Winning Stuff Magazine’s (Feb 2011) ‘Pocket Camcorder’ test against 12 rivals, the Kodak PlayTouch is joining the award winning Kodak Playsport as the benchmark for video quality in Pocket Camcorder category.

Go ahead. Touch it.

You know you want to. Its unique touchscreen lets you glide through HD video like never before. That’s the beauty of the Kodak Playtouch Video Camera. It puts the high-end features you want right at your fingertips. With on-screen editing, you can easily keep the moments you want and trim the ones you don’t. And when you’re ready to turn today’s escapades into tomorrow’s buzz, getting them online is easier than ever. Just press the Share button and your videos are automatically ready for the Web. With the Kodak Playtouch Video Camera, the power to be seen is as simple as touching a screen.

The Kodak Playtouch is available in three different colors; Orange, Black and Chrome at Amazon.co.uk.

Choose the video quality that works for you:

1. Full 1080p HD at 30 fps- best for viewing on an HDTV in full HD
2. 720p HD at 60 fps-best for sports and action and great for super slow motion playback
3. 720p HD at 30 fps- best for viewing on a computer, and sharing on the web
4. WVGA (wide-VGA 848×480) at 30 fps-best for conserving space on memory card
5. Or, shoot 5 MP still pictures.

The Panasonic HDC-SD5 can capture big pictures in high definition, but it’s surprisingly small on the outside. According to Panasonic, it’s the smallest and lightest HD camcorder in the world. It can record footage at the full HD resolution of 1,920 X 1,080 pixels, but stores material in AVCHD format on SD card, rather than tape, thus reducing its size.

Price: £481.99
Where to buy: www.panasonic.co.uk

Toshiba’s new Camileo Pro HD can record footage at 720p resolution recorded in H.264 format. It comes with 128MB of memory as standard but is expandable up to 32GB via the SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) slot – enough for 16 hours of footage. You can play back your recordings on the 2.7in screen or watch them on a full-screen TV via the HDMI port.

Price: £150
Where to buy: www.toshiba.co.uk

If you’re in the market for a new camcorder and want to make sure your purchase is future-proof, then Toshiba’s new Gigashot A100F could be just the model for you. It can shoot in high-definition 1080i format, so you won’t end up watching scaled-up grainy footage on a 100in TV – likely to be the entry level size in 10 year’s time. Footage is stored on an internal hard disk, so you don’t need to mess around with tapes either. With 100GB of space to play with, there’s enough room for 12 hours of high-definition recording, or up to 23 hours in standard resolution. There’s a 3in screen on the side for reviewing your material or you can hook it up to a TV via the HDMI or component connections.

Price: £849
Where to buy: www.toshiba.co.uk