Samsung camcorder design aims for improving shooting ergonomics

A tweaked lens position on Samsung's HMX-R10 makes for one of the oddest-looking camcorders, but certainly a highlight of the camcorder announcements at CES 2009.

by Joshua Goldman

January 7, 2009 2:30 PM PST Follow @superboxmonkey

Click for larger view

(Credit: Samsung)

There are only a few camcorders that I'm interested in actually getting my hands on while I'm here at CES 2009. One of them is the HMX-R10 from Samsung.

It's a CMOS-based, full-HD compact model capable of snapping off 9-megapixel still photos that stores both video and photos to SD/SDHC cards. In theory this could be a solid choice for capably capturing both video and photos that are equally as good and that's comfortable to use for both.

And I say that because I've never found a camcorder that's comfortable for taking photos or a still camera that's comfortable for capturing more than a few minutes of video at a time. However, the R10 has a 5x zoom lens that's angled at 25 degrees so you can grip the camera more naturally in front of you for both photos and video--or at least that's what I'm hoping for.

Samsung said it'll be available in summer 2009, which has me a little concerned that it'll actually show up in stores, though.