Not satisfied with unveiling a whole bunch of point-and-click shooters, Samsung’s also unveiled a refreshed set of camcorders for 2012. First up, the QF20 and Q20 totes the same switch grip features of its predecessor and are capable of 1080i HD video, while packing 20x optical zoom, a touchscreen display plus a medley of requisite artistic effects. The rough and tumble W300 and W350 are for the sporting videographer; dust-proof, shock-proof to two meters and water-proof to up to five meters. It records 1080 HD video, with an optional floating bumper accessory incoming for those Jaws homages. There’s also a five megapixel sensor and f/2.2 lens for your rugged stills. Finally, there’s the F80, which ups the optical zoom to 52x, 720p recording at 30fps. For those willing to upscale, there’s also a 1080i option through HDMI, which can also display any five megapixel stills snapped from great distances. No dates for when we’ll see these in stores — or price tags — but expect to see them this side of 2012.

Alongside its new Lumix snappers, Panasonic just dropped a bunch of new HD camcorders at CES. It’s the 1MOS models that get the most vigorous make over, with six new 1920 x 1080 shooting cams in total.

The HC-V700 and HC-V700M are the new top of the 1MOS line; armed with a proprietary High Sensitivity Sensor, promising better indoor and night-time shots, there’s also 3D capture when used with the new VW-CLT2 conversion lens, plus a 21x optical and 46x “high-powered’ (we guess digital) zoom. The mid-range HC-V500/M cameras have a 2D to 3D image conversion function (also found in the V700s) as well as Natural, Pop, Dynamic & Classical special effects modes and 38x optical / 50x digital zoom. For the less feature-fanatical are the HC-V100 and HC-V100M which have lower power consumption for longer shooting despite a smaller 2.028 x 2.343 x 4.429 inch form. If you were wondering what makes the M models different, the answer would be 16GB built-in storage.

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There’s a new camcorder for cyclist and adventurers alike. From the famous company that brought you the ContourGPS, this new camcorder is called the Contour+, aka Contour Plus. As usual, it’s a helmet cam from Contour, and this new imager captures 1080p video at 30fps, and also packs built-in GPS plus Bluetooth v2.1 — the latter’s for the wireless viewfinder app on iOS and, eventually, Android.

The Contour+ does indeed come with a mini HDMI-out port alongside the microSD slot on the back. you’ll also find an HDMI cable in the box to get you going. And of course, let’s not forget the new super-wide lens (still rotatable) that does 170 degrees for 960p and 720p recording, or 125 degrees for 1080p. Both modes best the camera’s predecessor, though the trade-off is the lack of dual-alignment lasers. If this isn’t a problem for you, then feel free to shell out $499.99 when it launches on May 18th.

SOURCE via Contour

Olympus, the camera company, is ready to dive into the pocket camcorders market, with the announcement of the LS-20M, a handheld whose relatively high-end audio specs should help it go toe-to-toe with Zoom.

In addition to 1080p video, the LS-20M records 24 bit / 96 mHz Linear PCM audio using a pair of condenser mics. It has a small 2-inch screen and no optical zoom, but at least Olympus borrowed four of the visual effects that make its PEN cameras so fun to use. Well, can’t complain much, since the thing is only $300. The LS-20M will be arriving in June.

SOURCE via Olympus

Kodak has announced three new products for you to film your High Definition videos, beautiful photos, and play them in your living room. Let’s check them out!

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Panasonic might have launched their big-ass 3D camcorder which is capable of recording 3D HD videos thanks to an attached lens, but Fujifilm has done it in a better package, this time with no need for a lens. What’s more, the 3.5-inch display panel behind it is capable of displaying 3D videos that you just shot! That seemed like this Fujifilm FinePix Real 3D W3 will give a huge blow towards Panasonic. Read more…

This is not Sanyo’s first waterproof HD camcorder, but this sure would be a hit among divers, and those wanting to make their home-made blockbuster in the pool at the backyard, or the kids’ pond if you will. I mean, Full HD is always the go right? For merely $350, you’re gonna be making your own Full HD ‘funny home videos’, aren’t you excited? But it only comes in yellow colour. Should have come in pink too. Read more…

Few days ago we talked about Panasonic getting ready to throw some 3D camcorders at consumers? Well now you can get one and make your very own 3D home video! Here’s a video of Panasonic’s latest 3D camcorder.

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This weirdo is actually your typical flash-based camcorder, minus the flash thing. But while gone is the flashy flash, replaced it is, with a long goose neck! The camera can be bent in all directions and rotated up to 270 degrees. That coupled with a 170 degree wide angle lens, and you should have no trouble capturing your swing with this thing mounted to your golf cart or bag. Yes it’s marketed for golfers and goofers. It’s so-called high speed frame rate is capable of recording your ‘swings’ with up to 50fps, but only at a resolution of 640×480.

You surely can’t record much with the build-in 60MB memory, but they’re ‘kind’ enough to include a SDHC slot should you need to record up to 12 hours of your golfing activity in your new 32GB SDHC card. But that’s kind of hard actually, because the bundled rechargeable lithium polymer battery is only rated for 5 hours or so. But that does not mention whether the 5 hours operating time includes turning on the 3.5-inch TFT LCD display that’s on the camcorder. So if you want to improve your golf level, you might want to fork out $349.95 and head over to Amazon and get one yourself.

[V-Swing]

Remember when we said that Panasonic is planning on unveiling an ‘affordable’ 3D camcorder for the average Joe? Well now we have the actually thing in sight! The details have been leaked at Panasonic’s own website. It’s called the HDC-SDT750, and Panasonic called it “World’s first 3D Shooting Camcorder”. It’s not actually a new camcorder from Panasonic, but more of an upgrade from existing high-end camcorder. Panasonic adds a “3D conversion lens” to their high-end 3MOS model, and thus is able to record videos in 3D up to 1080p AVCHD quality at 60fps. It also features Panasonic’s proprietary Hybrid O.I.S. image stabilization technology.

[via Panasonic]