Previously people who liked to take pictures bought a camera and those who liked to make videos (also) bought a video camera. Today, almost every mobile phone has a built-in camera to take pictures or capture movies in a resolution of several megapixels. Still, people buy digital cameras and video cameras. Why? Because megapixels do not say anything about an image and a typical ‘camera phone’ still can’t come close to a real camera or a real video camera.
The Samsung brand is no stranger to the camcorder market with a wide selection, ranging from pocket camcorders to professional video cameras. With the HMX-QF20 they offer a user-friendly, compact camera that is suitable for both left and right-handers, and comes with Full HD 1080i resolution, some nice color filters and Wi-Fi connectivity in order to share videos instantly.
The body
A first impression you get whenever you grasp the QF20 is that it feels compact and very light. Maybe even too light, because you would not immediately expect that unit is able to handle some rough handling. Numbers: dimensions of 42.8 x 52.45 x 119 mm and a weight of 170 grams. You don’t need to look for an on / off button; the camera starts up when you open the screen and the blue LED lights turn on. You will see only six buttons: one along the touch screen to access the menu, and five buttons on the back of the unit including record and zoom buttons. Behind a door above these buttons lie the connectors for recharging the built-in lithium-ion battery. The connections for USB, composite or HDMI mini cables (not included) can be found on the left behind a flap. The right side of the camera is dominated by the adjustable leather belt and slider to protect the lens. At the top are the speaker and two microphones (for stereo audio) located. Below the QF20 its battery and SD cards of any capacity are inserted. Thus, there is no internal memory present, but this has the advantage that the price can stay low and the memory can be expanded with virtually no limitations (up to 2 TB).
