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  • Introduction

  • Design & Usability

  • Features

  • Performance

  • Conclusion

  • Science Introduction

  • Brilliant Low Light Capabilities

  • Sloppy Motion Performance

  • Sharpness

  • Introduction
  • Design & Usability
  • Features
  • Performance
  • Conclusion
  • Science Introduction
  • Brilliant Low Light Capabilities
  • Sloppy Motion Performance
  • Sharpness

Introduction

Design & Usability

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Like its predecessors, Samsung's W300 is simple to use, but more innovation with the camcorder's rugged design would have been much appreciated.

The HMX-W300 comes in red, orange, or black, and has nearly the same dimensions as that of an iPhone. This means you shouldn't have any problem slipping the camcorder in and out of your pocket or carrying it around in a small purse. After long periods of underwater use, you do need to let the W300 dry out for a bit, and washing the camcorder off after taking a dip in salt water is a necessity. The camcorder can safely travel up to 16.4 feet underwater, and it can stay down there for about an hour before it needs to get a breath of fresh air. This is about six feet deeper than last year's HMX-W200 could travel.

The camcorder can safely travel up to 16.4 feet underwater, and it can stay down there for about an hour before it needs to get a breath of fresh air.

The look of the camcorder is mostly unchanged compared to last year's Samsung W200, but a few changes to the button design did make them more "water-friendly." The new buttons are coated in a layer of plastic, a design I like to call "membrane buttons," that eliminates any gaps that would normally exist between the button and the body of the camcorder. This helps keep water and debris out, which is always a good thing for a rugged cam.

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Features

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Not many video features here. At least the camcorder is waterproof down to 16.4 feet and drop-proof up to 6.5.

If you’re not looking for a waterproof camcorder, then you probably shouldn’t be researching the HMX-W300 at all. That’s the camcorder’s niche, and it’s the primary reason it is a successful device. Samsung won us over with last year's HMX-W200, the previous incarnation of the company's rugged-cam, and the HMX-W300 has a tad more going for it. It can travel a bit farther underwater, it has a better button design, and there are a few extra filters and white balance presets to play around with. What the camcorder doesn’t have is manual exposure or focus controls of any kind, so if you want a model that offers more fine-tuning you should look elsewhere.

Performance

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Good low light performance and impressive sharpness for a cheap, ultracompact camcorder.

This is a simple pocket-cam that is great for capturing poolside activities or passing off to your kids during a picnic.

Like the W200 before it, the HMX-W300 earned some very good numbers in our video performance tests. Sharpness was particularly key to the W300’s performance, although the camcorder did not increase on the wonderful numbers obtained by last year’s W200 from Samsung. Low light capabilities were also excellent—far better than the $160 price tag suggests—and bright light performance was good compared to the competition. The camcorder did need to make use of its white balance presets in order to obtain good color accuracy, however, and that's something most users of this model may not have the patience for.

Conclusion

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If you’re planning to spend less than $200 on a camcorder, you can’t do much better than the Samsung HMX-W300.

The HMX-W300 is not for people who want top-notch image quality, nor is it for anyone who requires access to manual controls. This is a simple pocket-cam that is great for capturing poolside activities or passing off to your kids during a picnic. The W300 is also not a huge upgrade over Samsung’s previous waterproof ultracompact camcorder, the HMX-W200. Let’s be clear, if you own a functioning W200 camcorder, then it is not worth upgrading. The updates Samsung made to the W300 are minimal, although they are worth mentioning. The new camcorder can safely travel six feet deeper underwater, it has a better waterproof button design, and it has a few extra controls (like white balance presets). The W300 isn’t a trailblazer in the waterproof camcorder market, but it’s one of the best so far this year (in a field that is full of duds).

If you want to spend a little more, say in the $300 – $400 price range, and you care more about underwater photography instead of video, then you should check out our 2012 Waterproof Camera Showdown.

Science Introduction

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The Samsung HMX-W300 performed well in our tests, but the camcorder's most exciting feature is its rugged design. The ability to get the W300 wet, shoot video and photos underwater, or drop it on a concrete floor without worrying that it will shatter are the primary reasons to buy this camcorder. We couldn't do elaborate stress tests on the W300, but we did treat it like it is meant to be treated. Leaving it underwater for long periods of time and taking the W300 to the beach revealed the camcorder does a better job than its predecessor in keeping water and debris out of the important areas. This capability, combined with good scores in our performance tests, make the W300 an ideal budget camcorder for pool parties, ski trips, or vacations to the lake house.

Brilliant Low Light Capabilities

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The W300's low light numbers were better than some camcorders costing three times as much.

Thanks to its wide lens and large image sensor, the Samsung W300 pulled off a trio of impressive performances in our low light tests. The camcorder needed just seven lux of light to record an image bright enough to pass broadcast standards, and its video in our low light test (shot at 60 lux) had just 0.7% noise and a color accuracy of 3.55. These colors were also quite vibrant, measuring 96% saturation according to our numbers.

Not to dampen the value of these performances, but the Samsung HMX-W200 (from 2011) put up mostly equivalent results in our tests last year. So, if you have a W200 already, then there isn't much of a reason to upgrade. Improvements to performance simply were not there, although the W300 does have some beneficial design modifications over its predecessor.

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Sloppy Motion Performance

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Thanks to its large sensor, the HMX-W300 has some serious problems with motion.

The combination of a large sensor and cheap processing results in the HMX-W300 performing poorly in our motion test. Videos had plenty of wobble, showed significant artifacting, and detail loss was prominent as soon as subjects started moving. In low light, motion got even worse, with more blur and artifacting present in our test videos. This dismal showing, combined with the fact that Samsung only includes one frame rate option (30p) on the camcorder, means the HMX-W300 is not the ideal camcorder for people who want to record good motion video. Thankfully, this is one of the camcorder's few downfalls when it comes to performance.

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Sharpness

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Just like the previous HMX-W200, this waterproof camcorder is capable of recording very sharp video.

The strong video sharpness of last year's Samsung HMX-W200 left an impression on us, and Samsung continued this dominance into the W300 as well. The new W300 doesn't improve on last year's results, but it continued with the strong numbers, measuring horizontal and vertical sharpness of 750 LW/PH each. These results were obtained in our bright light test with the camcorder in motion (slowly panning back and forth). Perfectly still, the W300 showed vertical sharpness levels approaching 875 LW/PH, which, again, is very impressive for a budget pocket-cam

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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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