Digital Camera Review

Digital Camera Review

Jan 11, 2009 - By Tim Barribeau
The HZ10W from Samsung squeezes a substantial 10x zoom wide angle lens and 10-megapixel sensor into quite a small, well built package. We got our first glimpse of this camera at CES 2009, and after some time working with a pre-production sample, gained some insight into what sort of beast it is. Overall we were quite impressed, as you'll see in this First Impression review. Expect to see the HZ10W in stores in January for $299.99
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The body of the Samsung HZ10W felt very good in the hand. It's big enough to get a solid grasp without feeling chunky, yet still small enough to fit easily in a coat pocket. The HZ10W is heavy enough that it feels stable, but doesn't weight so much that it'll slow you down. The quality of the build seems to be good, and overall the controls are well laid out.

Front
In the image below, you can see how Samsung added grip material on the left side of the camera, which makes it easy to hold steady. Unfortunately, the placement of the flash is such that it is easily blocked by fingers. 

 


That little patch of grip material makes it easier to hold on to the camera

Back
The back houses most of the important controls for the camera. Right near the top, on the thumb pad, is a small slider that can be customized to a number of functions, but usually controls exposure compensation. There are three buttons around the four-way pad: above it is the Fn (function button) which takes you to a quick menu. To the bottom left is playback, and the bottom right is the E button, which takes you to the screen to change virtual film modes and colors.

 
There's a small slider on the thumb pad used for changing settings.

Sides
The camera's sides are on the ordinary side. The left is bare, and the right houses a wrist strap loop and covered port, both on the slightly raised thumb rest.

The sides aren't hugely exciting.

Top
>From the top view, you can best see the substantial grip (given the size of the camera, anyway) which has a mode dial directly above it. To that dial's left is the shutter and zoom controls, and then the power button. On the far left is a small ring of holes which we believe to be a speaker, but weren't able to verify during our brief hands on.

That ring on the far left is probably a speaker

Bottom
The bottom includes a metal tripod mount in the center, which is better than the plastic mounts usually found, and the battery and port cover leading into the grip.


The tripod mount felt resilient

 
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