Toshiba Camileo H30 Camcorder

Although most electronic products from Toshiba Consumer aim for the upper end of their respective markets, their camcorders tend to be significantly oriented values. The Camileo H30 will not break the mold, with its sub-£ 200 price, but it offers some features not normally associated with the camcorders at low prices.

The H30 is built around a 10 megapixel CMOS – twice the resolution of the S20, as well as for the Toshiba has not publicized the physical size of the sensor. A minimum of interpolation is added to increase the image resolution to 16 megapixels. There is a small flash at the H30 for help in photography, but unlike the S20 seeing no video light is provided.

Resolutions range from VGA video up to Full HD above. Between the two there is a curious 720p and 848 x 480 WVGA option called. This gives a 16:9 aspect, but with a vertical resolution as VGA. It also records at 60 frames / sec while other modes use 30 fps. Video is stored on flash memory, but the H30 has only 128 MB on board, of which only 96MB is usable, so SDHC Media is a necessity. In setting top quality Full HD, a 4 GB card is enough for about an hour of video.

The H30 is not really packed with camcorder. Discrete function buttons are few and far between. A control pre-registration can be found under the LCD, which also serves as a download button on the Web for a touch-YouTube video distribution. The Jog Dial on the rear also incorporates a trio of functions activated when you press on strategic points around its edge. Top left toggles the digital system of light, which illuminates the image artificially using post-processing rather than actual physical light. Top right toggles the data displayed on the screen, while pressing down the bottom removes the last clip or all clips from the recording medium selected.