Samsung SMX-C20 Ultra Compact "Touch of Color" Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom (Red)

by Samsung

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 4.3 x 1.4 x 2.2 inches ; 1 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 10 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0032UWTMM
• California residents: Click here for Proposition 65 warning.
• Item model number: SMX-C20RN/XAA
• Batteries: 1 Lithium ion batteries required. (included)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,744 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: January 6, 2010

Product Description

Color: Red

From the Manufacturer

The Samsung C20 has an ergonomic design that blends style, comfort and innovative technology into one digital camcorder. You'll capture life’s special moments and share them over the Internet - in one touch.

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Shoot in Comfort The unique 25 degree active angle lens promotes a healthy hand position that eliminates wrist pain and fatigue, enabling you to shoot in complete comfort for extended periods of time.

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Easy to Edit The edit function of the Samsung C20 allows you to combine and divide files on the camcorder, enabling you to edit without transferring files to a PC.

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Easy One Touch Sharing Sharing your memories couldn’t be easier. Simply connect the camcorder to any PC, select the files you want to share, press the external one touch upload button, and put your world on the web for the rest of the world to see.

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Freedom to Use Any Computer The Samsung C20’s embedded Intelli-Studio software allows you to use any PC to view, edit, and share the memories you make. Simply connect it to any PC via USB and enjoy freedom and flexibility.

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Time Lapse Recording By capturing frames at intervals and then putting them in sequential order, the time-lapse recording function allows you to record the beauty of an entire sunset in in minutes or seconds.

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Superior Video Compression (H.264) Video compression' no longer means 'video degradation'. With the new H.264 video CODEC, advances in compression technology have resulted in virtually loss-less compression. That means what you see is what you get. Buy your camcorder takes less memory to keep it! So you get to record more hrs. of video while using less memory.

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Specifications

	SMX-C20	SMX-C24
Image Sensor	1/6" CCD	1/6" CCD
Lens	10x optical zoom	10x optical zoom
Image Stabilizer	Hyper Image Stabilization	Hyper Image Stabilization
Memory	SD/SDHC	16 GB Built-in memory SD/SDHC card
Size	1.4" x 2.2" 4.3"	1.4" x 2.2" 4.3"
Video Resolution	720x480/60i	720x480/60i
Other Features	H.264 compression Smart Auto Active Angle Lens Touch of color Intelli-Studio Time-Lapse Recording Animated Thumbnail	H.264 compression Smart Auto Active Angle Lens Touch of color Intelli-Studio Time-Lapse Recording Animated Thumbnail

* Specifications are subject to change without notice.
*YouTube is a registered trademark of Google, Inc.

Product Description

Sharing your memories couldn’t be easier. Simply connect the camcorder to any PC, select the files you want to share, press the external one touch upload button, and put your world on the web for the rest of the world to see.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

96 of 97 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars False advertising (does not output widescreen) VERY low quality., June 6, 2010

By 

JH "-JH" (Washington State) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Samsung SMX-C20 Ultra Compact "Touch of Color" Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom (Red) (Electronics)

I previously owned a hard drive based Sony Handycam. The camera died (out of warranty) so I searched for another. I thought i'd go for a lower price point this time around since I would be using this primarily to shoot casual videos of my daughters. This was around half the price of a Sony or Canon. I should have stuck with Sony because boy did I get burned.

I was expecting a lower quality product but there are many things working against this unit here.

The biggest problem with this camera is the videos do not end up encoded in the proper 16:9 widescreen ratio. This seems to be a problem with other lower end Samsung cameras (the MX-20 has the biggest complaints about this online) and if I would have known this ahead of time I would have stayed clear. The camera records the video in 720x480. This is widescreen and looks fine on the camera. The minute you plug it in to your TV or play the file on the computer you will notice the black bars on the side. The video is actually in 3:2 ratio!!! This is a bug in Samsungs encoding. Search for Samsung widescreen camcorder problem and you will find it. I found this unacceptable and false advertising (Samsung asserts widescreen and I was told personally it will "fill the screen and won't have any black bars on a widescreen tv" from a rep.)

If that wasn't enough of a reason to send it back, there is the quality of the actual camera. The buttons are very cheap. Everything has a fragile/plastic feel. The LCD doesn't even swivel smoothly. You really have to press the record button hard(and the power button) for it to function and it feels like you are going to break it. I knew this product was a lower end product but I still expected some semblance of quality from Samsung (I love their TV's and appliances). The lens of the camera has no cover as well.

The quality of the video is low to decent. Very basic settings and function.

What did I like about it? Well the color of the camera itself is nice and I like the angle/ergonomic concept of it's design. The timelapse option is a good idea but since I am sending this back after a few days, I didn't even get a chance to try it.

I research a lot before buying and unfortunately this camera is very new and not a lot of people are talking about it. Even if the widescreen issue doesn't bother you i'd still recommend looking into another brand (Sony, Canon) who have better build quality. I'm going back to Sony after I return this.

I hope this helps others when making the purchasing decision for a camcorder.

55 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Samsung C20 MemoryCAM, May 31, 2010

By 

M. Hill (U.S.A.) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Samsung SMX-C20 Ultra Compact "Touch of Color" Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom (Red) (Electronics)

(What's this?)

