Description

With its incredible 65x intelli-Zoom (52x Optical Zoom), the Samsung SMX-F40 series give you the ability to bring distant images into forefront focus, enabling you to zoom closer to the action from further away.

FEATURES:

• Record More - Enhanced energy efficiency and advanced power management coming from Samsung 8th generation DSP Solution combine to create a camcorder that gives you over 4 hours and 10 minutes of battery life, ensuring that you can shoot and share for longer.
• Get Closer - With its incredible 65x intelli-Zoom (52x Optical Zoom), the Samsung SMX-F40 series give you the ability to bring distant images into forefront focus, enabling you to zoom closer to the action from further away.
• Bigger sensor, better video - The Samsung SMX-F40 series use a 1/6 CCD Sensor to enhance image quality. Its extra-large sensor sets it apart from other camcorders in its class and enables you to enjoy higher-quality images.
• Ultimate Companion to your PC - intelli-Studio 2.0 is designed to enhance your sense of freedom. Plug & Play PC Software, intelli-Studio 2.0 is built-into the Samsung SMX-F40 series, you can use any PC to view, edit, and upload your memories to the web without software CD.
• USB Battery charging - The convenient USB charging gives you flexibility and freedom. Simply connect the Samsung SMX-F40 series to any PC via USB cable and the camcorder will begin recharging, allowing you to enjoy a more mobile lifestyle.
• Record the passing of time - The Time-Lapse recording feature captures frames at preset intervals and then arranges them in sequential order to create a video file that condenses an extended period of time into a fraction of the time.

Customer Reviews

 Do Not Buy, POS - Aug 31, 2010

Videos are bad and still pics are worse.
This camera, if you can call it a camera, is good to use for a paper weight.
I sent mine back. I have a digital camera that shoots better video then this video thingy.

 An fairly acceptable entry-level camcorder - Aug 26, 2010

I bought this from newegg for $99 plus $5 shipping. I have seen mixed review comments but decided to give it a try anyway, the price was too good to pass on.

It turned out to be a fairly acceptable SD camcorder. Voice quality is actually quite good, video quality is not the best among its category but quite acceptable to me. Its video quality is comparable to some early digital camcorders (digital 8/mini-DV) and actually slightly better than my Sony old Hi-8 camcorder (CCD TRV65) that cost my 8 times as much 12 years ago and weight 4 times as much. Low light performance is also acceptable but fairly limited.

Optical zoom is pretty good although you will want a tripod when it approaches the end of range. Sometimes camera has trouble hunting for focus near far end of zoom range.

Picture quality is pathetic, low-light performance is even worse. It is cellphone quality. Not a cellphone like iPhone, but those free phone cellphone company gives you when you signed up for 2 years contract. You just can't get a quality 2M picture with 680K CCD.

Overall the camcorder is quite user friendly. A simple point and shoot and share camcorder. I will use it to shoot family/kids video and share them with grandparents over internet so I would prefer lower bitrate over higher video quality.

Pixel aspect ratio for widescreen video are not set properly by this camcorder. As a result when you play them back in a computer the video will be squeezed horizontally. You can either set the aspect ratio manually in your media player (16x9) or use software tool like Yamb to fix the pixel aspect ratio. I hope Samsung can release a firmware update to address this issue.

 Great Camcorder! - Aug 11, 2010

This camcorder has excellent video and audio quality. The Smart Record feature is a God-send for amateur videographers! There are 2 drawbacks: 1) the videos take up a lot of disc space and 2) video playback drains my laptop's memory, which causes audio "hiccups". Fortunately, when you upload a video to YouTube, the audio "hiccups" are not there. Just make sure to delete videos that you don't want to use and use a disc defragger (e.g., Auslogics) to unfragment your computer files after video editing. Great camcorder for the price. I'm sticking with this one!

