Reviews |
Quick Review Camcorders : Canon Elura 60
by Emily RaymondPublished on October 06, 2004
At last year’s Photo Marketing Association International Annual Convention in Las Vegas, Canon released the Canon Elura 60, an economical consumer camcorder that has a 1/4.5-inch CCD with 690K effective pixels. This camcorder has 1.33 megapixels for video and 1.23 megapixels for still pictures. The Elura 60 has a 14x optical zoom and 320x digital zoom, although the digital zoom is not accessible in night modes. There is also a 16:9 widescreen mode available.
The Canon Elura 60 represents colors fairly well in favorable lighting. Like many consumer camcorders, the Elura 60’s colors are a little dull in bright light (3,000 lux) — especially the violet end of the spectrum — and display some graininess. When shooting at 60 lux, the Canon Elura 60 performs similarly to other camcorders in its price range. The greens and reds become oversaturated and the yellows wash out into grays and creams. As expected, there is some grain. All of this worsens at 15 lux, where the grain has dramatically increased and the colors have become even more oversaturated. In this low light, colors bleed together to produce an indistinct and blurry image.
Canon camcorders are known for their easy handling and the Canon Elura 60 is no exception. The .33-inch TFT viewfinder, which has 113K pixels, can be extended about an inch and angled at about 45 degrees. The 2.5-inch 123K LCD monitor rotates 180 degrees, but solarizes when not directly perpendicular to the user’s line of vision. The camcorder body weighs just over a pound and fits comfortably in the user’s hand.
The Canon Elura 60 can shoot still images at 1280 x 960 or 640 x 480 resolution. There are three choices for image file size: Normal, Fine and Super Fine. With 24 exposure steps and a shutter speed range from 1/60 to 1/2000, users can manually control almost every aspect of the picture. For users who shy away from such control, there is the Easy mode, which automates everything from the shutter speed to the focus.
With four white balance modes, the Canon Elura 60 attempts to maintain accurate colors in every lighting situation, although it doesn’t work well in low light. The options are Indoor, Outdoor, Set (manual) and Automatic.
When still images are captured, there is a simulated shutter noise. This is acceptable, but the motor noise while shooting video is objectionable. Speaking of sound, there are two internal stereo microphones that record in 16- or 12-bit format. These are essential, considering that there isn’t an external microphone port on the Canon Elura 60. This is probably the only weakness in the Elura 60’s connectivity.
Canon equipped the Elura 60 with all kinds of other ports: A/V in/out, S-Video, FireWire, DC, USB and headphone. With these, analog-to-digital passthrough is available. There is also a cold shoe for a spotlight on top of the camcorder.
The Canon Elura 60 is a hundred bucks cheaper than its sister, the Elura 65, because it lacks the longer focal distance, larger zoom, and hot shoe of the 65. At a suggested retail of $699 and a street price of about $500, the Canon Elura 60 is a good deal for point-and-shoot consumers who aren’t looking for a fancy model and who won’t be shooting in the dark.
| Canon Elura 60 - THE BOTTOM LINE Rating: 95.80 |
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| Likes |
| - Analog to Digital Passthrough - 14x optical zoom - Selectable Focal Points |
| Dislikes |
| - No mic input |
Canon Elura 60 Compared to the...
| Canon Elura 65 Rating: 99.85 |
Canon Optura 40 Rating: 108.55 |
JVC GR-D93 Rating: 92.22 |
Panasonic PV-GS120 Rating: 108.35 |
Sony DCR-HC30 Rating: 94.70 |
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| Better | Better | Better | Better | Better |
| - 16x optical, 320x digital zoom - Hot accessory shoe - 16:9 mode is Wide - Mic input - Low light performance |
- CCD size (1/3.4") - Effective pixel count (1.23V, 2P) - Focal length (4.8-67.2mm) - Focus ring - Still photo resolution (1632x1224) - Mic input - Hot accessory shoe - Audio level control - Low light performance |
- 1/4 inch CCD (1.33MP) - 700x digital zoom - 44x playback zoom - Low light performance - Still resolution 1600 x 1200 |
- 3 CCD camcorder (1/6 inch, 460K pixels each) - 700x digital zoom - Manual Control - Low light performance - Mic input |
- Mic input |
| Equal | Equal | Equal | Equal | Equal |
| - CCD specs - Lens - Still media - Selectable focal points - Ports (minus mic) |
- Optical and digital zoom - SD card media - headphone jack - Ports (minus mic) |
- CCD pixel count - Ports - Still media - No mic input |
- Ports - Headphone jack - Still capability |
- Ports - Analog to Digital Passthrough |
| Worse | Worse | Worse | Worse | Worse |
| None | None | - 10x optical zoom - No headphone - Manual Control |
- 10x optical zoom | - 10x optical zoom, 120x digital zoom - Manual Control - Still to Memory Stick at only 640x480 - No headphone - 1/6 inch CCD |
| Area | Weight | Raw | Adj. | Poss. |
| Video Performance | 2.00 | 6.00 | 12.00 | 20.00 |
| Front | 0.20 | 8.00 | 1.60 | 2.00 |
| Right | 0.30 | 9.50 | 2.85 | 3.00 |
| Back | 0.25 | 8.00 | 2.00 | 2.50 |
| Left | 0.20 | 9.00 | 1.80 | 2.00 |
| Top | 0.15 | 9.50 | 1.43 | 1.50 |
| Automatic Control | 0.50 | 6.00 | 3.00 | 5.00 |
| Overall Manual Control | 0.60 | 6.00 | 3.60 | 6.00 |
| Zoom | 0.75 | 6.50 | 4.88 | 7.50 |
| Focus | 0.70 | 5.50 | 3.85 | 7.00 |
| Exposure | 0.65 | 4.50 | 2.92 | 6.50 |
| Shutter Speed | 0.60 | 3.00 | 1.80 | 6.00 |
| White Balance | 0.55 | 7.00 | 3.85 | 5.50 |
| Gain | 0.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 5.00 |
| Still Perfomance | 1.20 | 6.00 | 7.20 | 12.00 |
| VCR Mode | 0.30 | 6.00 | 1.80 | 3.00 |
| Low Light Performance | 2.00 | 3.00 | 6.00 | 20.00 |
| LCD / Viewfinder | 0.60 | 8.00 | 4.80 | 6.00 |
| Audio | 1.00 | 6.50 | 6.50 | 10.00 |
| Handling | 1.25 | 8.00 | 10.00 | 12.50 |
| Jacks / Ports / Plugs | 0.80 | 8.00 | 6.40 | 8.00 |
| Other Features | 0.70 | 4.50 | 3.15 | 7.00 |
| Value | 1.25 | 3.50 | 4.38 | 12.50 |
| Total (weighted) | 95.80 | 170.50 |