Original reviewed by NoteForum
There’re lots of things to satisfy users in a lot of points for digital devices. Most of all, it needs to support not only main function, but also various additional functions (Why is a smart phone so popular? I think it’s because of its convergence.), and have great mobility. (The reason hybrid cameras have been popular lately is their mobility which can’t be satisfied with DSLR cameras, I think.) And lastly, it has to show stylish design.
The Samsung SMX-C24 which I’m reviewing is a digital camcorder satisfying everything I mentioned. It has cute and stylish design, great mobility, and user convenient functions.
I expect this camcorder will be a very satisfactory camcorder any time anywhere. Let’s check out the design, function, and performance.
@ The SMX-C24 including 16GB internal memory will be released in red. The SMX-C20 without internal memory will be also released in black.
| System | Video signal | NTSC |
| Picture compression format | H.264/AVC Format |
| Audio compression format | AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) |
| Recording resolution | TV Super Fine (about 5.0Mbps), TV Fine (about 4.0Mbps),
TV Normal (about 3.0Mbps), Web Fine (about 4.0Mbps), Web Normal (about 3.0Mbps) |
| Image device | CCD(Charge Coupled Device) (Max : 800K pixels) |
| Lens | F1.8 to 2.4, 10x(Optical), 1200x(Digital) Electronic zoom lens |
| Focal length | 2.4mm~24mm |
| LCD screen | Size/dot number | 2.7 inches wide, 230k |
| LCD screen method | 1.6" interlaced scan, LCD panel / TFT active matrix system |
| Connectors | Composite video out | 1.0V (p_p), 75Ω, analogue |
| Audio output | -7.5dBm 47KΩ, analogue, stereo |
| USB output | mini USB-B type (USB2.0 High Speed) |
| General | Power source | 5.0V (Using AC adaptor), 3.7V (Using Lithium Ion battery pack) |
| Power source type | Power supply (100V~240V) 50/60Hz, Lithium Ion battery pack |
| Power consumption | 1.8W (LCD on) |
| Operating temperature | 0˚C~40˚C (32˚F~104˚F) |
| Operating humidity | 10% ~80% |
| Storage temperature | -20˚C ~ 60˚C (-4˚F ~ 140˚F) |
| Dimensions (W x H x D) | Approx. 35.2mm x 56.2mm x 109mm (1.39" x 2.21" x 4.29") |
| Weight | Approx. 0.32Ibs (145g) (Except for battery pack or memory card) |
| Internal MIC | Omni-directional stereo microphone |
It’s the full kit and various accessories are included such as body, power adapter, battery, hand strap, USB cable, AV cable, quick manual, and instruction manual CD. (It also supports built-in S/W, so after connecting by USB, Intelli-Studio can be used.)
It has almost perfect mobility with 35.2 x 56.2 x 109mm of size and 145g of weight. (When it comes to high level products, they have great performance and functions, but because of their kind of big size and heavy weight, it’s not easy to carry them around. The SMX-C24 has both great performance and can be carried around with its great mobility.)
The design is also very cute and pretty like the Previous C10. The rounded body with colors by high-glossy UV coating and dual injection makes the camera have different atmosphere by the light reflection.
It’s the front and 10x optical high zoom lens (1200x digital zoom) is installed. (Unlike other camcorders, an anti-scratch lens is located on the front, so without a lens cap, the lens is free from getting damaged. There’s no inconvenience to take out the lens cap for every recording.) And on the bottom, a microphone is attached for more vivid sound recording.
@ The direction of the lens on the front is different from other products. The C24’s 25 degree tilted angle lens prevents your wrist from being easily tired. Even for long time recording, unlike other shooting type camcorder, the ergonomic design of the C24 minimizes the fatigue on your wrist.
It’s the right side of the product and swivel LCD is located. (230K pixels 2.7” wide LCD and through LCD correction function, there’s no problem to record under the daylight.) On the side of the LCD, as you can see in the picture, menu button is provided and thanks to control button supporting zoom and recording button, users can record a movie with more stability using both hands. @ It’s not touch screen, but like other Samsung camcorders, it was easy to select functions by its intuitive UI interface.
It’s the inside of the right side and an internal speaker and various buttons are attached. Power button, Play, Display, Share, and Smart Auto button which has been applied to Samsung digital cameras are located. (This function will appeal to those who want to record good quality videos easily.)
By using the Share button on the side, users can select videos to upload. After selecting it, by pushing the Share button with a PC connected to the camcorder via USB cable, like the above picture, users can upload selected videos at once. (One touch USCC upload function allows users to easily upload videos if users are registered in YouTube.)
