Go skydiving with Samsung's
new camcorder
Samsung SC-X105L
The product: It's time to take digital video to the extreme! Well, sort of. The Samsung SC-X105L's sports camera module allows you to hook it to your helmet or harness for hands-free recording, giving it instant cachet among extreme sports enthusiasts who long for an unobtrusive way to capture their gallivanting and roughhousing. With its water-resistant, rubberized body and tapeless recording system, this camcorder looks like it can take a pounding. Its vital statistics include:

• 680,000-pixel CCD for capturing MPEG-4 video
• 10X optical zoom
• 2-inch LCD screen
• Electronic image stabilizer
• Still image capture at 640x480, 800x600
• Water-resistant, rubberized design
• Sports camera module for hands-free shooting
• 512MB of internal memory, plus Memory Stick slot

The price: Can you put a price on being totally extreme? Yes. When the SC-X105L ships in April, it will cost $649.

The prospects: Somebody who'll pay $3,000 to jump out of an airplane won't bat an eye at this camera's sticker price, but for the rest of us, $650 looks like an awful lot for a camcorder whose recording capacity will be limited by its tapeless design. The SC-X105L's still-image-capture resolutions also look paltry; they'll be suitable for e-mail and for posting to the Web but not for printing. But if you're into the sort of filming that requires resistance to water, this may be the camcorder for you.

By Robert Dubbin, assistant editor, CNET Reviews