Canon Elura 70 Mini DV Camcorder

Pros: Picture quality, sound quality, colours, ease-of-use, snapshot while filming, connectivity to PC, and price.
Cons: Low light filming, lack of built-in wide-angle view.

A few months ago I decided to retire my old trusty first generation DV Camcorder, the Canon Optura. I did some research and looked at Sony, Toshiba, Panasonic and Canon. I chose the Elura series and bought the 70 in the end. I am very happy with ...

Pros: Awesome color, reasonable price, lots of features
Cons: Could use a wider angle lens (internal), better battery life

Before I get into the main review let me briefly explain how and why I ended-up with these two video cameras. My wife and I decided that we wanted to move our existing family videos onto DVD. Since all of our old videos were on mini VHS format, I ...

Pros: Lightweight, Easy to Use, Great Quality, Inputs and Outputs, Conversion
Cons: Menu Button placement, some tasks more obscure

With our first child on the way, we wanted some way to remember her entire childhood. After a lot of searching (price, product, CCD size etc) I finally settled on the Canon Elura 70. There are many reasons why I bought this, firstly it was just in ...

Pros: After the thing stopped working, there are no more "pros."
Cons: The Piece of Junk doesn't work anymore. Yeah, believe it or not, that's a con!!!

Updated Dec. 27, 2005: On December 21, 2005 - my Elura 70 stopped accepting MiniDV tapes!!! It won't load them! And what makes this so bad is that I just sent it back to the Factory Repair Center for a similar problem (No local repair shops ...

Pros: Excellent daytime video quality and zoom, great stabilization, user friendly. Low light recording not bad.
Cons: Haven't really found one yet.

Over all an excellent camcorder in its price range. I did see a lot of comments complaining its low light performance, but I myself found it is actually pretty good. I went to Las Vegas just recently, and shoot quite some video at night, including the ...

Pros: Good low light, excels in normal light, fabulous options.
Cons: For this price, haven't found any!

I must say that I am very happy with my latest purchase. I have tirelessly researched camcorders in this price range ($400-$600) and feel I made a wise choice. I got a chance to try the JVC GRD72US. Although this camera had a great zoom, the indoor ...

Pros: Ideal for point-and-shooters, nice ergonomics, easy intuitive interface, very nice video quality.
Cons: Bad reputation for tape jams, horrendous customer support, glitches here and there, quirky zoom toggle.

This camcorder will be an excellent piece of equipment for the first few months. It is ideal for the point-and-shoot crowd who want a few manual adjustments for the fun of it. However, if you want it to work for more than several months, you might want ...

Pros: Great....when it works
Cons: Hardly ever works....

Purchased Elura 70 and after using a very few times, got message to "remove cassette". I had to send back to Canon repair center and pay $165.00 even though it was still under warranty. I had to repeat this 4 x over the next year, paying s&h and insurance at a cost to me of $16-20.00 each time for the same problem. I also had the zoom button and the still button fail me during this first year and need to be repaired which was another time sending the camcorder in to the repair center at a cost to me. In all total, canon repair center had the camcorder more than I did. After many complaints and threats to sue, Canon did send me a brand new Canon Elura 70 and wouldn't you know that I have had it for about 4 months and the zoom button and still picture button have stopped working and canon now has this NEW canon elura....What's up with this camcorder?

Pros: Great optical zoom. Nice image stabilization!
Cons: Motor/cassette failure after only 15 tapes. Not reliable.

This was a great camera, until it broke. I got the camera in December of 2004. I used it sparsely in the first six months. After recording less than 10 DV tapes, the camera started to reject tapes when inserted. I would insert a new cassette, push it down, the gears would spin up, then spin down, then the camera would eject the tape. The error message "Remove the Cassette" appeared on the screen. I tried many different brands of cassettes--new, old, JVC, Sony, Fujitsu, etc.-- but the camera would reject most of them. Sometimes the camera would accept the tape, and I would be able to shoot. After about the 15th tape the "Remove the Cassette" error would never go away and the camera became useless because I could neither record nor playback. The camera rejects all tapes. I tried a DV head cleaner, but no luck. I sent the camera to Canon for repair. They are working on it. Apparently this is a common failure with Canon cameras. Do yourself a favor... search the internet for "Canon Remove the Cassette problem" and you will see how common this is.

Pros: Can't say. It won't keep working long enough
Cons: Unreliable

I bought this camera 5 months ago because I have a wide screen HDTV and wanted wide screen videos. I can't really comment too much on the quality of the video because the camera keeps breaking. It broke the first time after the first tape. When I opened the camera to replace the tape gears fell out. Since it took a while to finish the first tape (about a month or so) the store would not replace the camera and neither would Canon. It was in the shop for 6 weeks. After getting it back it played the first tape fine once. I haven't needed it in a month or so and I pulled it out again the other day and now it doesn't work again. It displays alternating bars of picture and digital noise even when I play the tape that worked before. I have contacted Canon and the store where I bought it and am waiting to see what they are going to do about it. I can't afford another 6 weeks.

Pros: Outdoor video quality, optical zooming
Cons: Low light performance

I bought an Elura 70 a week ago. I like its overall performance at this price range, especially with a 18x optical zoom. But most of my shooting is under indoor environment, which Elura 70 definitely can't satisfy me.