It seems that in camcorder production land, some may have been listening to my occasional rants. As regular readers will know, I am continually harping on at vendors who penny pinch on accessories when the camera is first taken out of the box. The big favourite is an SD card not being supplied, followed by an HDMI cable (where applicable of course) and thirdly a full blown proper paper manual you can tuck into the camera bag and have with you at all times as a reference when you REALLY need it.

Well Toshiba has at least got it partly right with the new Camilio S30, a $299 “upright” camcorder sporting full hi-def, AND is supplied with an HDMI cable. Hurray! However, according to the Get Started manual (there is no paper “proper” manual, it’s on CD), the SD card is “optional” … not that there is any internal memory I can find. Up to 64GB cards can be accepted though, and gosh, you also get a mini baby tripod too.

Seriously Toshiba, surely a 4GB memory card costing these days around $7 retail is a far better idea than a baby tripod in the box? I cannot for the life of me understand why manufacturers of all types of cameras (and other gadgets for that matter) persist with this silliness.

Anyway, onto the camera itself. As mentioned it is of the one handed upright type with a swivel out LCD . Maximum resolution taken is 1920 * 1080 at 30 fps down to VGA at 64 *480. There are a few snazzy inbuilt features such as motion detection, slo-mo, time lapse, pre-record and motion stabilisation. Most functions are set via an on-screen touch menu.

Physical controls include a macro switch, mode button (video to still and vice versa), power on/off, record and pause. Zoom is controlled by a standard rocker switch and there an inbuilt LED light.

One trap for those that ignore reading any instructions is that out of the box, the Camilio S30 has a piece of protective film over the lens and if not removed, you get a very nice Vaseline Smear effect.  Another sticker reminds you to remove the battery terminal protector sticker and this covers another piece of film covering the 7.5cm LCD. In bright, direct 35 degree C sunshine, the screen can be adequately seen. Unlike many of the competitors.

The lens itself is an f-=5.7mm/F:2.5 with a 16X zoom. The Engine Room is an 8Mp CMOS.

Operation of the camera, for me anyway, is not that simple as a one handed operation. All the controls come to hand – or thumb at least – easy enough but the shape and thinness of the main body mean you cannot get a decent “feel” of stability so you tend to automatically grab the LCD with the left hand to stabilise it. Maybe with more practice it will be easier, and I do consider myself absolutely anal about holding a camera properly I admit.

Footage was very good quality and setting the S30 up to playback through my Sony Bravia 52” was a snap. The HDMI, TV and USB ports are under a flap on the rear. This flap is held in place by a piece of plastic wire type material and I am not sure how long that may last. The rest of the S30 feels nice and meaty however and there is provision for a wrist strap.

For $299, this is a good little unit. Most of the boxes are ticked, but I fear that at this level, the manufacturers are fighting a battle against the smartphone manufacturers. It’s a shame because a dedicated camera will outperform a phone any day – hi-def and lens quality will see to that – but sadly, the currency of decent video has been eroded (as well as stills) by this ease of accessibility.

Trust me, if you want to capture real moments and events, and not just your best mate throwing up or tripping over a gutter or something equally banal, but only have a small budget, the Camilio S30 will be right up your alley.

By David Hague

David is the owner and publisher of AusCam Online. He has a background in media dating back to 1979 when he first got involved with photojournalism in motorsport, and went from there into technology via a 5 year stint with Tandy Computers. Following that, he ran a software distribution company on the Gold Coast and was one of the first to recognise the potential of Microsoft Windows.

Moving back to WA, David wrote scripts for Computer Television for video training for the just released Windows and Office 95 among others, and was then lured to Sydney to create web sites for the newly commercial Internet in 1995, building hundreds of sites under contract to OzEmail including Coates Hire, Hertz Queensland, John Williamson, the NSW Board of Studies and many, many more.

He went back into full time journalism as the Managing Editor for Channel 7's 'Gadget Guy', Peter Blasina's publications VideoCamera and Pixelmag, before starting Australasian Camcorder magazine when these publications were shelved. He lives at Sydney's Avalon Beaches nearly on the ocean front with dog Budweiser and in his spare time is a nut for motor sport, road safety, fishing, science fiction - especially Dr Who - and technology.

David can be contacted via david@auscamonline.com