Samsung VP-D130

Although mini-DV may not be everyone's first choice when it comes to selecting a camcorder format, the VP-D130 is a notable system.

I have to admit I hadn't really made an active decision to acquire this particular camcorder model.

I needed a basic unit to play a mini DV tape into my PC, and bought a partly functional unit on Ebay for about £20.

Having done the tape copy, I gave it my usual 'half hour test' - where I pulled it to pieces, looking for any obvious faults, and try to put it together again.

On this occasion, it came up trumps, although I have an attic full of partly assembled kit to prove I'm not as skilled as I'd like to believe I was!

In this case it was a relatively straightforward case of freeing the solenoids in the camera unit, controlling the focus and zoom functions - this *may* be an inherent weakness but could just as easily have been a one-off.

Build quality is entirely average, the main components can be accessed with just a cross headed jewellers screwdriver. Ribbon connectors abound inside the machine, although are reasonably easy to dethatch and re-attach with a little care.

The unit itself is the bog-standard 'vertical' format, and is roughly the size of a block of butter.

It fits comfortably in the hand, offering a monochrome CRT viewfinder, and the now ubiquitous 'fold out' TFT screen.

Buttons were easily reachable and all the basic functions are easily at hand.

The VP-D130 offers all the basic functions you'd expect from a home camcorder - 12x optical zoom, stereo sound, output via analogue, USB and firewire

It also supports an external microphone jack, headphone socket and a 'hot shoe' for mounting accessories.

The unit comes with a standard SAMSUNG battery, and proprietary charger.

A number of basic functions are available on the 'buttons' - fade-in, (time) display, backlight etc.

More esoteric options are available from a 'thumbwheel' menu system, which is reasonably logical, although I tend to do most of my editing post-production on the PC rather than using the inbuilt stuff.

Of particular interest to me is that you don't have to remove the camcorder from a tripod in order to swap tapes.

The unit features 'image stabilisation' - which is handy if you use the digital zoom feature without a tripod (I'm not a great fan of this!)

The lens provides a standard 37mm diameter thread, so third party filters and wide-angle attachments are almost bound to fit.

In use, the unit is reasonably compact and light. Battery life is 'perfectly adequate' - I wouldn't bother buying OEM spares, this
sort of stuff is available on Ebay for no more than a few quid.

There IS a still image (photo) capability, but this is relatively low resolution in comparison with most modern mobile telephones, so I don't expect I'll be using this much!

I really don't like DVD based camcorders - and as this isn't one, that's a big plus in my book!

Focus can be automatic or manual (a thumbwheel option) and white balance can be turned off.

I found connecting the unit to my PC via the firewire, all the transport signals worked fine (I *did* read in another review elsewhere that someone had problems with this but I had no issues)

Picture quality is unremarkable, although well up to camcorders of this class.

Mini-DV tape is a bit of a Cinderella format nowadays - I really can't see what's so bad about it, but most camcorder manufacturers seem to think the public wants mini-DVD (one thumbprint and your entire disk can be goosed!)

As a no-nonsense camcorder, for the right price, this is a very hard
model to beat.

Should you need to, it's reasonably easy to get into and maintain.