Samsung SCA-25 8mm Camcorder
Written: Sep 06 '00 (Updated May 06 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Price and amount of features for the price
Cons: Image quality could be better, Ni-Cd battery, slow charging, inaccurate remaining battery power indicator
The Bottom Line: I would recommend SCA-25 if you are looking for a good price.
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| dkozin's Full Review: Samsung SC-A25 8mm Analog Camcorder |
Samsung SCA-25 is a simple 8mm camcorder. Along with SCA-30 it is the least expensive Samsung model.
The choice of camcorder depends on what you expect from it.
It is a known fact that in majority of cases the camcorder is used for the first three days after being purchased and after that, it sits somewhere in your closet accumulating dust.
SCA-25 suits this kind of usage perfectly. It is downright cheap and the 8mm tapes are also inexpensive. It is not as compact as digital models, but is convenient to hold.
Samsung SCA-25 has 16x optical and 64x digital zoom, which is a low number compared to x100+ zoom that other camcorders provide. Even Samsung SCA-30 sibling has x320 digital zoom.
SCA-25 also has a color viewfinder and electronic image stabilizer, 4 Program AE, 3 special effects, back light compensation, automatic white balance. It also has flying erase head for editing. Electronic image stabilizer helps prevent unwanted shaking of the picture.
But there is not manual focus. The camcorder comes with two batteries, which is useful, since the battery capacity is quite low and the batteries are “older” Ni-Cad type, which are slow to recharge and should be fully discharged before charging.
There is also a fade mode. The camcorder has power adapter that works in any country (110-240V, 50/60Hz) if you get a power plug adapter. It also has "Refresh" mode that drains your Ni-Cad battery before recharging to avoid "memory effect" when capacity decreases if you don't discharge the battery fully.
There is no LP recording speed. And the battery status indicator is very inaccurate. The internal microphone is good and records speech and other sounds quite well.
The picture quality is good, it is worse than Panasonic VHS-C models and SONY 8mm ones (TR-416).
The good features that distinguish it from the SCA-30: remote control, color viewfinder, image stabilizer, second battery. But SCA-30 has manual focus, more features, 320x digital zoom.
I would recommend SCA-25 if you are looking for a good price. By the way, according to "Consumer Reports" magazine, Samsungs are very reliable.
But if you want excellent picture quality, you will have to pay more for a digital model (spending money on analog expensive models doesn't make sense).
Check out my reviews of the following (relatively inexpensive) digital models:
Panasonic PV-DV400
Sony DCR-TRV120
JVC GR-DVL300U
Sharp VL-SD20U
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
dkozin
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 in Electronics |
 - Top 10 |
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Location: California
Reviews written: 817
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About Me:
I love to push buttons on electronic (audio and video) equipment. It makes me happy.
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