Samsung SC-DC173 Camcorder Reviewby Michael PerlmanPublished on Aug 23, 2007 4:40 PM 
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Picture & Manual Control
Automatic Control (4.25)
The Samsung SC-DC173 features an “Easy Q” mode, activated by a button on the left side. Similar to the Sony Easy button, and even more restrictive, Easy Q mode allows you absolutely no access to any menu or control. This seems like a great idea to satisfy technophobic point-and-shooters, but the auto controls do not perform well enough to give that audience the support they need. Some controls are quite adequate, while others demand manual intervention.
Perhaps the most important auto control is focus, and in this area the Samsung SC-DC173 does fine. Even at extended zooms, the auto focus remains pretty tight (which is fortunate, because the manual focus controls are terrible). The white balance is decent, taking only a few seconds to make shifts from one temperature to another. Mixed lighting, such as shooting near a window indoors, is a problem. We found the camcorder veering too often toward warm tones. The auto exposure is not great. Part of the issue appears to be that the camcorder does not have a great dynamic range. Shots with a complex mix of bright areas, mid-tones, and shadows will see too much information lost in the shadows and hotspots. When you try to shift exposure by putting the shadow or hotspot area in the center of the shot, or if you try to zoom in so it fills up more of the screen, the camcorder takes a very long time to adjust. Simply put, it’s not up to par.
The Samsung SC-DC173 includes Program AE modes (often called “Scene modes”), which allow for one-touch correction during specific, tricky lighting situations. The camcorder can’t be in Easy Q mode to use them. Program AE modes include: Sports, Portrait, Spotlight, Sand/Snow, and High Speed. The camcorder also offers backlight compensation as a one-touch control. When a subject is too strongly backlit, making them a silhouette, this feature boosts the overall exposure in order to bring out detail in the subject.
Overall Manual Control (4.0)
The manual control suite for the Samsung SC-DC173 is decent, hampered by the frustrating and poorly-designed joystick. Located on the left side, along with pretty much every other button, it’s almost as if Samsung has done everything possible to keep the controls hidden from you while shooting. This design would be fine if you did most of your shooting from a tripod or fixed surface, but that’s not the case with most point-and-shooters. As it is, you’ll either have to tilt the camcorder toward you or crane your neck around to see the buttons on the left side.
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The joystick is poorly placed and occasionally |
The mode dial on the right side controls power on and off and switches between record and playback modes. |
The manual controls are lacking in their own right. Take shutter speed, for instance, which might look fine in Auto mode in a moderately low light level. But when you switch it to Manual mode, the picture suddenly darkens. It wouldn’t be a problem if the manual setting allowed you to go below 1/60of a second, but it doesn’t. What good is a manual setting if it doesn’t allow you to recreate what the camcorder can do in Auto mode? The focus controls are no joy either, but that’s fairly standard for a consumer camcorder.
The other controls based in the menu, including exposure compensation and white balance, are not as bad, but their usage is still crippled by the poorly-placed joystick.
Zoom (4.0)
The zoom is controlled by a thin piece of plastic located on top of the body. Though well-placed for the index finger, it feels cheap, offering little counter-pressure to help control fine adjustments. A 34x optical zoom is no mean offering, but it makes proper control all the more important. Unfortunately, the SC-DC173 comes up short. When the zoom toggle is touched, a small progress bar appears at the top of the screen to give you a rough idea of where in the zoom range you are. Rough is the operative word here, as a 34x zoom is big, and the graphic is small. There is no numerical indication of the exact zoom value, which makes tight control problematic. Digital zoom is engaged in the Camera submenu of the main menu. It does not function when the camcorder is recording in 16:9.
