Samsung HMX-H104 Camcorder

Product Introduction:

Samsung HMX-H104 is an attractive camcorder with a comfortably rotating grip and excellent quality video. The interesting design and minimal controls this camcorder is definitely an eye catcher.

Design and Features:

The overall full plastic design gives a solid, cute look. Samsung HMX-H104 has a 2.7 inch touch screen. The camcorder has a 2.2 megapixel CMOS sensor and 10x zoom. Primary storage medium is the 16GB SSD card which could be further extended up to 64 GB.

The main controls such as zoom switch, photo button, mode switching, power and recording buttons are placed in such a way they come directly under our right thumb or forefinger. The zoom switch is not so responsive. We have the miniHDMI output, USB port, the AV output and the power connectors all placed below the hatch.

The grip of the camera rotates about 150 degrees which is useful while shooting at very low angle. If we flip open the LCD screen inside that we have a set of controls for power, photo flash, display, full auto Easy Q and a button for image stabilization.

On the side of the LCD screen we have zoom, record and menu shortcut buttons. Unlike most of the camcorders we have the battery panel at the bottom of the camcorder accompanied by a SHDC slot.

Specification:

Product Type: Camcorder - 1080i

Digital Zoom: 100 x

Optical Sensor Size: 1/4.5"

Optical Sensor Type: CMOS

Min Illumination: 3 lux

Analog Video Format: NTSC

Digital Video Format: H.264

Image Stabilizer: Optical

Min Shutter Speed: 1/12 sec

Max Shutter Speed: 1/10000 sec

Shooting Modes: Digital photo mode

Camera Flash: Built-in flash

Widescreen Video Capture: Yes

Camcorder Sensor Resolution: 2.2 megapixels

Camcorder Interpolated Still Resolution: 4.7 megapixels

Flash Memory: 16 GB Flash - Integrated (soldered memory - 16 GB)

Supported Flash Memory: SD Memory Card

Image Storage: JPEG 2880 x 2160, JPEG 1920 x 1080

Media Type: Flash card

Lens Type: Zoom lens - 3.3 mm - 33 mm - F/1.8-2.5

Lens Manufacturer: Schneider-Kreuznach

Digital Still Camera Function: Yes

Display Type: LCD display - TFT active matrix - 2.7 in - Color

Connector Type: 1 x Composite video/audio output, 1 x USB, 1 x Component video output, 1 x HDMI output

Expansion Slot(s): 1 x SD Memory Card

Cables Included: A/V cable, USB cable

Performance:

The performance of Samsung HMX-H104 is relatively good in many aspects. But the touch screen interface is not so responsive. The menus are arranged in an easy to use order. Shutter speed and aperture could be adjusted manually also. The camcorder can handle up to 17 mega bit per second. The autofocus option is quite slow but the optical stabilization feature works excellently. The video quality is acceptable though not excellent. There doesn’t seem to be any noise or distortion. But the still photo quality is not so good. Most of the photos appear so blurry and smoky.

The Good:

Samsung HMX-H104 camcorder has a very attractive design. The easy rotating grip is one of its plus points. Good inbuilt features and manual control for shutter speed and aperture control are its added advantages.

The Bad:

Samsung HMX-H104’s is a very expensive camcorder. The video quality is definitely not the best and the autofocus feature is also not up to the mark. The overall performance of the camcorder is slow.

The Bottom Line:

Samsung HMX-H104 is an average camcorder owing to its performance but the cost is very high. The camera should have many more features and provide better quality output for this price tag.

Rating: 3 star rating ***

3 Stars (Good):

A product with 3 star rating has strengths that outweigh its weaknesses. Users should be aware that this product has some minor faults that should be taken into consideration.