Samsung Camcorder Roundup

P Series: Pocket Camcorders

Samsung is offering two new pocket cams in 2011. The P100 shoots 1080p video at 30fps, offers digital image stabilization, and comes in a variety of flashy colors. It's pretty much like any other bare-bones pocket camcorder except that it records to Micro SD cards, which is a big, annoying, drawback and that’s about all there is to say for it.

The P300, on the other hand, might be cool enough to outweigh the unfortunate card format. It shoots 1080p at 30fps but bumps the still photo size from 5 megapixels up to 8, gives you a touch screen display, and is the only pocket camcorder this year to offer an optical zoom (Samsung's U20 was the only one to do so last year as well). The zoom is only 3x, but hey, you have to start somewhere.

F Series: Long-Zooming SD Cams

If you want a traditional camcorder but need to save a few bucks, or just don't need HD for whatever reason, Samsung is offering three standard def camcorders with low price points and huge zoom ranges. The F50, F53, and F54 all run through 52x zoom ranges (with a 65x digitally-assisted "intelligent" zoom) and range from $180 to a little over $200. The biggest drawback here is that there’s only digital image stabilization, so you'll absolutely need a tripod to keep the telephoto shots steady. The F50 records exclusively to SD/SDHC cards while the F53 and F54 add 8GB and 16GB of internal flash memory, respectively.

Q10: Entry-Level HD With A Twist

If you’ve got 300 bucks, Samsung has a capable entry-level HD camcorder for you. The Q10 shoots in 1080i, but it offers a 10x zoom range, and optical image stabilization. You also get a 2.7 inch LCD and the ability to take 5 megapixel stills. The Q10’s most valuable feature, though, is its design. It’s a very simple interface that can rotate 180 degrees, so righties and lefties can comfortably use it. The intuitive design and decent feature set pretty hard to argue with for $300. It records exclusively to SD/SDHC cards.

Samsung has four well-rounded HD camcorders to top off their 2011 line. The H300, H303, H304, and H305 shoot only 1080i video with a very small sensor, but they offer attractive feature sets. These shooters give you a 30x zoom range, a 3-inch touchscreen LCD, and a 3-hour battery life. You also get optical image stabilization to help steady that big zoom. These are some very solid camcorders at very reasonable prices. The H300 records to cards exclusively, while the H303, H304, and H305 add 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB of internal flash memory respectively.