 Starter camera that's easy to use but not high definition - Aug 10, 2010

We took this camera on vacation twice and the best feature was that it was inexpensive enough that I felt perfectly comfortable letting my 8-year old son take over it for shooting vacation videos of reasonable quality. However, the definition of the pictures were not crisp or clear enough that I would want to make this my go-to camera for high quality videos of truly valuable recordings that I hope to keep for a lifetime.

So while the camera is easy to use and handle and small enough to make it a good travel camera, the trade off for price is the quality of the video.

Definitely a good starter camera or travel camera that the entire family can use.

 did not work as advertised - Aug 02, 2010

Discalimer: I purchased this camcorder at an electronics store, not through Amazon. I also purchased a class 4 Sandisk 8GB SDHC card. I kept getting a "card error" message, and the memory card format feature failed every time. I talked to Samsung's customer support, and they claimed the problem was a defective memory card. The representative said that the card I purchased was perfectly fine for this camcorder. Long story short, an associate at the electronics store helped me conduct a number of trials using 3 models of this camcorder, 3 memory cards, and 2 other brands of cameras. The result was that this camcorder does not support the class 4 Sandisk 8GB SDHC. We could only get it to work with a class 2 4GB card. That's not enough storage space for me, so I returned it and purchased another model.

 Don't recomend this product - Jul 25, 2010

For the price I expected more quality for the video. It's a Samsung should be good right?? I would not recomend this to anyone. This video quality is really bad...It's easy to use and compact, looks great.

 52x Optical Zoom head's up - Jul 24, 2010

I'm happy with the camera. I wanted a small, simple video camera not a high end professional quality camera. Daytime and night time quality are good. The wind cancel function helps when shooting outside. Once I figured out how turn off auto-zoom I got a great video of fireworks. With a little practice I'm now able to control the zooming speed with precision. The Time-Lapse recording looks cool but I don't think I'll need it.
One head's up: It's got a 52x Optical Zoom. It's impossible to hold the camera steady at full zoom. A tripod is a must when zooming more than 25x.

 Really really great valued camcorder from samsung. - Jul 24, 2010

This camera is amazing for the low price tag. With it I wad able to finish filming and editing the final chapter in my trilogy. The camera comes with software that is compatible with most computers allowing you to edit your film with extreme ease. Down falls is that there is no built in light for night recording and there is no night vision for a special effect.

 Caution: Does NOT have built-in memory, does NOT come with a memory card - Jul 14, 2010

Since I had never used a camcorder before, I was initially puzzled by this one. And then I discovered the first important fact regarding use of the F40: The lens cap has a manual mechanical release. Yes, I know that sounds dumb, but I was expecting the lens cap to open when the camera was turned on, and it didn't. (Interestingly, the quick start guide doesn't even mention the lens cap.)

Second observation: There is no built-in memory. None. Zero. Nada. Zilch. And Samsung does not include even the most basic of memory cards in the box. Gosh, thanks Samsung. How helpful. I had to boost my 2 gig class-4 SD card out of my digital camera just to try the Samsung out.

Third observation: The built-in software works only with Windows-based PCs. Samsung does not make this clear in the basic product description. They refer to PCs in general terms without making it clear that they do not consider Macs to be PCs. Last time I looked, the term PC meant "Personal Computer." And while the term PC is most generally used to refer to Windows-based machines, a bit more specificity would be helpful. (Interestingly, my iMac did not automatically recognize the F40 when I plugged in the USB cable, and it automatically opened iPhoto, not iMovie. I thought this was very odd until I realized that it might be doing that because I was using the memory card from my Panasonic Lumix.) (Will have to wait and see what happens when I get a memory card specifically for the camcorder.)

So, on to the quality of the video. If all one wants to do is take some videos of Uncle Harry's 99th birthday, then the camera is probably going to be just fine for interior shots. The quality of interior shots is generally very good, but don't expect it to be professional-level.

