Vlogging with the Samsung SMX-F400

Thanks to Samsung I got the chance to visit my Dad's hometown, Lucban, last month during the Pahiyas Festival. I've been going back and forth to Lucban since I was a kid and have many happy (and embarrassing) memories.

In my point of view Lucban hasn't changed drastically in the last 3 decades. There are more conveniences available nowadays like a hotel, more restos and pasalubong places, but it's charm and heritage has stayed. And being my Dad's hometown that's exactly what I wanted to capture and show my vlog audience.

Samsung brought us to Lucban, Quezon last May 15, 2010 and lent us cameras and camcorders to try out. I have been video blogging using a digital camera so it was my first time to shoot using a camcorder. I was lent the new SMX-F400 and here's what I thought about the camcorder:

1. Size and Weight - I have small hands and an awful grip. The Samsung SMX-F400 was just the right size for my tiny hands and it easy to handle. It was fairly easy to manage because of it's size and I managed to use just one hand to shoot easily despite the crowded town. My digital camera is certainly heavier than the camcorder. It's light weight made it a comfortable experience to shoot footages around the town. 

2. Ease of Use - Note that it was my first time use a camcorder to vlog and we weren't give any manual to read when the camcorder was lent to us. The button though were very easy to figure out and I was shooting in no time while we were inside the bus. As an amateur I think this is very important since you basically just want to take videos and photos.

3. Features - There are two things I love about this camera: (1) the 65x Intelli-Zoom lens; (2) Smart Auto feature. I really liked the zoom feature of the camcorder especially when we were taking shots of the mystical Mount Banahaw and this feature is quite important especially when taking videos of the landscape. The Smart Auto feature also helped me a lot with lighting and focus. I just pointed the camera wherever and it took care of adjusting the lighting and focus (perfect cheat camera!). Another noteworthy feature is the animated thumbnail feature where you can easily review vids/photos you took on the LCD.

4. File Type - The videos you take are saved as an MP4 file so it doesn't take up a lot of space. The SMX-F400 uses a SD card so it's quite easy to transfer your vids to your PC (either plug-in the camcorder via USB or just plug-in the SD card if you have a reader on your PC). Don't expect though the videos to be hi-res since your shots are compressed into a MP4 file.

The SMX-F400 was made available to market by Samsung last May 2010 and SRP is PhP14,990.

Here's the video blog I made about Pahiyas Lucban: