Samsung H200 Full HD Camcorder with 20x Optical Zoom (Black) - Camcorder Review

By 

J. J. Marino “Geekasaurus Rex” (Rochester, New York) –

  

  

  

Customer Video Review Length:: 4:13 Mins

This is my video review of the Samsung H200 Full HD Camcorder.

All video was shot with either my MinoHD or the Samsung H200. The video review notes when the changeover happens.

I was pleasantly surprised at the overall quality of this camcorder. First off I used to work around large guns while in the Navy. I have some hearing loss. I did not hear a single whine as mentioned in other reviews. I asked my wife who has no hearing loss and she heard no whine while it was operating. I can only assume they fixed that issue as mentioned in the other reviews.

Video Quality:
It is significantly better than the Flip MinoHD Camcorder 2nd Generation, 2 Hours (Brushed Metal), although its more like oranges and nectarines with that comparison. But, its the only other real HD camcorder I have to compare it to. That being said it is 1080i and not 1080p. I know there are purists out there that insist that an HD camcorder should be 1080p, and yes that is partially true. I do throw this in for consideration that a camcorder with a higher pricetag should be that level and not one geared towards every day use such as this camcorder.

Ease of use +
This camera has very few buttons. I think they took a page from Apple’s book with regard to having a simplistic interface. There is complexity to the interface but it is within the touch screen. The touch screen is more like an ATM type of touch screen and not like an iPod Touch screen. Its very easy to use and with generous button pushes the camera responds well. I love being able to pop out the SD card, plug it in my adapter and copy the already encoded H.264 video over to my iMac. It saves me literally hours of compression/re-compression hooha that I really never enjoyed.

Audio: +
It captures the smallest noises from birds chirping far away to leaves rustling. Each sound channel is distinct and well rendered on the final product. I did voice over on the video during the H200 recordings because my kids and dog decided to have a screamfest at the point I was outside recording.

Component Connection AV +
I connected it to my VIZIO HD 1080p LCD HDTV via the AV interface. It was crisp and looked fantastic. Sure it was not 1080p but honestly I couldn’t tell. I come from a generation that used to have shoulder mounted VHS camcorders to lug around. This is so good I would almost think its broadcast quality, at least on a 720 channel.

Features not tested:
I did not test the time lapse video yet. I plan on making a video with this to record an outside scene. Once I do that I will post where to watch it here, as I cannot have 2 video reviews up. I did not use HDMI because the output is a smaller HDMI and I did not have one handy.

Recommendations:
Get a class 10 SD Card. Dont mess around with lower quality cards when the video needs speed not only to record but also to transfer. The costs of class 10 are not that bad these days. Here is one to have a peek at:SanDisk 8GB Extreme SDHC Class 10 High Performance Memory Card

Video corrections:
The mailbox is about 200 yards up the road not 500. Also, the ports on the bottom are outputs and or inputs. This camera does not have HDMI input.

Thanks for watching and reading my review. Please post any comments or suggestions. I will do my best to answer them.

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 Comments (64)

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K. New –

  

I purchased this camera and have been using it for several weeks. The hi-pitched ringing that others complain about is imperceptible to me – even in a zero-ambient noise environment. This is an electronic device, so you might hear a soft hum under very quiet circumstances, but just about every camcorder does that… But I can’t hear anything worth complaining about. I am using fast class 10 SDHC card, so maybe that makes a difference.

I am a former broadcast news videographer with a few Emmy’s tucked away in my closet – so I should have some credibility with this review. I was not looking for a pro camera. I was looking for a good quality, affordable, HD camera to record my growing family. I love my Samsung HDTV and refrigerator, so I decide to give their camcorders a shot. Bottom line: This is a great, inexpensive HD camcorder, which easily fits my requirements. And at a cost of $297 out the door (I got a good price + another $97 for the SDHC card) it is hard to beat. Can it compare with a 3-chip prosumer camera costing thousands? No… and Yes. No, the lower-cost components don’t compete equally with higher cost components – and they are not meant to. But yes, in that all things being equal, a good shooter with this Samsung will shoot the socks off of an average shooter using any high-end camera. No camera, no matter how expensive, can compensate for poor shooting skills. A good shooter with this Samsung can do great things.

Some people complain about blurred or ghost images when shooting in very low-light with this camera. Here are a couple of suggestions: make sure the electronic image stabilization is turned off (this can lead to image blurring in low light), don’t zoom in (which lets in less light), use a class 10 SDHC card… and the most obvious – throw some light on your subject! Really, if it’s too dark to shoot then don’t shoot. Or at least accept the lower quality video – low-light means low-quality, which is why the pros travel with a light kit and take the time to light properly. This is video, not film. I also shoot on 720p, which seems to produce the most consistent results in a variety of lighting and motion conditions.

Now, some specifics… this camera is small and light. It can feel a little flimsy (especially the flip out screen) and the touch screen is not the most responsive, but I am getting used to it. I wish it had a mic jack, manual audio and better manual focus controls. I wish it had a separate, shielded view-finder in addition to the 2.7 inch touch screen – especially since it is hard to see in bright sunlight. I wish the shutter speed went as low as 1/30th of a second (instead of just 1/60th) which would let in more light under lower light conditions. But I guess all those features would make the camera cost more as well. The built in editing software is a nice touch and is good enough for basic editing, including some nice effects. This should be fine because the golden rule for editing is “less is more.” I am having a problem launching clips directly from this program for viewing and trimming – but I can do so while editing. This makes managing clips more difficult and may be a compatibility issue. Regardless, I will need to buy a dedicating editing package which is disappointing since basic editing is all that I need to do and I should be able to use the bundled package, but can’t.

