Well, after using the camera for a few days, I'm going to return it! I was so excited about this camera - I thought it could be "the one"! But alas, unfortunately it wasn't. I had been watching this camera ever since it was announced, the day I finally saw it in stock on Amazon - I jumped. Actually, I was a bit upset when I paid over $33.00 for "expedited" shipping (just couldn't wait for regular shipping) and it was not shipped for a week from the vendor. Oh well! One more thing - since I am returning the camera, 6thave.com is charging me 15% restocking fee. I wish I had known this before I bought from them, unusually Amazon products do not have this - again - Oh well! This is the price you pay for trying to be on the "cutting edge"! What a geek I am. By the way - I also own a NV24 and kinda like it except that the sound cuts out when you zoom (that was the deal breaker for me on that).
Extreme Summary: As with many of these types of point and shoot cameras - the HZ10W take pretty good pictures in bright light outdoor shots. But indoor - not so good! Video inside or out - not good at all (in my humble opinion). I will only review my negative points here - that's what most of us really want to know.
Now for some detail:
Still Pictures (these notes are after trying many different settings):
1) Lot's of "noise" in the pictures indoor (any setting I tried). I simply could not get a good clear shot.
2) Color was not consistent - sometimes way bright sometimes dull (?)
3) Some focus issues - not consistent. I know I know - I held it real still - even resting it on the table, etc...
4) And something very strange - sometimes while taking a shot indoors, when you press the shutter button to take a pictures, it goes though it's thing by focusing and charging the flash etc., but then when you press down all the way to "take to the shot" nothing happens unless you release the button and then press again - very weird. It did this in about half of the pictures I tried to take. This was very frustrating and I feel if I was at a party or wanted to take a lot of pictures I would miss some good shots.
5) Placement of the flash is very bad - you can VERY easily cover it with your finger.
6) Sometimes the flash seems to overpower or under power at random shots.
7) Very bad barrel distortion - I realize this is a 24mm, but come one! All the pictures look like you are looking through a tube.
Now for the Video:
1) Indoor and outdoor are not as good at all. Simply, the video is not sharp, even in good outdoor light. Now before anyone say "get yourself a dedicated camcorder" don't even go there!!!! Nowadays when these manufactures say HD I expect HD!!!! In all fairness, I did not hook up the camera via HDMI - I just used the SDHC card and transferred the file and played. I'm sorry - just not good.
2) A lot of "focus hunt", especially while zooming
3) Placement of the mic's are in strange places, they are on each side of the camera right where your fingers are. Although, the sound quality was OK - I'm concerned that I could easily cover the mic's up in the future - just poor design in my opinion.
4) Now for the really bad part, when the camera is zoomed all the way in (normal position - un-zoomed that is) the barrel distortion is VERY bad, it's like looking through a "fish eye" lens. Also, it looks like the image is falling off the sensor because you can see what looks like something obstructing the edge (or peripheral) image. I know my finger was not over the lens, so it must be that the 24mm wide angle is too large for the sensor.
Sorry Samsung - I really like your other stuff -I own two 40" HDTV's and a few computer monitors from you - love them! Maybe my camera is defective - but I'm not starting the game of back and forth - if quality control let this out that defective, I don't want it!
All of this is too bad, because the fit and finish of the camera is real nice - seems to be a quality built unit, just not nearly as good as what expected! I really wish these cameras could just work out of the box with no massive adjustments. Check out my other reviews - the Sony T500 still wins!
And the search continues........ 
See more reviews about: Samsung HZ10W 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Schneider Wide Angle Dual Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.7 inch LCD (Black)
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