I spent a long time researching camcorders, read a lot reviews and looked at a lot of test footage before ultimately buying this model.Many of the better reviews I read compared this model to models several hundred dollars more expensive, which I took to mean that this model was a significant value at this price.
It was a gamble on my part that I think paid off as I am very happy overall with this unit.
There are thee consistent criticism I have seen for this camcorder. I took them very seriously when I was deciding what unit to buy. Now that I have hands on experience with the unit I wanted to share my experience regarding these criticisms:
The camera records its own zoom: This is true but I don't find it distracting. In fact I find it to be a cool effect. You should really only be zooming with the camera on if you are intentionally calling attention to the camera anyway. This is a consumer camera. It is not intended for professional use. The "zoom sound" is really only audible in a very quiet room. I recorded some footage outside on a non-windy day and the ambient noise outside covered up the sounds of the zoom. For reference, I watched some footage I took with my miniDV camera and noticed that on all of the footage you could hear the whir of the tape motor. Probably the zoom would be more noticeable if the tape motor wasn't constantly going. At any rate the noise doesn't bother me on either camera and the miniDV footage was far noisier. I don't see how this issue would be a deterrent. If you are shooting a movie or any professional product you need a professional camera anyway and you also would be using a separate sound recording system.
The camera isn't great in low light: This is also true. The camera produces a better picture with more light on the subject. This is true of all cameras. Cameras record light. This camera doesn't come with a light for dark settings. If you want a camera with a light on it don't buy this unit. This also didn't bother me. I just turned a lamp on and the video quality was fine. Again, this is a consumer camera. Professionals bring their own lights anyway. To be fair though the camera performs much better in daylight than it does indoors.
There is no viewfinder and there is a glare on the LCD screen in sunlight: These things are also true. There is no viewfinder. If you want a viewfinder, buy a different model. As for the glare, you may have to put your hand over the screen to reduce the glare. Easy enough to solve.
A final note. I ran some basic tests and found the 720p to be sharper than the 1080i footage. It's super easy to switch back and forth (even on the same memory card) so play around with it and judge for yourself. I'm sticking with the 720p to because it looks better to me and it takes up less storage space.
I have also been having a lot of fun with the time-lapse setting a function I wasn't even interested in when looking for camcorder.
Overall I found this to be a great little camera. It records quality HD video has a great optical zoom and can be bought for under $300. The camera is tiny. If a viewfinder were added and the microphone was snaked further from the zoom lens it would be a larger camera. I found the issues above to be legitimate but not large enough problems to be a deterrent.
What a great little device! Oh and you can't hear the zoom as claimed by another reviewer there must be something wrong with his unit.
Buy Samsung HMX-H300 Full HD Camcorder with 30x Zoom (Black) Now
Arived on time and in good shape. 30X zoom is good. I like that you can select 1080i, 720p, or even 480p. 720p looks fine on our 37 inch Samsung 720p LCD HDTV and the files are a lot smaller. I also like that you can drag and drop files directly from the SD card to your PC no conversion required. Screen on camcorder is very difficult to see in bright sunlight.Read Best Reviews of Samsung HMX-H300 Full HD Camcorder with 30x Zoom (Black) Here
This is a fine little camcorder for the money. It would be nice if there was a 'video in' jack, but then it would probably be two hundred dollars more...very easy to use with my Mac.Want Samsung HMX-H300 Full HD Camcorder with 30x Zoom (Black) Discount?
30X zoom is nice, and video quality is quite acceptable, as long as there is enough light, and you are not zooming full range; not as good in low light. There are 2 things about this product, though, that made me return it, and give it 2 stars.It records the sound of it's own zoom, and, to the lesser degree, the auto focus. If outside sounds are not laud, this sound is quite annoying, and spoils the video.
The image stabilization is not nearly sufficient when zooming beyond about 20X; it's clearly inferior in this respect to other camcorders with similar features, like my wife's Panasonic.
I wouldn't recommend this product. Samsung has to do a lot of work to refine it.
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