Zoom Power Ratio (34.0)
The optical zoom on the Samsung SC-DC173 extends to a powerful 34x. Many first-time shoppers make the mistake of equating powerful zooms with good quality camcorders. This is, in fact, often the reverse. Because of optical requirements in regards to lens barrel length, consumer camcorders with larger and better imagers are generally limited to zooms of 10x to12x. Smaller imagers allow for larger zooms, which manufacturers push higher and higher in a numbers war that benefits few. Most shots past 5x to6x taken by hand start to shake. At 34x, forget it.
The digital zoom extends to 1200x, but can be capped at several lower levels: 100x, 200x, and 400. No other camcorder seems to offer this much control over digital zoom, and probably for good reason. The whole problem with digital zoom is that the quality deteriorates so quickly, few people actually care how bad it gets after 100x or more.
Focus (4.0)
The manual focus on the Samsung SC-DC173 is poor. It comes as no great surprise on a mid-level camcorder, but it stings the heart no less. This is only control that gets its own external button, located at the bottom of the LCD cavity. We’ll hand it to Samsung – while most manufacturers employ the somewhat arcane icons of a mountain and a person when manual control is activated, Samsung spells it out: one side of the screen says “Near,” and the other side says “Far.” Use the joystick to shift focus. While the simplicity is great, the low resolution and small size of the LCD and viewfinder are all but useless for making tight focus decisions. You’ll really only know after shooting, when you see the footage on a larger screen, if the shot was truly in focus. In all but extreme cases, it will be best to let auto focus do its job.
The focus control
Exposure & Aperture (5.5)
The Samsung SC-DC173 features a relatively easy to use exposure compensation tool. Called “Exposure,” the control is located in both the Q menu and the Full menu. When activated, a small scale appears in the lower-left side of the screen. Use the joystick to move the small cursor back and forth across the range, which runs from 00 to 29 in whole number increments. The numbers themselves are totally arbitrary – they have no discernable relation to shutter speed or aperture. On the whole, the control works well. It moves too slowly for power users, but beginners will appreciate the simplicity.
The Exposure control in action
Shutter Speed (5.7)
The shutter speed on the Samsung SC-DC173 operates much the same as exposure, but lacks the effectiveness. When activated, the same small scale appears in the lower left part of the screen. Shutter options include 1/60, 1/100, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000, 1/2000, 1/4000, and 1/10000. The fact that the slowest possible shutter speed (under most conditions) is only 1/60 presents a problem. As we mentioned a few paragraphs above, there is a big discrepancy between what the camcorder can produce in Auto mode and what the manual controls allow. When in Auto mode, the camcorder does a decent job of exposing for moderately low light, but when the manual control is engaged and the display reads 1/60, the shot is suddenly very dark. This means either the Auto mode allows the shutter to drop below 1/60 (which does not seem likely, as there is no discernable motion blur), or engaging manual shutter speed is turning off some kind of auto gain. Whatever the reason, this makes the manual shutter all but useless in low light, which is precisely when you want it handy.
The shutter control in action
The camcorder does offer the option of 1/30 and 1/15 shutter speed, activated by an external button in the LCD cavity. Push it once to shift to 1/30, a second time to activate 1/15, and a third time for 1/15 with the LED light on. However, the camcorder must be in 4:3 mode, not 16:9, and the image stabilization must be off. With these restrictions, it hardly qualifies as a useful or dependable control. If the room is dark and you need to shoot by hand, forget about it – your shot is lost.
White Balance (5.0)
The Samsung SC-DC173 white balance options are located in the Q menu and the full menu. The choices are pretty limited: auto, indoor, outdoor, and Custom (manual) WB. In order to set the manual white balance, point it at your reference white or grey then select the Custom setting. Push in on the joystick once and you’re all set. The shift is in credibly fast, so fast you may feel like the setting was inaccurate. From our experience, though, it was not. This is just a fast control. Not everyone has time for manual settings, though. In those cases, a powerful collection of presets can come in handy, like multiple outdoor and indoor color temperature settings. Samsung does not deliver on this, however.
Gain (0.0)
The Samsung SC-DC173 does not offer gain control.
Other Manual Controls (0.0)