 |
| Date Reviewed: 08/19/2005 |
|
Strengths: Nice size and feel.
Controls easy to learn and access, except as noted as weakness.
True widescreen able.
Good stabilization.
Excellent color and picture quality.
Top load.
Color viewfinder.
Weaknesses: Has a nice feature in auto fade-in or fade-out, but when using viewfinder, which I usually do, you still have to open LCD screen to get to the button to arm it to fade out; this causes shaking.
Summary: 2005-09-19 12:12:41 Have used this camcorder many hours in Europe and for family pictures, and for the price am very happy with the experience.
Did my homework, which is what you are doing right now, and was not disappointed by opting for the Canon reputation; the results are very satisfactory.
This was my first DV camcorder and just wanted something smaller than the old analog Samsung, which had served me well.
This one was easy to learn and to use, starts up fairly quickly, and has not bad battery life, although you will need to keep a back-up charged and ready.
The sound reproduction I found to be very good, with little or no motor noise as some have reported.
The 1.33MP still camera took a lot of good shots in Europe when I needed it but was too busy to turn on the Fuji still cam and wait for it to be ready. The Elura was easy to switch back and forth from still to movie and was very convenient to have, although it was obviously not as good as a higher resolution dedicated still cam, which you would want to use for your potential "prize winners".
I really like the size, feel and overall quality , and would recommend it, but narrow your choices down to a few, then go to a store that sells many brands and pick them all up and see which one feels right in your hand.
 95% of People (36/38) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
 There are no comments for this review. Post a comment.
|
|
| Date Reviewed: 10/04/2005 |
|
Strengths: size, zoom, easy to use, stylus, nice video quality
Weaknesses: battery, low-light performance, jogstick control, no audio input, no light/flash
Summary: I bought this camcorder just a few days ago from Dell at a great price. This is my first camcorder. But I have checked through almost all features about it. So far so good.
Pro:
Nice video outcome in tape, and also good still image quality. That's most important!
Friendly interface and very easy to start up for a beginner.
Size and weight is good, but a little bit bulky.
Have 1394 interface, but need to find a cable.
18X optical zoom is excellent.
You can record video in the SD card till card full. about 30 min for 512M card. But the quality is limited to 320X280.
Con:
1.You definitely need to find a better backup battery for travel. It comes with NB2LH, recommend NB2L12/14.
2. Low-light performance is kind of unacceptable.
3. Jogstick control in the back of LCD is bad, and not smoothly at all.
4. No audio input, so you can't use external mic. you can find this from Elura 85.
Conclusion: A nice point and shoot camcorder for beginners.
I recommend it!
92% of People (12/13) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
There are no comments for this review. Post a comment.
|
|
| Date Reviewed: 04/19/2005 |
|
Strengths: Improved streamline design; Enhanced optical zoom(x18); Fast zoom action; High-resolution 16:9 mode; Briliant color
Weaknesses: No S-video terminal; No hot accessory shoe
Summary: A few days ago I submitted a review on Canon Elura 65 camcorder, and I said that maybe I would buy a newer model of the same line for my own use. Here it comes. I bought the Elura 80 from Dell last week with a 25% off coupon, with makes it even cheaper than the Elura 65 I bought for my cousin.
The camcorder is slightly smaller than last year's models. The body is dark grey and the lines are simplified, which makes it more compact. Canon removes the S-video and hot accessory shoe from this year's Elura camcorders, which is quite understandable. As far as I know, there are only a few people who connect their camcorders to the TV set with a S-video, and even fewer people would buy a $300 worth accessory for the hot accessory shoe on a $400 camcorder! But for those people who really enjoy these features, they have to stick to their old ones or wait for next years models.
There are also some small modifications on Elura 80, such as the new design of the power switch and hand strip, a different location of the DC input jack and so on.
The recording performance is similar to Elura 65, but I do notice that there are more noise in low light condition at the end of the optical zoom. I'm not sure whether this is caused by an enhanced zoom range(x18 vs x16 in Elura 65). But since I mostly use the camcorder in the daytime, I don't care it that much.
In a nutshell, the elura series are still good choices for family use and you won't regret your investment.
91% of People (20/22) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
There are no comments for this review. Post a comment.
|
|
| Date Reviewed: 01/06/2006 |
|
Strengths: Good video quality overall (resolution),good audio, good manual controls, has 16MB memory card
Weaknesses: ok low light performance, old fashioned controls, lens cap and flaky control area caps, not much user-friendly menu
Summary: It's an ok camcoder. Overall a good for novice end users. Can't complain for the price I got it. Video quality is good along with the audio quality. The performace in low light needs improvements. It's not that good.
80% of People (4/5) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
There are no comments for this review. Post a comment.
|
|
| Date Reviewed: 10/14/2005 |
|
Strengths: Very compact; decent color; excellent zoom range.