It’s the back of the product and status LED and recording button are located. By pushing the sliding cap, a battery and memory slot is attached with USB port, AV for TV-OUT, and Power input for charge. (I like that it supports USB charge. Wherever there’s a PC, it can be recharged.)
| Charging time | Using an AC power adaptor | approx. 2 hr. |
| Using a USB cable | approx. 4 hr. |
| Mode | Continuous recording time | approx. 160min. |
| Playback time | approx. 180min. |
@ Charge & Recording & Playing time
It’s the top of the product and zoom lever is attached. (Supporting optical 10x and digital 1200x zoom) 1600x1200 resolution photos can also be taken. (Of course, the resolution is not as high as digital cameras, but good enough for snap shots, I think.) @ Like other high level camcorders, users can adjust the zooming speed by controlling the strength of finger, so more perfect video recording is possible.
It’s the left side of the product and a strap hook is attached. (Like the picture, users can use the included hand strap or just buy another strap to hang on a neck. It’s small enough to hang on your neck.)
It’s the bottom of the body and a mount hole for tripod connection is installed. (In order to connect a tripod for a camcorder, 2 different holes are located.)
As you can see, it’s much smaller than general digital camcorders. (It fits in one hand.)
It has ergonomic design to reduce wrist pain (Different from general shooting camcorders tilting users’ wrist, it allows more perfect angle and shooting without wrist pain for users. Those who like long time recording will not have wrist pain any more, I think.) Because of its small size, the grip was very satisfactory.
They are included accessories such as AV cable, hand strap, power adapter, USB cable, and battery.
We’ve looked at the design and feature. Let’s take a look at the functions more closely.
It’s the main UI and video recording is activated now. (When taking pictures, some camcorders have to change the mode, but when it comes to the C24, just by pushing the shutter button, it automatically takes. Shooting information is displayed in the upper, left, and right side and by using the control button on the side of the LCD, frequently used functions can be more quickly controlled.
It also has Smart Auto function which has been applied to compact cameras. (It’s kind of advanced EASY Q. By pushing Smart Auto button, the camcorder is automatically optimized, so more pleasing video can be recorded without any special adjustment.) @ It’s the most distinguishable function from the previous models such as C10 or C14.
iSCENE menu setting the best exposure according to the environment is supported. (Not only normal scene, but also white balance modes are supported. It allows various modes, so users will be able to take great videos under any circumstances.) @ Through Smart Auto and iSCENE, even beginners can always record great videos.
Various resolutions can be set. (720x480@60i for TV resolution and 640x480@30p for web. The better quality the video is, the larger the size of the files is. Therefore, users should choose appropriate one.) @ It’s impressive that it supports separate resolution for web sites as a UCC supporting camcorder.
By supporting 16:9 ratio, the resolution changes by the setting. (On 4:3 ratio, 1600x1200 resolution is supported, so it’s rather appropriate for normal snap shots than professional shots.) It also supports backlight correction, so it can make dark subjects brighter and like the picture, manual exposure correction function is also provided.
Not only auto focus, but also manual focus function is provided (By using the control button, focus can be adjusted.) and Face Recognition is also supported. @ When it comes to auto focus, it automatically sets the focus on the shooting area, but the manual focus only sets the focus on the part of the selected area.
Through HDIS function, users can minimize hand blur caused by hand shake, and fader function applying fade in/out is also supported. (As a camcorder with optical 10x zoom and I like it supports HDIS, because it will be very useful.)
It’s the effect function allowing more interesting shooting.
@ Various effects have been applied.
In order to record more vivid voice in windy places such as beach or high building, Wind Cut function is supported and digital zoom can also be set. (Up to 1200x. Of course, the video quality gets lower, but I think it will be useful.) By supporting various guidelines, users can record with more accurate angle.)
Time lapse recording which records still images at specific interval and plays them as a video clip is also supported. It’s useful for observing flower blooming and movement of clouds. (Users can set the interval and recording time. 1/3/5/10/15/30 sec can be set for interval and 24/48/72 hours and limitless time for recording time.
Let’s take a look at the setting menu. The above picture is the setting menu and memory information can be checked. Format function and file numbering can also be set.
Time zone not only for home, but also for visiting places can be set and date type can also be set.
Time type is adjustable and date/time can be displayed or not. The brightness of the LCD can be adjusted.
Color setting is also available and for better visibility outdoors, LCD correction function is provided. Through the Auto LCD off function, more efficient battery use is possible.
