Samsung HMX-Q10 HD Camcorder Ultra Compact with 10x Optical Zoom (Dark Blue)

I bought this camera after buying a Toshiba, which was pretty horrible. I was looking for something really cheap that I could take on vacation to Maine so I didn't have to lug around my big camera/ equipment. Big cameras just take the fun away in getting those family shots, so I wanted a small compact camera that I could stick in my pocket and use in the car. The price seemed great, and the video footage I looked at on YouTube seemed decent. But when I tested it out...The footage was clear, sharp, and just amazing. While some shots aren't impressive (...over exposed sky when shooting on a cloudy day, for example...), some shots (...macro, for example...) were breath taking, because it matches the quality from my ($2,000) Panasonic HMC40 camera. For $150 bucks, I expected something a lot worse then this.Some of the features are a large touch-screen LCD and a switch grip, so you can use it left handed. There are also some nice time lapse settings, along with plenty of art settings and manual settings for more control. All of them are really handy, but I normally record on auto. When zooming, it keeps good quality until you reach "digital zoom" zone, which is turned off in settings by default (...I leave it off...).The camera does have some cons though. The zoom switch (...which is located on the back of the camera...) is hard for my thumb to reach in a comfortable position. I have to stretch my thumb down, and it gets very sore after only a few minutes of zooming/recording. I don't normally zoom much when recording, but it's still an issue. Also, it's not perfect in low light, but it's about equal to my Panasonic HMC40 (...which isn't good in low light either...). In fact, I didn't even mark a star off, because the low light quality was better then I expected!In conclusion, if you need a cheap camera that will give you good quality and that's under $200... GET IT!

It's light-weight, point and shoot, BUT we haven't been able to get our movies and pictures from the memory card on to our Mac laptops. So downloading is difficult. We use this same memory card for another company's digital camera and have no problem uploading, so we know it's not the memory card.

This is an inexpensive video camera that provides very nice HD video quality for the price. However, the automatic focus on the unit is slow and terrible. There may be a way of manually focusing, but with only the single button, I doubt it would be easy. I was also irked by the fact that video files max out at 1.8gb (~15min at HD)so if you are recording something longer, than it is in multiple files (regardless of the size of your SD card). Battery life is ok (~1.5hrs max) and the zoom is ok, except anytime you zoom prepare for it to struggle to come into focus for several seconds (seems like an eternity). If it focused better, this review would be different. Also, the software makes transferring files super easy. Alas, I wouldn't say its worthless but I wouldn't buy it again at $170.

Its a Good Camera...my only complaint is the battery doesn't last long

This Samsung camcorder is so easy to use. The zoom is totally awesome too! The quality's good. Best of all, love the warranty it comes with. My camcorder didn't turn on recently and since it was less than a year, I was still covered under the manufacturer's warranty. It was so easy to get it fixed. I got an extension on my warranty for registering my product with the website and got my camcorder sent in and back to me in less than a week! Shipping was all paid for too. Love Samsung products and their warranty! Go Samsung! :)

I was looking for a HD camera that had a zoom and got one of these on a gold box deal for $149 which put it on par with many HD cameras that didn't have optical zoom.Overall the camera has been really great. The 720p video is outstanding. The Zoom and stabilization works well even for hand-held filming. I'm not into interlaced video so I didn't try 1080i, but 720p is very nice. We did a lot of filming at the end of summer and the kids even did a mini feature youtube video and the quality turned out great.The downsides for this camera are low-light video is marginal, but I don't think it is any worse than my old tape cameras, but not as good as my pocket digital still camera.The UI is kind of funky and hard to get used to. For a while I had a problem telling if I was recording or not, or how to change modes while filming.Having an integrated microphone without a external option can be a pain, and it does catch wind really well (that's not a good thing).But having said all that it is MUCH better than an equivalent flip or other non zoom HD camera that is the same price. In most cases it is much better than my old tape cameras that were in the $1K range when new.I would recommend it especially if they gold box it at $149 again, at that price it is a steal.

Right out of the box the camcorder wouldn't focus. I messed around with the settings for a few hours but couldn't make it work properly.Just a lemon I'm sure but I bought it for a wedding that was set for less than a week out. Amazon was good on the refund. I had to leave almost $50 on the table though because I paid for expedited shipping and that is not refundable.

Nice compact size makes you want to take it with you everywhere. Good quality video and easy to upload for viewing or edit