Toshiba expands Gigashot and Camileo camcorder ranges

Toshiba has given its relatively new foray into the camcorder market a big boost with the announcement of updates to both its Gigashot and Camileo ranges.

First up is the Camileo Pro HD, what Toshiba describes as a four-in-one device that weighs just 177g.

What the company means is that it's not just a camcorder capable of filming HD Ready footage. Oh no, it also doubles as a stills camera, trebles as a mass storage device, and quadruples as a voice recorder.

For those who want to use it primarily as a camcorder, you will be pleased to know that the cam comes equipped with a 3x optical zoom and five light balancing modes.

For the snappers out there, the device comes with an 8MP sensor, red eye reduction and manual exposure.

When it comes to being a mass storage device, however, the Camileo Pro HD falls short, offering just 128MB. Thankfully, you can record your annoyance of this paltry storage space to the cam's voice recording function.

Four new Gigashot camcorders

Toshiba has also bolstered its camcorder range, with four new Gigashot camcorders. All of the cams come with an impressive 10x optical zoom, with two of the new range equipped to shoot Full HD (1080p) footage.

The Full HD filmers are the Gigashot A40FE and the A100FE, and are now the flagship in the Gigashot range.

Both cams shoot footage to a hard disc drive, and are endowed with 40GB and 100GB storage space respectively.

The Gigashot K40HE and K80HE are HD Ready shooters that also record to HDD at 40GB and 80GB. All cameras are also blessed with an SD/SDHC card slot, so storage capacity can be increased.

All the camcorders mentioned will be available in Europe during the third quarter of this year. Pricing is yet to be announced.