Good for Some, Bad for Others
Written: Sep 26 '02
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Pros: Size, Ergonomics, Ease of Use
Cons: Battery Life, Mic Picks up Noise, Low Light Conditions, 1/6"CCD
The Bottom Line: If most of your video is outdoors this camera is a good choice. But look at another camera for lower light situations.
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| breaux124's Full Review: Canon Elura 40MC Mini DV Camcorder |
I bought the Elura 40MC because of it's size and portablity. I wanted something small and easy to use. I considered a few other Palm Cams, but
in the end I chose the Canon.
Features
MiniDV with 1394 support (aka Firewire)
2" LCD screen
1/6" CCD
Zoom: 10x Optical / 200x Digital
Electrical Image Stabilization
2.4 Min. Lux in Night Mode
525 Lines of Resolution
SD Memory Card for Pictures and Motion JPEG
USB Connector
Size: 2 x 4 3/8 x 3 1/2in. (50x111x89 mm)
What I like
The 40MC fits nicely in your hand and is light enough that it's easy to carry around for an extended time. I can easily wrap my hand around it and the zoom is located in the proper spot. The zoom is nice and smooth, unlike the Sony's which are very fast and harder to control. With 10x optical and 200x digital the camera has a very large range. The digital zoom on this camera is actually quite good, it doesn't pixelate as bad as some other brands.
The miniDV tape is side loading, so if you ever use a tripod the camera doesn't have to be removed to switch tapes (most other palm cams, have bottom loading tapes).
Even though the LCD is only 2" it's still big enough to see everything. Originally I was worried about this, but once I turned the camera on I realized it wasn't a problem. Another nice feature is a color viewfinder, but I don't know many people who plan on using the viewfinder over the flip out LCD.
I haven't played around much with the stills, since I use my Nikon digital camera for that. But it's about the same you should expect from other Palm cams with Photo ability.
The 40MC has alot of useful manual features. It has settings for multiple lighting conditions (Auto, Sport, Sand & Snow, Spotlight, Low Light, and Night). It also has digital effect which you can add to the film (Fade, dissolve, etc) But I think most people would do these effects afterwards on their computer, so to me the digital effects are useless.
In proper lighting conditions such as outdoors, the 525 lines of resolution give the Video a great picture. It's MUCH better than my Hi8 cam that I have. The outdoor video I've taken looks amazing and the audio comes out in Stereo. The electrical image stabilization does a decent job of removing jitter. It's not as good as other cameras with optical image stabilization, but it's really close.
The transfer to TV, VCR, or PC was really easy. The 40MC comes with all necessary cables (S-Video, AV, USB, DC power) except the 1394 Firewire cable. But this wasn't much of a problem because most firewire cards come with the cable. Make sure it's a 6/4 pin cable, some cards come with 6/6 pin which will not work with the 40MC.
What I DON'T like
The Elura 40MC takes great video in proper light, such as outdoors or bright indoor light. But in lower light conditions it's noticably grainy or even barely visible in really low light. Even inside with "average" light from one or two lamps, you can notice the deterioration of the video. This is mostly because the 40MC uses a 1/6" CCD which is not as good as other palm cams which have 1/4" or larger CCDs. Even my Hi8 produced better looking video indoors.
The camera does have a manual setting for Low Light or Night mode, but the sutter speed is slowed so much that any motion in the video will produce trails and extremely grainy video. This poor quality in average/low light is a big disappointment.
Another problem is that the microphone picks up the hum of the video tape. This is very annoying in playback of the video. Also, since the mic is on top and not in the front, when the person holding the camera talks the sound is booming and very loud.
The last issue I have is battery life. With continual playback the supplied battery lasted about 30 minutes. Even though they state longer times on paper that's if you don't zoom or move around, because zoom and autofocus increase the drain on the battery. One thing to note, the supplied battery is only 570mah, but an additional battery I bought was 800mah. The additional battery has lasted much longer than the supplied battery, and the batteries are so small that its easy to carry another one in your pocket.
Overall
I plan on returning the Elura 40MC and getting a camera with better average/low light quality. Between the poor indoor video quality and the annoying hum the microphone picks up from the tape, this isn't the camera for me. If you plan on taking mostly outdoor video, and can deal with a slight audio hum this is a great, portable camera. But if you want something with better indoor quality and can deal with a slightly larger size spend a few dollars more and pick something else.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 690
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Epinions.com ID:
breaux124
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Location: PA
Reviews written: 13
Trusted by: 0 members
About Me:
Development Engineer
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