Canon launch Legria FS22, FS21, FS20 and FS200 camcorders

Scuppering the suckers who wait until CES actually starts to announce new products, Canon has just squeezed the new Legria FS-Series of camcorders out of its Japanese techno-uterus. The premature quadruplets comprise Legrias FS22, FS21, FS20 and Legria FS200.

Aside from internal flash memory, each camera features near-identical specifications, including a bunch of allegedly fun new features.

A new 'Video Snapshot' function captures "short movie clips" for convenient playback on the camera itself and a pre-record feature saves the three seconds of footage captured by the camera prior to the record button being pressed.

The flagship Legria FS22 features 32GB of internal flash memory, expandable to 48GB using 16GB SDHC cards, jointly offering around 30 hours of 16:9-format standard-definition video recording. It has a whopping 37x optical zoom (and a frankly ludicrous 2,000x digital), electronic image stabilisation, super-fast charging, a 69mm (2.7-inch) LCD display and a weight of around 230g.

Simply with 16GB of memory instead of 32GB, the FS21 mirrors all the above specifications of the FS22 -- and with 8GB instead of 32GB, so does the FS20.

Only the FS200 -- the entry-level shooter -- differs significantly, by using only SDHC cards for storage instead of internal memory. The FS22, FS21 and FS20 also offer an 'Advanced Zoom' or 45x, over the FS200's 41x.

All four models will be on sale in the UK from April, with prices to be confirmed. Check the gallery above for pictures of the whole new range and a game of spot the difference.