Digital Home Thoughts: My Life in HD: The Samsung HMX-T10 HD Camcorder Reviewed

Weight/Ergonomics in Hand

Boy, is this thing ever light! Weighing in at just over 219g (7.8 oz), this feels even lighter than some of the smartphones I've used over the years. It's a least half the weight of the Canon ZR-850 that our family has been using for the last few years which makes it great for throwing into a pocket or purse without adding a lot of bulk, or having to lug around the camera bag with extra tapes, batteries, etc.

Unfortunately this light weight also causes problems especially with telephoto shots, since there's likely to me more 'jitter' when the camera is held in one hand. Generally, heavier masses are more difficult to move quickly, leading to less jitter, which is the thinking/physics behind most steady-cam attachments -- that by adding more mass at a lower centre of gravity, it will eliminate most of the jitters your holding of the camera.

The other oddity for me was having to to use the screen to view the object, since I was used to through the lens shooting. Samsung actually suggests you hold the camera with two hands (one on the body, one on the screen) which helps to keep things stable, but isn't really convenient for most shooting situations.

The screen rotates approximately 45 degrees in one direction and 180 degrees in the other, so it is possible to watch what you are filming behind you. Unlike other cameras though, when you flip the screen 180 degrees, the picture orientation doesn't flip over, so this can't be used to create a 'left handed' working position.

Comparison to Mini-DV cameras

I thought it would be fun to show a comparison between the T10 and my older mini-DV Canon ZR850 to give an idea of how much things have changed. I realize now that mini-DV cameras are almost ancient history (having been informed of such by numerous other resources as I preparing this and another review), but the Canon has been our family standby for a number of years now. And maybe others are in the same situation...

Figure 11: Here's a side-by-side shot which shows the huge difference in physical size. Also notice that the Canon has over 3x the optical zoom range of the Samsung! With batteries, the Samsung is less than half the weight of the Canon and with a 8G memory card, provides approximately the same recording time at higher resolution!

Figure 12: In this front-on comparison shot, you can see how much more bulk the mini-DV cameras represent. This is not necessarily all bad as the extra mass helps to stablize the handlheld use of the camera.