I was much more pleased with the quality of the exterior shots. For the first test, I took videos of my dogs running around. I have a rural property, and they are herding dogs, so they can pick up quite a bit of speed. The video quality was excellent going from shade to bright light, and the movement of the dogs was smoothly recorded. Be aware, however, that the camera does not seem to have any stabilizing features, so one has to take care not to get a shaky video. I was also very impressed with the zoom, as it took clear shots of my dogs even when they were over 250 feet away from me.

All-in-all, my four-star rating is based on it being a very good entry-level camera.

 Very Good - Jul 09, 2010

Very decent Camcorder for the price.
Sound and images and reasonable but not exceptional.
I have not transferred files yet.
Easy to use controls. Watching video on TV is very user friendly.

NOTE: People have complained about the memory card not being detected.
To circumvent this problem insert the memory card while the power is OFF!
I too had a problem with the memory card until I inserted it in this manner.

 Cheap - easy to use - basic - Jun 28, 2010

First off - If you are looking for top notch quality video and sound for your camcorder: do not buy this product.

This camera has very basic functions, but enough to tweak the settings to your liking.

I tried out "TV Superfine" and it looks great and all on a PC monitor, but since I was recording a volleyball game, taking place at least 50 feet away from the camera, I eventually set it to "TV Fine" which is lower quality but more recording time. It isn't horrible quality. I can definitely tell the difference in quality in the different "fine" settings, but the average person (i.e. the people who SHOULD buy this product) won't notice/care.

The sound isn't horrible, it's actually pretty good. You can hear exactly what people are saying. If there is a lot going on then (e.g. music + Yelling + basketball game) of course the sound will be a bit low quality, but again, this is a cheap - basic camera.

What sold me was the time elapsed recording. It's awesome! You can set the timer for different time intervals depending on what it is you want to take videos of. I can't wait to try it out on my cats. I go to work and come home just knowing that one of them is reading my diary. I'm gonna catch 'em on video!

Another cool thing is the different filters you can apply to the video. You can have black and white, inverted, foggy and others that I can't think of right now.

The still picture ability isn't good (same goes for most camcorders), but compared to others that I have tried, this one has the least grainiest picture, but it's still grainy.

The camera itself is comfortable and light. the Lens "cap" is a manual switch next to the lens (which I prefer over automated lens caps).

The battery does last as long as advertised but I'll probably get a 2nd one anyways.

I haven't bothered with the software yet because I just plug my SD card into a PC card reader and move/backup my videos manually.

I highly recommend this 8GB Class 6 SDHC card: http://www.amazon.com/Transcend-Class-Flash-Memory-TS8GSDHC6/dp/B000P9ZBFA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1277755713&sr=1-1

8GB gives you about 2 hours of "superfine" video, but remember, lower quality = more record time.

All in all, this is a VERY GOOD Camera. I got it because it was on sale for $100 and I wanted to a basic functional camera. I don't have the time or care for the HD ones just yet and neither should most people - do you really need to see the hairs on your uncle's arms?

Again, this isn't a GREAT camera or the BEST. NO, it's a VERY GOOD camera that serves all the basic needs of the average person who wants to take videos.

 Quite an improvement over previous inexpensive camcorders - And works with Macs - Jun 03, 2010

Of course, this is not one of the top-of-the-line cameras that will cost somewhere approaching $1000, so we should not have expectations that are in that range. If one compares this to the Flip recorders, there is a distinct advantage. Not only is this camera extremely portable and compact, but it has a built in optical zoom of 52x (digital zoom up to 65x), and having used it, I can only say the zoom is amazing.

Buy it with a 16gb SDHC card, and you get over 4 hours of recording time and battery life, which is not bad for a camera in this price range.

Video quality is great, though I am not terribly impressed by picture quality (you can take still pictures, but that is not what this is for, in my opinion).

Yes, it comes with PC software, even built in to the camera itself as well as a disc, but it does work with the software included by default on Macs.