2 types of menu designs are provided and transparency can also be set. Operating and shutter sound can be set.
@ Premium Black UI design
Activating the automatic off, if there’s no control for 5 minutes, it’s automatically turned off. Built-in S/W can be set like I mentioned in the test and TV display (Various icons displayed in the LCD) can be selected.
As a product from global Samsung, various languages are supported and initialization and version check can also be provided.
Function introduction showing main functions in slideshow is supported. (If there’s no control for 5 minutes, the introduction begins.)
Recorded videos can be played by the play button on the side. (The above picture is playing videos and photos and 6 different thumbnails are displayed and videos are played in the thumbnail for users to choose a file more easily.) @ Pictures and videos can be checked by using the zoom lever. It won’t be difficult to check them. (Pictures and videos are stored in different folders.)
It’s the video setting menu and play setting is available and file delete and protection are also provided. (Protection and delete for not only just one file, but also whole files are supported.)
Divide and Combine function of videos is also provided. (While playing a video, users can stop and divide or after selecting 2 files, users can combine them.) Storyboard print capturing 16 still images from a video for preview is also supported.
Sharing marked video files can be uploaded on YouTube at once (On the side, sharing button is attached.) and file information can be confirmed.
File protection and delete function is provided and file information can be checked. Various settings including Slideshow allow users to watch pictures with more pleasure.
We’ve checked various functions and let’s take a look at the quality by image and video recording test.
Because it supports optical 10x zoom, subjects even in a long distance can easily be recorded. (When applying optical 10x zoom, there was some hand blur, but after activating HDIS, I could reduce it.) @ Optical 10x zoom will give an enough advantage to users. It provides both great mobility and great shooting angle.
Due to the limited resolution, picture quality wasn’t that great compared to digital cameras. (Most of the camcorders have lower photo quality than normal digital cameras, because they concentrate on video recording.) It’s more appropriate for web site, not for development.
By using the A/V cable, the camcorder is being connected to the TV and there’s no problem to play video and voice. (Because it supports Composite connection, the videos in the camcorder will be played in most of the TVs without any difficulty.)
It’s playing the recorded video and as I expected, the video was quite satisfactory. Unlike videos taken by digital cameras, it was very smooth and the color expression was also great. (Compared to videos recoded by Full HD camcorders, the vividness is not that great. However, the quality was quite good and there was no inconvenience.)
In photo play menu, by supporting Slideshow, I could easily see pictures. (Let’s check this part from the video.) In a PC, I didn’t really like the pictures, but with a Full HDTV, they were better than I expected. (A TV shows totally different pictures from a PC.)
From the setting menu, after setting PC software and connecting it to a PC via USB, like the picture, Intelli-Studio is activated and automatically executed. (Users don’t need to install any program in a PC, but just can use the program easily with any PC.)
It’s Intelli-Studio and by adopting black color different from previous simple design, it has been changed. (Upgraded Intelli-Studio is included.) As you can see from the above picture, not only with thumbnail view mode, but also Smart Album sorting pictures by date, color, face, region, ISO, shutter speed, aperture and MapView linked to Google Map have also been added for easier management of pictures and videos.
Separate picture editing menu is also included. (You can see the detailed functions of this program. It’s enough to edit pictures without using Photoshop.)
It’s executing the sharing function and different from previous version only supporting YouTube and Flickr, Facebook has also been added. The above picture is uploading a video on YouTube. After login, title, explanation, and tag window are activated and after inserting all information, the file will be stored in YouTube.
You can see the video is well registered on YouTube. (Setting to ‘Korea’, the upload would be impossible, as you already know. Changing it to ‘World’, there will be no problem.)
[SAMSUNG SMX-C24 Design & Use]
High level camcorders in the market have become smaller, but still not that small enough not to carry a bag for it. However, the SMX-C24 is really small and easy camcorder, so for those who want use a camcorder anytime and anywhere, this will be a greater camcorder than any other camcorder.
With the great mobility, the elegant design is also very charming and the intuitive interface allows everyone to use this camcorder easily. (Without checking the manual, all the functions can be used easily. Smart Auto function and 25 degree active angle make it more convenient.)
Advanced Intelli-Studio allows users to manage files more specifically, and it’s also very good to upload videos by using one touch sharing function. (The reasonable price should also be considered. Compared to other camcorders, it has really low price.)
I think users also know it’s not the time to evaluate an electronic device only by looking at the performance. (It’s not an evaluation factor, but a fundamental factor.) For those who want a camcorder having performance, mobility, and stylish design, I’d like to recommend the SMX-C24.
