Canon Optura 20 MiniDV Camcorder with 3.5-inch LCD and 16x Optical Zoom – Customer Reviews
2 years and bad iris
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Do NOT buy this camera.After two years you WILL have an issue where the iris will get stuck in an over-exposure.Many people have had this issue and there is no known fix from Canon - they charge $170 just to look at it, which is beyond the acceptable margin in my opinion.
Do yourself a favor and look at newsgroups to confirm this, don't just take my opinon...8/30/2006 12:00 AM | Rating:
So far--I love it!
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I just bought this camcorder and took it to an MLB game. It was
8/25/2004 12:00 AM | Rating:
Nothing to dislike
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I have owned this camcorder for six months now, and have found no fault with it.Before buying it, I was concerned about negative reviews regarding motor noise, low light, and body size.Fortunately, none of these has caused me a problem.The surroundings have to be completely silent to hear the motor; I have yet to have a problem with low light, and I like the feel of the body.I particularly like the ease with which I can take a still photo with only a minor interruption in video recording.I wanted the 16X zoom for sporting events, but I found it also useful at a recent graduation.While seated, I find I can hold the camcorder adequately still, even at 16X zoom, but a tripod is always useful.In the presence of a live orchestra, the audio quality is outstanding.
6/23/2004 12:00 AM | Rating:
oops, what is that noise???
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I had this camera for a week and had to return it to the store. I liked its look, controls, picture quality, colors, menu, battery life, accessory options. But when I played-back my tape on the TV, I was shocked with high-pitched metal noise. I first thought that it's the tape, so I tried another tape - same result.
When you remove tape from the camcorder - there is no noise, there is also no noise when you switch to VCR mode (not playing your recorded tape), but once tape is in and you are ready to shoot, listen: it hums and whistles, quite but steadily. And when you play it back noise becomes NOISE. I have read re-views on cnet.com, but I thought it just some minor motor noise you can here on almost every camcorder - not the case!! I had Sony-hi8 before and I know the difference. I think it has something to do either with flaws in videoheads or tape mechs, or with bad placement of the mic.
Of course I could buy an external mic, but do you want to carry it always with you - at home and on the trips?, and besides it makes the camcorder much bulkier.
(2 stars are for picture, but sound ruins the rest)4/5/2004 12:00 AM | Rating:
A decent buy
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I was a little uneasy about buying this camera because of some negative reviews (although overall, the reviews seem to be pretty positive).It's the best one I could find with respect to the raw specs and price, though, so I decided to give it a try anyway.
I have to say that the footage comes out just fine.I tried it at dusk outdoors, typical indoor lighting at night, and bright and early in the morning when the contrasts (sun and shadow) are at their sharpest.The color reproduction is okay.I love the LCD because of the size and clarity.Importing the footage into my iMac was a breeze (Apple yeah!), although the picture is a little darker compared to the LCD's.I do agree that the supernight light mode is bad, but is there really a camera that can take a great picture at near total darkness and doesn't cost a fortune?
As for the noise, there is a hum that is discernible when you turn the playback volume way up and the footage is of a fairly silent space.Just to see how prevalent this noise is, I tried a Canon MC ZR50 that I had lying around, and the Optura is as quiet as a mouse compared to that.I should experiment with a Sony when I get a chance just to see how that really stacks up.
I think that for the price, this is a pretty good buy.
3/13/2004 12:00 AM | Rating:
