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  • Introduction

  • Design & Usability

  • Features

  • Performance

  • Conclusion

  • Science Introduction

  • Sharpness Performance

  • Low Light Sensitivity & Noise

  • Color

  • Introduction
  • Design & Usability
  • Features
  • Performance
  • Conclusion
  • Science Introduction
  • Sharpness Performance
  • Low Light Sensitivity & Noise
  • Color

Introduction

Design & Usability

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The HMX-W200 is waterproof up to 10 feet and can handle a drop from 6.5 feet, but it's not the most comfortable camcorder to use.

The waterproof design of the W200 is a lovely, integral feature for the camcorder. If you're in the market for a budget model, there's really no reason you shouldn't get one that's waterproof as well—it just makes it less likely the darn thing will break. The W200 has a decent rugged feel, and its textured front provides a somewhat good grip as well. Despite these positives, the W200's less-than-ergonomic shape was a something of a concern. The ribbed siding on the left and right sides does little to benefit grip; it's strange that Samsung didn't try harder to make the W200 a more comfortable camcorder to hold. Even though the camcorder is waterproof and drop-proof (up to a certain point), the body of the W200 does scratch very easily. You'll need to be careful when bringing this little guy into the ocean, as the sand may scuff up its skin.

It's strange that Samsung didn't try harder to make the W200 more comfortable to hold.

Like many compact camcorders, the Samsung W200 comes with a built-in USB arm. This is great for on-the-go connectivity, but the design of the arm is terrible. It doesn't extend out from the camcorder more than a 1/4 inch, which means you’re gonna run into some difficulty when connecting the computer to a camcorder. Samsung could have provided a solution for this issue by shipping a USB extender cable with the camcorder, but, sadly, it did not. In fact, the W200 comes with the fewest accessories of any model we’ve seen this year: a wrist strap, quick start guide, and instruction manual on a CD .

{{photo_gallery "Front Photo", "Left Photo", "Left Open Photo", "Back Photo", "Right Photo", "Top Photo", "Bottom Photo", "Lens Photo", "Lens Photo 2", "3D Lens Photo", "Media Photo", "Easy Mode Photo", "Manual Controls Photo", "Zoom Photo", "Zoom Photo 2", "Ease of Use Photo", "Battery Photo", "LCD Photo 1", "LCD Photo 2", "EVF Photo 1", "EVF Photo 2", "Mic Photo", "Mic Photo 2", "Ports Photo 1", "Ports Photo 2", "Ports Photo 3", "Ports Photo 4", "Ports Photo 5", "Ports Photo 6", "Handling Photo 1", "Handling Photo 2", "Handling Photo 3", "Handling Photo 4", "Box Photo"}}

Features

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You won't find many manual controls here, but 5-megapixel still photos and a batch of digital filters are certainly appealing perks.

The camcorder has a few "Smart Filters."

The 2.3-inch LCD on the back of the camcorder is larger than average for an ultracompact model, and that extra space does make the W200 easier to use. The menu system is slicker and easier to read, although there aren't many features to read about. The camcorder has a few "Smart Filters", which are basically digital effects that alter the look and feel of your videos. The Smart Filters include: Fish-Eye (giving your video a wide-angle view), Vignetting (dark edges added to videos), Retro (sepia tones), Classic (black and white), and Negative (inverted colors). The options are sure to wow people who have never used a camcorder before, but you can add the same effects using any basic editing software.

Focus isn't that complicated on the HMX-W200, and the camcorder has no manual focus options. When shooting at distances between one and five feet, I noticed the camcorder performing some slight autofocus adjustments. Most were so slight that they were barely noticeable during recording, but I could see the focus change during playback. The camcorder worked best when held a foot or more away from a subject, as any closer and the camcorder had trouble bringing the image into focus.

The HMX-W200 offers four different photo size options

Many ultracompact camcorders offer a limited photo mode that can take pictures at a single size option. The HMX-W200, however, offers the choice of four different photo size options: 2720 × 2040 (5.5 megapixels), 2048 × 1536 (3 megapixels), 1920 × 1080 (2 megapixels), or 640 × 480 (VGA). To take photos, you simple switch over to photo mode by pressing the video/photo mode switch located beneath the LCD.

Performance

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Surprisingly good sharpness, low light, and color results for this little camcorder

This is a fantastic little camcorder.

Where do I begin? The HMX-W200 is a fantastic little camcorder, with video performance that bests every other ultracompact model that has come through our labs. Sharpness results were nearly off the charts—putting up numbers that could rival camcorders costing three times as much—and low light performance was very good for a camcorder of its class. Even colors were fairly accurate, at least compared to the competition. The camcorder's low point came in motion, where the W200 struggled to capture a crisp, blur-free image. Still, its results weren't anything worse than average for a compact, budget-cam.

