Toshiba crashes the party, inviting itself to the four other (Canon, JVC, Panasonic and Sony) HD hard drive camcorder manufacturers.  So can the Gigashot A100FE rival the current leaders on this market?

Handling

Toshiba’s Full HD camcorder has a rather similar design to Sony’s products (notably the SR7) with a quite imposing body (especially compared to camcorders with memory cards which are starting to invade store shelves).  Construction is serious and the Gigashot provides a proper grip. The hand fits nicely on the bulge on the side while the various controls are easily accessible.  The lateral panel opens offering a nice 3 inch LCD featuring a very fluid and fine quality display.  Viewing angles are large while colors are relatively accurate.  On the panel, we also find a joystick which gives access to the main parameters.  The zoom control is pleasant and enables minutely adjusting the speed of zooming in our out.  As for startup, like many of its rivals the Gigashot A100FE is relatively silent.  Otherwise, focusing is a bit capricious in maximum zoom.  The system is a bit hesitant and the image can be out of focus for a few seconds.  This is unfortunate because high definition isn’t too forgiving in this domain.

The Gigashot A100FE is clearly destined for beginners that do not want to become encumbered with the various controls.  There is no manual focusing ring, no hot shoe for adding accessories and even no viewfinder for sunny days.  On the other hand, they will surely appreciate the 10x zoom with the 35.9 mm wide angle, an added bonus.