Canon Elura 65 MiniDV Camcorder

Rating:
Summary: ptm
Review: I love everything about this camcorder except the motor noise on playback is high-pitched, very noticable, and unavoidable according to the Canon support rep. He told me I needed to go w/ an Optura 30, 40, 400 or 500 to avoid motor noise. Very sad to have to return this because everything else is great.

Rating:
Summary: Great camcorder!
Review: I really like this camcorder. It's small enough to fit in the palm of my hand or my wife's purse. In good lighting situations, the video quality is exceptional, even on a high definition screen. The sound quality is also quite good. I like the wind screen feature. The only drawback about this camcorder is the video quality in difficult lighting situations (e.g. low lighting, high contrast lighting). In low lighting, the video gets noisy. This camcorder is equipped with several low-light features that work just ok. An external light might be beneficial. In high contrast lighting, the shadows get too dark which causes much of the detail in shadows to be lost. I've seen several complaints about motor noise. You can hear the motor when you are using the camcorder, but I haven't noticed the noise on playback. If it is there, it is not obvious.

Rating:
Summary: Very nice camera
Review: I was a complete novice in this business (I still am to be honest). I wanted a good camera to keep video track of my fast-growing newborn son. I went after the user comments and reviews of people that knew better, on Amazon, epinions.com and every other place I could find. I quickly decided on a miniDV, and ruled out Sony - the good ones were expensive and I still needed to have some money to obtain baby formula! I settled on Canon Elura 60, but decided finally to go for the Elura 65 because of the true 16:9 widescreen recording feature. The Elura 70 appeared nice, but cost close to $100 extra and the difference between the 65 and 70 were mainly that of the wide telephoto lens and bigger battery included with the 70. The 70 also had 18x optical zoom, the 65 had 16x and the 60 14x. Other than these the cameras were basically the same. I was not sure I would need the telephoto lens, and I knew I would later get a couple of extra batteries anyway, so I stuck with the 65.

I have no regrets.

I had never owned a camcorder, but I have had no problems whatsoever with this one. It's light-weight, compact and very very easy to use. I've done some recordings while standing, and the images appeared remarkably steady, thanks to the image stabilising feature. The images are crisp and clear when played back on our widescreen tv, using either the S-cable or the included stereo video cable. I have not experienced any background noise or motor noise as noted in an earlier review.
My hands are small, and my husband's are big, but we are both comfortable with the Elura 65. It powers on quickly. The buttons are easy to reach - record/pause, switch on/off and even the menu buttons. I especially love to use the zoom during the priceless toothless grin or yawn moment, with the zoom button right at my index finger. The included SD memory card comes in useful for quick stills. The remote access and self-timer function allow me to include myself in the recordings as I'm on my own with my son most of the time. I'm still learning to use the special effects feature so can say little about that. The battery that comes with it seems adequate for now, although I usually use the included power adapter.

The cons I've seen:
1. Images are kind of dim when recorded in low light. I understand this is a problem with many cameras. I plan to obtain the video light. There's a handy hot-shoe feature on this camera for just such accessories.
2. The user manual comes in 3 languages in one volume, so it's kind of bulky. Can be annoying when I want to take the camera with me when I go out. Would be nice to go with the manual just in case some quick check is needed. It's not really an issue however as it's nothing to do with the cam itself.

Overall I would describe this as a very nice middle-range camera for under $500, with enough features to satisfy my needs and keep me from craning my neck with wistful looks at the next high-tech, top-of-the-range camera.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent camera, extremely satisfied...so far
Review: I've only used this camera for about an hour. This is what I have to say about it keeping in mind that I've only used it for that long. This camera is very small! It's not as small as the Sony DCR-HC20, but close enough. For big hands, like mine, the palm of your hand may hurt when you hold it for more than 2 minutes. It might be beneficial to glue some type of neoprene or faux fur on it to cushion your hand.

I like the placement of the Firewire port (it's in the front, right under the microphone). It's easy to open this port and plug in a cable. The S-Video port is right next to it. It doesn't get it the way. Right around the corner from these ports are the other ports: headphones, microphone input (huge plus for this camera, so many new ones are omitting this feature), AV output and AC input. These are also really accessible.