On the upside, it has a 20x optical zoom, is easy to hold steady, has great video quality, has long-battery life (since it not spinning a hard drive, which should also make it more durable), powers-up fast, has built in editing features, is an easy point-and-shoot camera for family use, has robust manual controls even if you have to dig around a little, has “touch point” focus to focus anywhere just by touching the screen and a cool time-lapse shooting feature. And since I travel often, one of my favorite features is that you can charge this camera via the USB cable – which is perfect for me. The freedom to ditch the AC charger while traveling is a huge advantage and makes me more mobile. In all, Samsung put some very thoughtful features in this little camera for the shooter on the go. I highly recommend it and am very pleased with my purchase. Update – here’s a quick video of my son’s track day at school, shot off hand on 720p, but compressed for utube: [...]

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M. Erb (Syracuse, NY) –

  

  

  

The Samsung HMX-H200 series of digital camcorders (HMX-200, HMX-203, HMX-204, HMX-205) provide a robust set of features in an increasingly crowded field of similarly sized camcorders in the under $500 price range. The only difference between the different Samsung models is the amount of onboard internal memory. They all have an SD card slot but other than the HMX-200, the other models offer internal memory as well. The HMX-203 has 8GB, HMX-H204 has 16GB and the H205 has a whopping 32GB of memory.

There are probably as many shortcomings with the camcorder as there are pluses, so let’s get started.

I actually purchased the HMX-H205 but since the various H200 series camcorders are identical except for the built-in memory, I decided to post my review to what will be the more widely purchased H200 model. My observations pertain to all of the H200 series camcorders.

The camcorder comes with a composite video cable, a USB cable, AC power adapter, battery and the camcorder itself. For best viewing on a flat-screen TV you’ll need to purchase a mini-HDMI to HDMI cable since it is not included.

If you are buying this camcorder sight unseen, that is you’ve never handled one in a store, you may be surprised, as I was, at how small and light this device actually is. It’s extremely light which is not necessarily a good thing because that lightness makes it a bit difficult to keep steady. I know that sounds counter-intuitive but I find it to be true. So it is a good thing that this camcorder has image stabilization which definitely helps but more so at wide angle and minimal zoom. At higher zoom, the helpful effect is diminished to the point of being quite ineffective.

The H205 has a lens that gives you a good amount of wide-angle (37mm) compared to other camcorders and also provides a very useable optical zoom of 20x. Add in the digital zoom and you’ve got quite a powerful zoom on this camcorder. When you use a tripod, be sure to turn image stabilization off when zooming in all the way, it is really amazing how you can bring distant objects in to view. Of course when you zoom in that tightly, hand-held jitters are magnified greatly so that’s why using a tripod is essential since image stabilization has little effect when zoomed in all the way.

The camcorder provides HD video in two flavors, 1920 x 1080/60i & 1280 x 720/60p. I’ll let the technicians debate the differences between 60i and 60p (interlaced vs progressive). Let’s just say that for an under $400 camcorder the video quality is stunning, particularly if this is your first camcorder or if you are upgrading from an older SD camcorder. I find that video recorded at 1280/60p are just fine for my use and appreciably extends the recording time of my HMX-H205.

A feature that I really enjoy with this camcorder is that Samsung has combined the video and photo function. You do not need to switch out of video mode to get into Photo mode in order to capture still images. Simply depress the “Photo” button, located on the top of the camera just to the right of the zoom control, and the camcorder will capture a still image (even when you are recording video.) Very slick and eliminates the need to switch in and out of video mode in order to grab a still shot. You can even capture a still shot from video already captured by depressing the “Photo” button during video playback. Some have complained about the photo resolution of this camcorder but my feeling is that this is primarily a camcorder that also happens to take still photos. It is not a dedicated still frame camera. Even so, it does take respectable photos at 2880 x 1620 resolution ( 4.7 Megapixel JPEG photos ). I think that’s great for what this is… a camcorder that can also take fairly decent stills.

There are two zoom controls, one on the top of the camera body, the other on the left edge of the LCD panel. The control on the top of the camera offers a variable speed zoom but the “throw” is very short and it is therefore difficult to smoothly transition into a zoom regardless if you want a slow or fast zoom speed. If you are very gentle you can do a slow zoom but it requires practice. The zoom on the LCD panel offers only one zoom speed, but it is a slower zoom that may be preferable in many instances. I found myself using it more often than not.

Focusing the camcorder is accomplished in one of three ways. Auto Focus is probably your best bet most of the time. It works pretty well in many situations. In certain situations though it may have a hard time finding the proper focus point in which case you have two other options… you can use what Samsung calls “manual” focus or “touch-point” focus. In manual focus, additional icons representing close and far appear. By touching either one with you finger you can “manually” adjust the focus. But you have to rely on what you can see in the LCD which as I…

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