 Great optical zoom quality! - Jun 01, 2010

Samsung F40 Camcorder

Camcorders have evolved a great deal since their initial popularity in the 1980s. I recall when VHS camcorders were the hottest thing and weighed about 10-15 lb, had a lousy NiCd battery, and had horrible standard definition quality. As the camcorder segment evolved, digital cameras and smartphones have adapted with better optics, longer battery lifespans, and larger storage capacities. Even webcams have achieved 2.1 MP resolution, while cellphones/smartphones can have as much as 5 MP.

The Samsung F40 isn't one of the latest and greatest camcorders available. There's no night vision, active image stabilization, long battery life, or high definition resolution. It's only 1.9 MP, has a 4 hour battery life (which is pitiful compared to digital cameras with smaller batteries), clumsy viewfinder, awkward controls, very poor image quality (in video and photo modes), and uses RCA composite jacks to hook up to a television. About the only saving grace for this camcorder is its Schneider Kreuznach 52X optical zoom lens set. I've used cheap spotting scopes that were advertised as 60X and anything greater than 8x with those scopes was a blurry mess. The Samsung F40 at 52X will pick up flies and rust stains on a fence about 100-200m away.

The optical quality is so good that I've been thinking about using the F40 as a spotting scope at the range. It can take still photographs and record video without switching modes, making it perfect to record groupings or 3-gun matches. There is zero to minimal chromatic aberrations at 52X zoom.

The biggest drawback is the low resolution and poor battery life. Since there are no moving parts besides the lens, it seems unusual to have only 4 hours of battery life when digital cameras like the Casio EX-H10 are rated for 1000 photos in the CIPA standard using a small Li-Ion battery.

The Samsung F40 uses SD/SDHC cards, and it requires about 1 GB for every 23 minutes of film time. A 8GB SDHC can hold 191 minutes of recording time or 6025 photos. The F40 does not come with a SDHC card and must be purchased separately! The SDHC card must be formatted via the F40 or else it throws a hissy fit.

The lens motor is very quiet and is barely audible during the recordings. There is a standard tripod threaded insert on the bottom. There is no lens cap, instead there is an old-school shutter like the ones from old 35mm point and shoot cameras. The instruction manual/guide is useless and doesn't explain the backlight and LCD enhancer features or the smart/auto setting. The lack of night vision is a big bummer along with the Standard Definition quality. HD quality with better resolution and 3rd generation night vision would have made the F40 a really awesome camcorder.

Pros: Relatively compact, about the size of a thick digital camera. German optics at 52x is crystal clear, take photographs or videos without switching modes, quiet lens motor, takes SDHC cards

Cons: Short battery life for a modern solid state camcorder (4 hours and change), requires opening the viewfinder to charge the battery (via USB or AC adapter), does not come with SDHC card, no night vision, no HD quality, poor resolution

Overall: 4/5 stars

UPDATE: Here's why I feel the 4 hour battery life is kind of low. This is a 1.9 MP standard definition camcorder. Most cellphones have cameras that would put the F40 to shame in terms of photo/video quality. The webcam on my netbook has about the same quality, and has a 10+ hour battery life. My Casio EX-H10 camera is rated for 1000+ photos on one charge, and has 12.1 MP with HD quality video capability (16:9 aspect ratio as well), and has 10x optical zoom with the ability to fit into my shirt pocket. The only real saving grace for the F40 and other similar camcorders is the optical zoom capability and quality. Unfortunately, the videos and photographs come out very grainy. Had they been able to mate the 52x optics with decent capture quality, it would have been much better. I can't wholeheartedly recommend the F40 especially when there are better digital cameras as the same price.

 Possible Starter Camcorder - May 29, 2010

I am very disappointed in the SAMSUNG F40 ULTRA ZOOM CAMCORDER. The A#1 killer is the picture quality. The SAMSUNG F40 ULTRA ZOOM CAMCORDER has 5 quality settings: TV Super Fine, TV Fine, TV Normal, Web Fine, and Web Normal. All of the TV settings give you an image with obviously interleaved scan lines. That results in a very ugly image with jagged lines when you move the camera. When I first saw this, I was incredulous. Maybe I'm just spoiled by my Sanyo camcorder that cost twice as much. When I selected the Web resolutions, the scan lines seemed to disappear or at least were minimized, but the image size and resolution diminished. I tried other settings but nothing helped. On this point alone, I have absolutely no use for the camera.

