things moved by FAST!

The camera performed excellently with respect to exposure, rapidly changing with lighting conditions. Both rooms included the lighting source in part of the pans (i.e., I filmed the light bulb as it was burning). No problems. I could even read titles on books in the shadows of my bookshelves. I noted a slightly better result by using the "sports" setting rather than the automatic exposure, but the AE was still very good.

Of course, focus was a problem on the last, fast pan. 360 degrees in 3 seconds is too fast for any camera to keep up with. At more reasonable panning speeds, the camera focused absolutely A-OK.

As to a verical streak being recorded on zoom, the zoom is purely optical. The digital zoom value (up to 800x) must be set before recording starts and cannot be changed during recording. Any zooming during recording is optical, therefore, any vertical streak is probably the result of either (a) bad recording media or (b) the playback was on the LCD, not a PC monitor or TV screen. In short, the streak was either "real" and on bad media, or a "ghost" existing on the LCD but not truly recorded on tape.

For photos, color content is wonderful, if and only if the proper lighting is chosen. If you're indoors, choose indoors. Otherwise you will likely get a bit of blue or orange cast. Any PC software can adjust this, but using the correct setting is preferable. 4.3mp using superfine detail yields exceptional quality. Compared to a Canon G3's best photo, the DuoCam is noticably better.

The camera is complex. Not complicated, but complex. People who don't read manuals should not buy this camera.

For one camera to own and use, or if you need a travel camera on vacation or something, this is the one. Sure beats carrying a camcorder AND a still camera, and all in the size of a small to medium camcorder. It's not professional quality (then again, it's not $12,000 either), but it's getting close. Record video on tape or mediastick. "Snap" low-res stills to tape while in camcorder mode. Copy stills or individual frames from tape to memorystick. Continuous stills at 3/second. Lots more. Great quality, tons of features.