Quick Camcorder Reviews: Canon Elura 80

The Canon Elura 80 is the bottom of the line Elura, which is Canon’s mid-level series (between the ZRs and Opturas). As a rule, Eluras are easy to use and produce wholly decent video. If manual control and a bunch of features are important to you, check out the upgraded Elura 85 and Elura 90 first. All three feature identical imagers, so the basic video quality will not change.

 

When we tested the Elura 80 in a bright light environment, the results were generally favorable. The colors could have been stronger, but there was little in the way of noise (a term used to describe graininess in the image). Low light situations are inevitable, and often overlooked by new users. In lighting equivalent to a dimly-lit room, the Elura 80 retained a surprising amount of color, but the noise increased greatly. Again, an upgraded Elura won’t get you a better low light performance, so look elsewhere if this is important to you.

 

A switch on the right side will direct the Elura 80 into Easy mode, which frees the user to simply point, shoot, and zoom. Automatic controls on the Eluras are of middling quality. There is a good deal of lag time when the exposure tries to adjust, especially in indoor environments. Other automatic controls, like white balance, shutter speed, and focus, were better, powered by Canon’s own DIGIC DV processor. All of these features are also available for manual control, though you may find it a tedious process to adjust them. Activation of each control is reliant on buttons, either the Menu button on the left side or dedicated buttons (i.e. the Focus button) in the LCD cavity. The jog dial, located above the Menu button, is used to make adjustments within the selection. Typically, you’ll find yourself sliding an icon back and forth across a scale, at a loss as to what the scale is actually measuring. Numerical values for focus and brightness have been dropped. This may be acceptable for novice and weekend users, but manual control enthusiasts may search for a camcorder with a little more accuracy.

 

 

Handling on the Elura 80 (actually, all of this year’s Eluras as well as the Optura 50 and 60) is marred by poor placement of the jog dial, which lies at the front of the camcorder, on the far side of the LCD. The Eluras also have their menu buttons there, meaning that two of the most used buttons on the camcorder will be out of sight while you’re shooting with the LCD open. In theory, you can locate them by mere touch with your left hand, but count on this design flaw to add some frustration to your first few days with the Elura. Playback is simple, with dedicated buttons inside the LCD cavity. You’ll be able to output and input by DV, USB, and A/V / headphone ports. There is no audio input.

 

The Elura 80’s still features are sparse. An SD card slot allows for easy transfer of photos, but Canon does not include a card (add $50-100 into your total cost immediately). The stills are very good, however, so you’ll want to take advantage of this mode. 

 

An upgrade to the Elura 85 will buy you an auto focus assist lamp, Super Night Mode, a mic input, and an included wide angle converter, but the same 18x zoom. The Elura 90 has all this, plus a video lamp and a 20x zoom. All three have cold accessory shoes. Don’t expect to find amazing performance or precise manual control on any of these models. For more options, be sure to check out the Optura series.