The Samsung memory camcorder has some slick features all packaged in a stylish lightweight body. It has a 10X zoom lens, a 2.7 inch LCD wide screen, an option to automatically load directly to YouTube, Flickr, facebook or any website the user designates (H.264 format) or a PC, a stop action feature which is exactly as it sounds (film a flower blossoming, etc.), quick identification using video storyboards which show sixteen still shots from each video, and much more. The camcorder is ergonomically designed so even when recording for an extended period of time, it remains comfortable to hold.

First things first - charging the battery. There is a door that slides down to open at the back of the camcorder. After inserting the rechargeable battery, I closed the door and plugged it into the wall with the included AC power cable. Charging may also be accomplished with the USB cable through a PC. When the light changes from yellow to green, the battery is fully charged. This took a few hours. The battery will power the camcorder for 160 minutes.

After reading the included quick start guide, I realized a memory card was necessary if I wanted to record, which unfortunately, wasn't included. This information should at least be printed on the outside of the box. My digital SLR camera included a memory card and although I later upgraded it, at least I could immediately try the camera out and shoot some photographs. The camcorder uses either SD 512 MB to 2 GB or SDHC 4GB to 32GB memory cards.

The 8 GB SDHC card I purchased provides four hours of recording. Note that there is no high definition option with this camcorder. The USB cable is used to upload videos or photos into a PC, and an audio/video cable is also included to display on a television. The included CD holds the 125 page manual. I began with the quick start guide, familiarizing myself with the buttons and features.

The camera itself is very lightweight. After a few minutes of fiddling around with the zoom bar and smart auto button, I was off and running. Conveniently, the brightness automatically adjusts and the video looked great even in a darkened room.

A small but annoying issue is that the buttons on the right side of the camcorder are all black and the icons are molded into the buttons and hard to read at a glance. I have added a photograph to the customer images section of the product page showing the area. With time the user will have the buttons memorized, but initially it isn't very user friendly. Only the recording start/stop buttons on the left side and rear are distinguished by a color (red.)

Note that the camcorder has built-in software that automatically loads when connected to a USB port, but according to the packaging, the software is not designed to work on a Mac. Using the USB port I uploaded and saved the video which I then played instantly first on my PC and then the television with no problems.

Regarding the sound -- as I operated the camera my voice was quite clear but those in the room, even within a few feet of me were difficult to hear. The sound level was a little low but it's easy enough to increase the volume during playback.

There are many options in the editing area of the software. Photos and movies are handled separately but many of the editing options are the same - changing size, fine tuning, etc. I particularly liked transitioning one video seamlessly into another. I was new to editing so I needed to search the full manual to completely understand the process. Someone more familiar with video/photo editing may be able to instinctively work their way through the area. Copying the file first before editing to ensure nothing happens to the original, is always smart.

There is always a learning curve, and this camcorder is no exception. I found the 10X zoom bar difficult to control with pin point precision. Pressing it forward or back seemed to result in images too close or too far no matter how quickly I attempted to stop the forward or backward progress. It is still a great feature, and perhaps in time my skill will improve, but I think it is a quirk of the camcorder rather than user error. The placement of the lens is a little awkward and I inadvertently put my fingers on it a couple of times when opening the camcorder to begin recording.

Small thing, but a brochure inside the box encouraged online registration, and as incentive, an additional three months will be added to the limited warranty (90 days carry in labor, one year parts.) Additionally, there is a chance to win another Samsung product, so, I registered online. While there on the Samsung site I saw nothing about the chance to win another product. I attempted to email Samsung but became locked in one of those maddening loops where the page demanded I select a model number from a drop down menu that had no model numbers to select and my email couldn't be sent without all fields completed. Ugh.

That prompted me to phone their customer support. The person I spoke with knew nothing of the promotion and told me to contact Amazon. I don't know how Amazon could help with Samsung's online registration promotion, so I didn't bother. Confirmation of the three month extension on the warranty arrived by email. Perhaps their "chance to win" offer is now in place for those registering their camcorder online. The manual contained on the included CD is quite comprehensive and has an extensive section for troubleshooting and helpful hints, so perhaps customer service calls can be kept to a minimum. I ran into no operating problems of any sort with the camcorder.

Overall, there are more pluses than minuses with the camcorder, and I am pleased with its performance.

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars kinda pricey for non HD, June 11, 2010

By 

Thomas (Houston, Tx) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Samsung SMX-C20 Ultra Compact "Touch of Color" Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom (Red) (Electronics)

(What's this?)

I have this camcorder, a flip mino hd, and a Sanyo VPC-ZH1R and out of the 3 I have to say I still prefer the flip mino HD. This camcorder and the Sanyo take flawless video outdoors in full sunlight even at the 10x zoom level (the Sanyo has 30x zoom, but it's lack of focus ability at higher than 15x zoom make that feature worthless), Both the Sanyo and this Samsung have slightly worse indoor/low light performance than the flip mino. However, this Samsung one is not HD, which at this price point is a disappointment - seems like it should be HD. This Samsung is easy to operate but again, the only reason I would really use this one is for the 10x zoom and only if outdoors - same goes for the Sanyo - both of these camcorders' indoor performance at higher zoom settings are really terrible - I wish they would come out with a flip camcorder with a 10x zoom and I would get that. For now, if you want good video indoors at a higher zoom then I guess you have to spend about double what these camcorders all cost. Otherwise I still prefer the Flip Mino for the great lowlight quality, great focusing, ease of use, and ease of downloading videos to the PC. If you get do this camcorder, be sure to order a 8gb class 6 SDHC flash card to go with it so you can shoot several hours of video.

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