Toshiba re-emerges with 3 new camcorders

Consumer Reports News: April 24, 2010 12:08 PM

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Camcorders

Toshiba unveils new HD pocket-size camcorders. How much
punch do they pack for the price?

After a five year hiatus, Toshiba is re-entering the camcorder market, joining giants such as Panasonic, Sony and, most recently, HP, in offering HD camcorders.

The company showcased three new Camileo-series HD camcorders at a recent New York trade-show event. All are flash-memory based, can capture HD-resolution video (at 1080), and include 3-inch LCDs. They also capture still images and have an HDMI output for hooking up to an HDTV. The specs also indicate that the models ship with an HDMI cable, which is rare for camcorders.

Here are some distinguishing features among the three models:

The Toshiba Camileo S20, $180, is a pocket camcorder that has no digital zoom, but looks lightweight and very portable. It can capture 5-megapixel stills and includes some intriguing shooting modes, such as slow-motion and time-lapse.

The Toshiba Camileo H30, $250, is a full-sized HD camcorder that includes a touchscreen LCD, 5x optical zoom, and can capture 10-megapixel stills.

Like the H30, the Toshiba Camileo X100, $400, is a full-sized HD camcorder that includes a touchscreen and can capture 10-megapixel stills. But this top-of-the-line model also stores video on 4GB of internal memory, has a 10x optical zoom, and claims to shoot video at a higher frame rate, 60i, which means video footage should look smoother, particularly when you pan.

As with many companies that enter a new product category, Toshiba made some odd choices in how they implement some features. For example, the H30 and X100 have video stabilization (or image stabilization), but not at the highest resolutions. So, you're forced to choose between bumpy video at the highest resolution or a lower-resolution video that's less rocky. Also, like most recent camcorder models we've tested, none of the three include a viewfinder for shooting in bright light, which can wash out an LCD screen.

To see how the specs on these new Toshibas stack up against our fully rated models, see our camcorder Ratings.

—Terry Sullivan