Quick Review Camcorder : Canon Optura 60

The Optura 60 features a 1/3.4” CCD imager, large enough such that it should have performed better in low light. Sadly, this was not the case. Canons have traditionally not done well in low light testing, and the Optura 60 was no different. Low light performance is a vital and often overlooked feature, so be sure you know what kind of environments you expect to be shooting in for the life of your camcorder.

Bright light performance was much better. Colors were sharp, if not particularly vivid. The blues showed up a bit stronger than the rest, so your ocean shots and Smurf-hunting tapes are bound to come out looking good.

Handling on the Optura 60 is good. The body feels solid and manageable in your hand, and the zoom toggle, photo shutter, and record on / off buttons are all within easy reach. The zoom extends to 14x optical (280x) digital. We could only point out one problem with the design: the jog dial and menu button, used for almost all menu interface and manual control, is poorly placed towards the front of the body. Here, they are not only at the farthest possible point from your right hand, <I>and</I> blocked from sight by the LCD; the worst problem occurs when the LCD is tilted upwards - the panel completely blocks the buttons. The same problem occurs on the Optura 50. This virtually eliminates the possibility of on-the-fly manual control adjustments, so be warned.

Turning the mode dial to “AUTO” will hand over image controls to the camcorder. Automatic controls on the Optura 60 are decent, but nothing shocking. Expect significant lag times while the camcorder makes adjustments. When you’re ready to take things into your own hands, you’ll find the manual controls to be passable. Aperture and Shutter Priority modes allow you some degree of control, while compensating with automatic adjustments on all the other settings. You can also manually adjust focus and exposure, and a focus ring around the lens gives the camcorder a professional feel. Unfortunately, there is no full manual control.

Canon has done an excellent job of making their consumer cams, in all price ranges, easy to use. While there is no Easy mode, as with Sonys, a new user will only need a small adjustment time in order to learn the controls.

The Optura 60 takes still photos in three resolution sizes (max 1632 x 1224) and records them to an SD/MM card. The stills look very good, but only relative to other camcorders. Remember that a camcorder’s primary task is never taking still photos. You need a dedicated camera for that.

Connection to a TV, VCR, or computer won’t be a problem, with ports for S-Video, A/V / headphones, and DV. Analog input is available as well, so converting your old analog tapes to digital is a snap.

A microphone input and an accessory shoe give you the option of adding an external microphone and having a place to stick it. This is an especially important feature once you come to realize how bad built-in mics are on most camcorders.

The Optura 60 is a great performer that could use some boosting in manual control and automatic control. But the picture looks great in video and stills, among the best of the top 1 chip camcorders. We recommend this model.

Canon Optura 60 Compared to the...

Canon Optura 50 Rating:207.65	Panasonic PV-GS150 Rating:220.99	Panasonic PV-GS250 Rating:224.99	JVC DR-DF550 Rating:195.29	Sony DCR-PC55 Rating:148.00
Better	Better	Better	Better	Better
-Affordability	-Ports -Manual control -LCD -Video performance -Low light performance -Portability -Handling	-Still capability -Ports -Manual control -LCD -Video performance -Low light performance -Handling -Wide angle	-Automatic control -Wide angle -Zoom specs -Portability	-LCD -Automatic control -Wide angle -Webcam -Portability -Ease of use -Design
Equal	Equal	squal	Equal	Equal
-Imager specs -Video performance -Automatic control -Manual control -Still capability -Low light performance -Ease of use -Image Stabilizer -Audio -LCD -Still capability -Ports -Portability	-Accessory shoe -Still features -Audio -Widescreen	-Accessory Shoe -Audio -Widescreen -Flash	-Low light performance -Handling	-VCR Mode
Worse	Worse	Worse	Worse	Worse
-Optical zoom -Accessory shoe -Video light	-Ease of use -Automatic control  -Optical zoom specs -LCD -Handling	-Ease of use -Optical zoom specs -Automatic control -Video light -LCD -Portability	-Video performance -Ease of use -Manual control -Audio -Widescreen Mode	-Imager specs -Still capabilities -Optical zoom specs -Manual control -Navigation system -Video light -Ports -Video performance -Low light performance  -Viewfinder