Conclusion

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Cheap, compact, and waterproof, the Samsung HMX-W200 performs much better than its $159 price tag suggests.

Waterproof ultracompact camcorders have been flooding the market over the past year, so it’s fair to say the Samsung HMX-W200 has its good share of competitors. Surprisingly, the W200 held off the other camcorders in its price range by putting up excellent results in the majority of our video tests. Most impressive was the W200’s ability to capture sharp video in bright light—sharper than any other budget camcorder we tested in the past year. The camcorder also produced accurate colors in all kinds of light, which is something that is rarely the case with ultracompact models.

The HMX-W200 does suffer from a few design flaws. Its interface is sloppy at times, and the buttons on the back of the camcorder aren’t as responsive as they should be. It also has an awkward grip that, while decent underwater, wasn’t as good as the rubbery texture that coats the Kodak PlaySport Zx5 camcorder. At least Samsung equipped the W200 with a simple menu and a decent Quick Start Guide that should be helpful enough to push beginners in the right direction.

The camcorder has some design and interface flaws, but its success in video performance overshadows those minor faults.

The Samsung HMX-W200 is a great example of a camcorder that wildly exceeded our expectations. We expected average results from the camcorder, but we got a video performance that rivals the best we’ve seen from a sub-$200 model instead. Yes, the camcorder has some design and interface flaws, but its success in video performance overshadows those minor faults.

Science Introduction

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When I call the Samsung W200's video performance "very good", you need to take that description with a grain of salt. This is a budget camcorder, after all, so it's not going to always blow you away with video quality. That being said, the camcorder performed very strongly in our tests. Low light video was bright and vivid, sharpness was great, and colors were accurate. Moving subjects gave the camcorder trouble, and there was a bit of wobble in video captured by the W200, but those are things we see from most ultracompact models.

Sharpness Performance

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The W200's videos are way sharper than they should be.

The Samsung HMX-W200’s good results in our sharpness test were the reason we got excited about this little camcorder. In our test, the W200 managed a horizontal and vertical sharpness of 750 LW/PH each. This is a very good showing for a camcorder in the budget category, and it's quite a bit better than the competition (only the Kodak PlaySport Zx5 came close). We obtained these sharpness numbers for the HMX-W200 by shooting in the camcorder’s full HD 1080p mode (we always use the highest quality setting for this test), and you won’t get this same kind of sharpness when using the camcorder’s 720p HD record mode.

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Low Light Sensitivity & Noise

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Noise and sensitivity results weren't extraordinary, but they were better-than-average for a budget camcorder.

In our low light sensitivity test the HMX-W200 required just five lux of light to reach levels considered good enough for broadcast television. This is a fantastic performance for the little camcorder, although we can’t say the W200 really stood out much in this test—the Kodak PlaySport Zx5 and Panasonic TA20 put up equally good numbers. The GE DV1 was decidedly behind the rest of the pack, and its overall low light performance was disappointing overall.

In our low light testing, the HMX-W200 averaged just under 1.0% noise (0.96% to be exact). We consider noise results lower than 1% to be very good for any kind of camcorder, particularly one in the W200’s price range. Unlike with some of our other video tests, the W200’s results in low light noise aren’t far ahead of the competition. Instead, the W200 managed a result here that is consistent with the other budget models we compared it to.

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Color

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Color accuracy in low light was great, and bright light results were good for a budget model.

If there was one thing that impressed us about the Samsung W200’s bright light performance it was the colors captured by the camcorder. Compared to any high-end or mid-range camcorder with a manual white balance option, the colors recorded by the W200 don’t look or sound impressive by any means. Compared to other camcorders in the W200’s price range, however, Samsung did an impeccable job with this model. The HMX-W200 managed a color error of 5.42 and a saturation level of 111.7%.

In low light, the colors looked even better, and our unbiased testing software confirmed the accuracy of these colors as well. In our test, the W200’s low light video managed a color error of 4.18 and a saturation level of around 97%. These are both very good scores for a camcorder of the W200’s class, and they rank higher than the competition.

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Meet the tester

Jeremy Stamas

Jeremy Stamas

Managing Editor, Video

@nematode9

Jeremy is the video expert of our imaging team and Reviewed.com's head of video production. Originally from Pennsylvania and upstate NY, he graduated from Bard college with a degree in film and electronic media. He has been living and working in New England since 2005.

See all of Jeremy Stamas's reviews

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