Some reviewers have suggested that the SAMSUNG F40 ULTRA ZOOM CAMCORDER would be ideal for a teenager's first camcorder. Even on this, I'm torn. On the one hand, it's inexpensive, lightweight, and quite easy to use (even my five year old figured out how to take movies). On the other hand, the image quality is awful. But it IS cheap. Well, a quick scan of competitors reveals that there are even less expensive camcorders (half the price!) that get good reviews AND do full HD.

I really wanted to like this little guy. It has a nice form facter, is very simple to use, and is incredibly light. It might be just right for a kid or someone with a very specific budget. But, at this point I can't even justify keeping it in my glove box in case I see Sasquatch being abducted by Jimmy Hoffa and flying away in a UFO. The picture quality from the SAMSUNG F40 ULTRA ZOOM CAMCORDER is just that bad.

 All ratings: For what it is! - May 28, 2010

To begin at the beginning, as Dylan Thomas would say, the FX40 is an (approximately) $200 camcorder, not a $3,$4,$500, etc. one. So, everything that follows is based on that. AND for an inexpensive camcorder it IS very impressive indeed. The picture/sound quality is excellent in an every-day use sort of way (which is to say, if you're planning on making that epic drama that's gonna make us all for "There Will Be Blood", get a more expensive piece of equipment) and the zoom (variously rated at 62x or 65x) is impressive for someone who lives on the Space Coast and is taking pix of the last few shuttle flights. That having been said, there are a few nits to pick that, frankly, are just annoying and unnecessary. Yes, it's true that the box says it's a flash memory camcorder. What it doesn't say is that it's ONLY a flash memory camcorder and has NO built-in memory, AND Samsung doesn't include a memory card! So, you can't use the thing without a trip to (at least) the drugstore. Considering how inexpensive memory cards have gotten, it wouldn't hurt for Samsung to include, at least, a basic one, but they don't, so you might want to include one in your order. Second, and really nit-picky but annoying, there is no information in the printed "Quick-start" guide on the simple fact of HOW LONG YOU CHARGE THE BATTERY before first use! (It may/may not be on the instructional CD. I haven't gotten there yet... but, really, that's kinda basic!) (oh... by the way.. a call to Samsung customer service provided the info. 1hr/58 mins. Why not just 2 hrs? Quien sabe... that's Kemo's brother). Anyway... To sum up: It's not the top of the line, but for a mid-line camcorder, it's pretty darn impressive.

 Great Purchase!! - May 06, 2010

This camcorder is everything I hoped it to be. It takes great pictures, great videos, it's small, lightweight and has a great zoom. It even fits right in my purse. I would recommend it to all my friends.

 Easy to use - Apr 28, 2010

Pros - light weight, fits nicely in hand, attractive, good sound quality, good video quality, easy to figure out, keeps image steady, great zoom
Cons - photo quality is a little blurry, no matter how still you hold the camera, the time to start recording is a longer than I would like, but is acceptable

 Awesome - Apr 27, 2010

I wanted a camera that I could make DVDs of the recording as opposed to using tapes.This is easy to use, just plug up to you computer and you can make a disc. You don't have to download a program into your computer, it is done from the camera. the picture quality is great and is the size of your hand. Very light weight. It is perfect for us!

 Disappointed - Apr 18, 2010

I purchased this camcorder because of its trim size and low weight. While it was quick to set up and use, transferring recordings from the camera to a DVD is complex and frustrating. Because of the MP4 format, it is not compatible with many software editing products, including Microsoft Movie Maker. When I called the Samsung tech support folks, they basically told me that I needed to purchase third-party software and that burning DVDs from the camcorder without extra software was not possible.

