Quick Review Camcorders: Samsung SC-X105L

The Samsung SC-X105L will appeal to the thrill seeker who wants to share their adventures with friends and family, or to the James Bond in all of us who wants to find out just who has been stealing our newspaper. The camcorder is very portable and easy to use. It comes with an external lens that allows for interesting angles and perspectives, which may open up some possibilities for sports videography - assuming, of course, that you can make out the picture through the bad focus, poor white balance, and unadjusted exposure. Samsung ships this model with a slew of accessories such as a Velcro strap for the external lens, and a pocket pouch for the camcorder itself. Unfortunately these accessories can not lift the shadow cast by the camcorder’s poor performance.

The Samsung SC-X105L's most notable element is the external lens. Interestingly enough, the external lens is armed with a bigger CCD than that of the built-in one. The external lens has a 1/4” CMOS sensor with 320K. Compare that of the built-in lens outfitted with the standard 1/6” CMOS with 340K. The contrast between these two lenses goes far beyond imager specs. The external lens is mobile, allowing you to explore a ton of varied shot compositions; however, its inability to manually focus, zoom, or capture stills severely undercuts its versatility. While the primary lens on the camcorder is stationary, it provides the user with far more autonomy over the quality of the image, including a 10x optical zoom, manual focus, and manual exposure.

The differences in these lenses are outweighed by their shared inability to perform adequately in both bright and low light conditions. Even in conditions equivalent to a bright sunny day, the camcorder produced fuzzy and noisy images. The SC-X105L does not offer manual white balance. The auto white balance gave us horrid, brownish color representation. The built-in lens performed relatively better than the external lens, which shared the same woes, only to a more absurd degree.

In low light conditions the camcorder produced images that were even more horrid. The images suffered from significant noise, worse than that in most entry level camcorders. The dark images continued to exhibit poor color representation, noticeably in the yellows and greens. Once again the fixed lens with the smaller CMOS sensor performs marginally better than its mobile counterpart; however, both images are relatively unusable.

Unfortunately, the SC-X105L's stills did not fair any better than its video. Stills can only be captured by the camcorder’s primary lens on an SD card at 800 x 600 and 640 x 480 resolutions. These photographs had considerable noise and were out of focus, with lifeless, muddled colors. The images had little distinction amongst the various hues on the color spectrum.

In light of this poor video and low light performance, it ought to be noted that this camcorder's strength not lies not in the video but rather in its accessories and other features. The SC-X105 can be used as an MP3 player and voice recorder. The camcorder attempts to be an adequate tool for today’s multi-taskers, but is found wanting in all categories. While this model is petite for a camcorder it is too big for an MP3 player or a voice recorder. As a camcorder the SC-X105 is limited in its recording of poor video to 10 minute clips at a time. The limited hard drive hinders the usefulness of these devices.

The SC-X105L has become one of the few exceptions to the rule that compact and matchbook camcorders are hard to handle. People often fumble with matchbook camcorders due to their small size, and have difficulty accessing features and quality control functions. Proper button placement has made this camcorder fairly easy to use. All buttons are accessible and within easy reach of the user’s thumb. The camcorder's black rubber coating makes it easy to grip. The SC-X105L is not only easy to use but easy to travel with; its small size allows you to bring anywhere with limited hassle, effortlessly and unnoticeably carried in a pocket.

This camcorder is a great toy, catering to the kid in all of us with its external lens, small frame, and many features. The SC-X105L is a very portable camcorder that is easy to use. Any camcorder where an independent lens can be strapped to your dog to record life from Sparky’s point of view is a potential good time. But while the camcorder will titillate the user’s sense of adventure and mystery, it will also frustrate and hinder control over image quality. This camcorder offers a lot to its user except good or even usable video--which is unfortunately the whole point of a camcorder. As a toy, it's fun. But as a quality camcorder, it's anything but.

Samsung SC-X105L: THE BOTTOM LINE... Rating: 118.17

Likes

-Video Performance -Handling -Ease of Use -Portability

Dislikes

-Enclosed Battery -Ports -Audio -Body Heats Up

Samsung SC-X105 Compared to the...

Panasonic SDR-S100 Rating: 204.24	JVC GZ-MG30 Rating: 153.07	Sony DCR-PC55  Rating: 154.61	Sony DCR-DVD7 Rating: 148.68	Fisher FVD-C1 Rating:170.50
Better	Better	Better	Better	Better
-Video Performance -Imager Specs -Low Light Performance -Automatic Control -Manual Control -Still Features -LCD -Widescreen Mode	-Optical Zoom Specs -Video Performance -Automatic Control -Manual Control -Widescreen Mode -Recording Capacity -Still Features	-Video Performance -Low Light Performance -Automatic Control -Manual Control -Ports -LCD -Still Capability -Widescreen Mode	-Video Performance -Automatic Control -Manual Control -Still Features -VCR Mode -Wide Angle -Widescreen Mode	-Video Performance -Automatic Control -Low Light Performance -Still Features -Optical Zoom Specs
Equal	Equal	Equal	Equal	Equal
-Optical Zoom Specs -VCR Mode -Wide Angle	-LCD -Wide Angle	-Optical Zoom Specs	-Optical Zoom Specs -Low Light Performance -Ease of Use	-VCR Mode
Worse	Worse	Worse	Worse	Worse
-Affordability -Ease of Use -Handling -Audio -Ports -Portability	-Audio -Portability -Ease of Use -Handling -Low Light Performance -Ports -VCR Mode	-Handling -Audio -Portability -Ease of Use	-Portability -Audio -Handling -LCD -Ports	-Portability -Audio -Manual Control -Handling -LCD