One of the tipping points about this camera that got me to purchase it was the top loading tape. Top loading tape allows you to switch tapes when it's on a tripod, where my camera will usually sit (because it functions as a webcam/videoblog maker for m). If you have bottom loading tape (like all Sony's under $1000), you CANNOT change tapes while it's on a tripod. You should use a tripod as much as possible because your video will be soo much more watchable and people will appreciate this as well. No one has steady hands!

Situations where this is really important:
-Your child's band concert that runs for more than 1 hour.
-Your child's sports game that runs for more than 1 hour.
-The school play or musical that runs for more than 1 hour.
-A battle of the bands that runs for more than 1 hour.
-Anything else that runs for more than 1 hour.

I'm having a hard time understanding why Sony doesn't make top loading tape camcorders under $1000. Canon's ZR series have bottom loading tapes, but the Elura line is very affordable.

For the amateur iMovie maker, try out the 16:9 widescreen feature. The Elura 65 utilizes the full width of it's image sensor (AKA CCD) to make widescreen video. You will need a software program that can understand widescreen. Right now, Final Cut Express and Pro can do this and the new version of iMovie (HD) shipping in iLife 05 can understand widescreen. Filming in widescreen can be fun for amateurs but can get serious for people using affordable cameras to make indie films. A lot of cameras (mainly the cheaper Sony's) say they have 16:9 widescreen, but it's faking it: they just chop off the top. The sides aren't extended. The Elura 65 makes the sides go wide whilst chopping off the top. This is "true" widescreen.

I'm giving this 5 stars in my preliminary review because there's really nothing yet about this camcorder that irritates me or I think should give it one or two less stars. I most likely won't write a bigger review after extended use of the camera. The camera has a nice lends, image sensor (Digic DV), and megapixel resolution. This amounts to a lot more effective pixels that are capturing your video than most video cameras.

Rating:
Summary: AVOID THE CANON ELURAS
Review: If you listen to the noise that the tape does, in your first day using your Canon Elura 65 camera you can predict that it is not a product made to last a lifetime. Canon Eluras are the most unreliable cameras in the market. This line of cameras have a structural design flaw. After approximately one year of use, your camera refuses to accept any tape, and the tape compartment does not close. This happens regardless of how often you use your camera or how gently you treat it. Canon refuses to acknowledge that their Elura line is flawed, but just do an online search of the reviews about the Eluras 40, 50, 60, 65 and 70. You will see that there is a bunch of people out there with the same problems. Some are even considering a collective lawsuit against Canon. I read the bad reviews and decided to spend $500 on a Canon. Lost my money and my camera (one week after the expiration of the warranty the camera broke). I took my chances. Will you take yours?


Rating:
Summary: great little camcorder!
Review: We purchased the Elura 65 for our new baby who is due in one month. This camera is small and sleek with a very nice look to it. We just received it a few days ago and have done several tests in different lighting. The quality is BEAUTIFUL outdoors and indoors with the lights on or with the natural sunlight coming in. However, the picture was very dark and grainy when we filmed at a wedding the other night. Keep in mind that the lighting in the place was very dim...there was little to no light. I've done a lot of research on Mini DV camcorders recently and I've yet to see one that takes good pictures in low light areas. I'm wondering if there is an external light that I can purchase for my new camera. This is not reason enough to return the camera, since the reviews on all the other brands and models state the same problem. I just think it's something that needs to be fine-tuned on ALL mini DV cameras in general.

The 16x optical zoom is fabulous on this camera and there is NO motor noise (or at least none that we can hear) as the Canon ZR models claim to have.

One drawback which MAY be a problem is that since this camera is so small (smaller in height than the Canon ZR models), it seems like it can be hard to hold steady...but I'm hoping that's where the image stabilization will come in.

Overall, it's a great little camera!

Rating:
Summary: Our first camcorder and it's perfect!
Review: When you buy a piece of electronic equipment that is fairly pricey, you don't want to go overboard, but you don't want the bottom of the barrel, either. This is a perfect camera because it's not too complicated, not too expensive, easy to figure out, and the picture is outstanding.

The only problem, and I won't delete a star for this, is that the battery capacity really stinks. You have to buy a new, larger one, if you are going to do continuous video for more than a half hour.