 Great camcorder at great price - Apr 14, 2010

I want to preface this review with a comment. If you are expecting that this camera is going to put out High Definition quality videos and be amazing in low light situations, then you're looking at the wrong camera. In fact, MOST cameras will have difficulties in low light situations. The camera was not designed for HD, obviously, so that expectation should go out the window.

Overall, the camera is great. Purchased for $165 from Amazon's website at the end of March 2010. The camera has excellent zoom and picks up sound very well. The reason that the camera was purchased was to capture golf shots between friends. It's very lightweight and easily fits within the compartments of our golf carts/bags. It's still a bit big to fit into my pants to the point where I feel comfortable taking a golf shot. Don't get me wrong, it is still small and CAN fit into your pant pockets. I just don't like the feel of it when I take golf shots.

I had considered purchasing the Flip HD and Kodak zi8 (which I do have) and must say that though the form factors on the handheld camcorders is better from a size standpoint, you simply can't beat the benefits of this camera.

For those of you who are concerned about the battery life, let me assure you that the 4.5 hrs of battery life is definitely real. I tested it today since I was skeptical about it as well. This 'concern' came about because the battery indicator light is not designed well and appears to drain faster than it really does. At one point, there were zero bars on the indicator but the camera continued taking video for an additional 45 minutes.

 Samsung Camcorder - Mar 27, 2010

It is so easy to use as this is my first purchase of a camcorder. It records a long time 4 hours on one battery charge. Excellent!

 Samsung F40 Ultra Zoom Camcorder - Mar 23, 2010

I like this camera, although I have not had much chance to use it yet. I like what I have seen so far.

 big price drop - Mar 13, 2010

Ease of operation, but read the manual first(available on line)My biggest disappointment is that right after I purchased this unit(last week in a bundle option)) the price for the camcorder alone dropped like a brick(more like a concrete block!)from about $200 to about $160 at some Amazon stores.So far I took some short movies indoor and outdoor .Indoor the video quality isn't so good, probably a two**.Outdoor the quality improve greatly,in a overcast day as well as in clear weather,let,s make this a 4***I also took some pictures,well you should use a digital camera for that!The battery life is great ,however not the 4 hours they advertise,but certainly at least 2,1/2 hours .They only quality issue is the power button being flush or below the outer shell,so think about growing long fingernails,you'll need them at least when powering "off",which require a longer push down(I'm not growing long nails myself,I resolved by crazy gluing a small spacer on top of the button for extra height.There you have it !A good camera with dozens of menus and sub menus, really great zoom and auto focus features ,I'm giving it 4 star for $160,for having paid too much it's only a 3and half star.

 Piece of Junk - Mar 12, 2010

I have several Samsung products so I purchased this camcorder thinking it would be another quality product. Used it it on a weekend trip as a test run for the family vacation and boy am I glad I did. The still pictures are horrible. I know it is only a 2.0 megapixel camera but come on, my Samsung Delve cellphone takes better stills and it is 2.0 megapixels also. Tried several settings but no improvement. Video is not very good either.

Controls are nice and placed well, has a long battery life, and is small and lightweight. The memory card slot and power connection on the camera are upside down but it's something you can live with.

I MIGHT would recommend purchasing this camcorder for a young teenager but definitely not for average use.

Customer Support was a joke. The website Customer Support form did not recognize the model number and it took over 36 hours before they contacted me. My first call to Customer Support lasted about 18 minutes and they didn't have information on my camcorder so it was usless. Tried to submit a Service Request on the website but wound up having to call in to have the shipping label mailed.

Trying to decide to send it in for repair or return it to Amazon for a refund and get something else. Will probably get the refund.

Don't buy!!!

 Very Underwhelming Camera - Mar 08, 2010

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R3SB4669D1SKRB I tested out the F40 camera today and I have to say I am not impressed. If I want to even make youtube videos with it, I will have to do it without the sound . . .