Samsung SC-X210L Camcorder Review

Audio (4.0)
Audio on the SC-X210L is recorded through the built-in mic on the back of the LCD screen. As noted in the Tour section, this is an odd mic placement, because it’s likely that, in many shooting situations, the LCD will not be pointed towards the subject. There is a second microphone located on the external lens, indicated only by a pinhole on the underside of the barrel. There is no microphone input jack.

Mic performance is very poor. Even when recording voice-over from a foot away, both mics yield sound that is not much better then telephone quality – meaning that even under the best of circumstances, you should expect significant distortion. In terms of comparison between the two, the on-board mic seems to capture a brighter sound with slightly better sensitivity while the pinhole mic on the external lens is a bit warmer, more like a lapel mic. In addition, you will need to be especially vigilant to avoid scraping or breathing too heavily on either mic, given the extremely compact size of this camcorder and the even smaller size of the external lens and mic. Also remember the external lens mic location, because it is easily muted by a stray finger. Samsung also ships the SC-X210L with a pair of high quality headphones of a vaguely iPod-ish design.

VCR Mode (8.0)
Playing back video or stills on the SC-X210L is simple but not entirely intuitive, and takes a little getting used to. While in video mode, pushing in on the joystick plays back the last clip shot. Pushing left brings you to the previous clip, while pushing right plays the next clip. Once you arrive at a clip, pushing in on the joystick plays the selected clip. Now here’s where things get interesting: Pushing up or down on the joystick governs playback volume through the miniscule left side speaker – a nice use of the interface in my opinion. Finally, you can enter a thumbnail view of video clips by pressing the top of the zoom toggle button once. This displays up to 6 clips per page, and playing a highlighted clip is as simple as pressing in on the joystick. In addition, you can easily delete clips in thumbnail view by hitting the delete button and selecting one, several or all clips. Be careful with this delete feature! Playing back stills follows exactly the same set of steps, but is entered from Photo Mode.

Thumbnails in the VCR mode.

Our congratulations to Samsung for making some improvements over the SC-X105L with the addition of the joystick, but this playback is still not a simple process. For the first couple times through, you would do well to have the manual handy. Otherwise, you’ll be pulling your hair out as you puzzle over how to exit the VCR mode. One more good note, however: the internal computer remains exceptionally fast at creating the thumbnails, and moving through video playback functions is faster than in many more expensive solid state camcorders, such as the JVC GZ-MG37.

Ports (6.0)
Considering its size, the X210 has a decent number of ports—and, thankfully, Samsung has moved them all onto the camcorder body. Last year, the sports cam series used a cradle for several of the connections. Nobody really wanted to lug a large, angular cradle around, so this was a huge boon to portability. This year, Samsung also switched allegiances with its still media and moved from MemoryStick to SD and MMC cards. This is a decision which benefits consumers, as SD cards are cheaper and more widely available than any other format.

The ports of the X210. Bottom picture shows how the external lens connects.

On the front of the camcorder, a thin, plastic door opens to reveal the card slot and hi-speed mini-USB 2.0 port. On the right side is the battery. On the rear are the DC power port, AV multimedia jack, (a proprietary fit that extends to RCA plugs with the included cable), and headphone jack. When the external lens is connected, it uses both the AV and headphone jack, the latter providing the phantom power for the now battery-less lens.

The ports are not in the best places if you need to plug anything in and still shoot, as there is little enough room for your hands already. But, if you’re only going to set the camera down, the port placement is fine. How can you complain when the body is this small and they still manage to avoid a cradle?