- The Good: Incredibly small, good features, amazing zoom and image stabilization technology, good price point.
- The Bad: Awkward placement of a couple buttons and the rear strap makes ease of use a touch less easy.
- The Verdict: Once you get used to the tight layout of the rear button panel, this inexpensive DV camera puts a lot of power into the palm of your hand.
REVIEW:
Ultra-compact digital video cameras have long been the techno-lust items of the digital video (DV) fan, but up until recently you had to pay dearly for the privilege. As with digital still cameras, though, traditional models are starting to be edged out by newer digital models, with smaller and less expensive models becoming a regular part of digital life. Enter Samsung's SC-D303 Mini-DV camera, which has a suggested retail price of $599 (Cdn.).
The first thing to suffer in a compact camera design is typically the zoom, but this diminutive DV cam sports an amazing 20-times optical magnification. The word "optical" is key; since you're using the lens assembly for zoom, it means that you'll get a great picture even at full magnification.
The specs for the camera claim 900x zoom using digital magnification, but as with any other digital camera it's done strictly in the camera's circuits, and the picture quality deteriorates pretty badly as you zoom in. (My rule on digital zoom is never to buy a camera — either still or DV — based on digital zoom specs ... it'll only break your heart.)
Even at 20x zoom, the image can get a bit shaky with a camera that's this small, because the smaller body tends to magnify every jitter of your hand more than a larger camera body would. Thankfully, the camera comes with image stabilization to combat that seasickness-inducing unsteadiness. When you turn it on, you sacrifice a bit of the outer edge of the picture, and as your hand shakes (too much coffee, perhaps?) the circuitry compensates by moving the image around so that everything lines up with the previous frame as much as possible. The technology has its limits, of course: if your hand is simply a bit jittery it should compensate quite well, but if you're waving the camera around like your arm is on fire, no amount of image stabilization circuitry will help your final movie.
It shouldn't be any surprise that a compact digital video camera would favour smaller hands, and this one is no exception. The controls along the rear panel — including record, snapshot, zoom, etc — are all within easy reach of your fingertips while your hand is strapped in to hold the camera. If you have a larger thumb, you may find the record button a bit awkward, however, as it's tucked in tight right next to the battery. Located between the buttons on the top of the camera and the controls on the rear, the mount for the neck strap is also in an awkward location; if you let a bit of slack into the neck strap, it tends to fall down over some of the controls on the back of the camera. Both of these are minor annoyances, though: with a bit of practice using the camera, you get used to both of these problems.
Like most other consumer digital video cameras, this one uses the standard Mini-DV cassette for recording your movie, and comes with a FireWire (IEEE1394) connector for transferring the digital movie back to your computer.
If you want to take snapshots with the camera, you can save still images at resolutions up to 640-by-480, using the MemoryStick slot along the bottom of the camera (though you'll have to buy the MemoryStick media separately). At that low resolution, you're not going to be throwing away your two megapixel digital camera, but you'll be able to capture very basic images as mementos, or for use on the Web. If you've run out of tape, you can also capture low-res (320-by-240) movies directly to the Memory Stick.
For those who just want to dive right in and start shooting, the camera features and "Easy-Q" button, which adjusts all of the settings for easy one-touch shooting. For those that prefer (or require) manual control over the camera's settings, using the camera's menu system is pretty easy once you get used to the small controls and the slightly awkward angle.
These features already make the SC-D303 a nice little camera, but it also features all of the little things that you expect on a DV cam: In addition to the colour eyepiece viewfinder, there's also a rotating 2.5-inch LCD viewfinder along the left-hand side of the camera. Stereo microphones are located along the front, and there's an accessory shoe on the top if you want to add a video light. There's also a slow shutter mode and a night shooting mode, allowing you to shoot video under a variety of conditions.
The bottom line: despite a few design quirks, Samsung's ultra-compact SC-D303 Mini-DV camera is a joy to use, and is easy to tuck away when you're done shooting. The low price only makes it sweeter.