Weaknesses: Average in low light; very poor button layout; badly placed jog dial; no built-in light; backward, forward, and stop functions do not work promptly; blurred images with SD card mode shooting.
Summary: It is compact and full-featured and relatively inexpensive. It's good for home and vacation video shooting. But I had problems with the SD card shooting mode. And the funtion buttons are not that convenient when you hold the video and shoot. It's still an good choice if you don't shoot often in low-light situations.
80% of People (4/5) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
There are no comments for this review. Post a comment.
|
|
| Date Reviewed: 05/04/2005 |
|
Strengths: Compact, Good quality, Stylish
Weaknesses: Not yet
Summary: This is my second camcorder. It is quite compact and easy to carry around. The video quality is good. If you only need a camcorder to shoot home video, not professional movies, it may be the right one. This camcorder yields average quality under low light condition.
78% of People (7/9) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
There are no comments for this review. Post a comment.
|
|
| Date Reviewed: 04/27/2005 |
|
Strengths: -has an 18x optical zoom
-manual focus adjustment
-light and compact (around 1 pound)
-1.3 CCD
-component inputs
Weaknesses: -flimsy input covers
-battery is at base where your fingers are at the base (with no cover)
-so so low light
Summary: I was looking for a mid-range camcorder for everyday movies as well as something compact for vacations. This handled both very well. I've been testing different situations to really see what this camcorder is capable of. The only negative I've found so far is in low-light situations (which is common with these types of camcorders), but it wasn't anything ‘that’ terrible. I did not notice a motor buzz that many have commented on past versions of the Canon Elura line. All in all, it was a good purchase and if you were looking for a good everyday camera this would be it in the $400 range.
73% of People (8/11) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
There are no comments for this review. Post a comment.
|
|
| Date Reviewed: 07/29/2005 |
|
Strengths: Light, easy to use, fair battery life, good video quality
Weaknesses: Poor image quality of static image shooting. Video quality is not as good when light is low.
Summary: Overall it's an excellent digital camcorder for the price. It's very easy to use, the zooming is exetremely handy, and the video quality is quite good when light is plenty. However when light is weak the video is not as good, and the static image quality is barely acceptable as 1.3MP.
67% of People (2/3) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
There are no comments for this review. Post a comment.
|
|
| Date Reviewed: 01/22/2006 |
|
 Watch out for the 'remove cassette' problem Strengths: Nice resolution for stills. Best features for it's category. Price drop ($358 US at 2006-01-15). Good documentation. Meticulously wrapped components when new.
Weaknesses: Had the "remove cassette" problem on first try.
Summary: This can happen to you. I was not able to load a single cassette into my camescope after I bought it from a well known dealer on the internet! It was brand new when I received it, all pieces where neetly packaged.
I experienced first the still capabilities of the camcorder with the provided memory card (16 MB). But when time came to load my first miniDV cassette, I repeatedly received the "remove cassette" message and the miniDV was ejected. I first thought that it was the miniDV in fault (it was brand new) and bought a second brand to confirm my presumptions. Still the same message: the cassette was ejected.
Search on these word before buying: "remove cassette", canon. My model is an Elura 80. Seems that the situation is not only isolated to the Elura 50 model...
If you have any way to deal successfully with this problem, I would be happy to receive your recommandations.
60% of People (3/5) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
There are no comments for this review. Post a comment.
|
|
| Date Reviewed: 07/31/2005 |
|
Strengths: Good video quality,megapixel image sensor
Weaknesses: Relatively large
Summary: This is a very good MiniDV in terms of its 1.33 megapixel CCD with still image capability. Compared to Canon's ZR series, it provides higher resolution pictures and videos, whereas the price is pretty much in the same range (vs. ZR300). The camcorder itself might be a little large, though, hard to fit in the pocket.
60% of People (3/5) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
There are no comments for this review. Post a comment.
|
|
| Date Reviewed: 11/21/2005 |
|
Strengths: NA
Weaknesses: NA
Summary: This camcorder is excellent, I give this little camcorder 5 stars. It is small, light and easy to use. I fully understand how to use it with no hassle even though I am a technology idiot.
25% of People (1/4) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
There are no comments for this review. Post a comment.
|
|
| Date Reviewed: 11/04/2005 |
- rgpai
from NY
- Member Since:
Sep 2004
View Member's:
Reviews
|
Strengths: has good battery life
Weaknesses: none
Summary: This is my 2nd comcorder and this one was easy to learn and to use, starts up fairly quickly, and has not bad battery life.picture quality is good and user freindly..
The sound reproduction is very good, without any motor noise and hum.
0% of People (0/3) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
There are no comments for this review. Post a comment.
|
|
|
Report this as 
