Home > Consumer Reviews > Canon Elura 40MC MiniDV Digital Camcorder w/ 2"LCD, MMC Card and Digital Still Mode

At first I was a bit disappointed with indoor (home) picture quality. However, I faced the know fact that all camcorders need ample light indoors. I bought a cheap Sima light attachment bracket and a Sunpak CZ-200 light. It improved the situation indoors. Pictures in malls and other commercial facilities are simply great! Works great outdoors- no matter what kind of weather you have. The still pictures are very poor though- will stick with the digital camera for this. Recommend this camcorder for people on the go...

This is the first dv camcorder I've bought. Its size appealed to me, and it seemed to get great reviews online. At first I liked it, only being a bit dissapointed in the grain you get in anything except for very bright outdoor scenes. A few months later I had to send it in for repair because it started recording a few pixels as constant red. This was very distracting and pretty much ruined any picture. I was told the repairs would take 2 weeks. They took a month and a week, but at least I got it back fixed. It worked fine for another year, when suddenly it became a very expencive doorstop. It started when I put in a tape and got a "Remove this Cassette" error. A few more tries left me with a camcorder that won't even close anymore. It just beeps and spits out any tape I put in it. I can't even close it without a tape in it. I searched for this online and found hundreds of people complaining about the same problem. It seems like this camera only has about a 1 year lifespan. Other canon cameras seem to suffer from the same problem. I'm really upset about having spent so much money on something that didn't last a reasonable amount of time. Do your research before you buy this.

I'm a little late in the game here -- after taping for about a year - going back and looking at the video now, I am crushed - missed my son's birth, baptism, husband's 40th birthday, and the list goes on and on. The tapes are all scrambled -- the camera store told me that the heads were dirty - NOT. I am continuously having this problem - missing event after event. I had to break out my old Sony Recorder (bought in 1986) to make sure I didn't missed Christmas morning with my children. I will NEVER by anything CANON again. They do not stand behind their product -- by the way -- this happened 1 month after the warranty expired!

For most consumer users, this will be a great choice. Definitely for the entry to mid level consumer, but a wonderful general purpose camcorder.

Pros:
- It provides much better than average video quality in high light situations.
- It provides the most common controls on the exterior of the camera, so you can control the camera without opening the LCD screen. This feature also means that you will not need to worry about batter power as much.
- Canon did a great job with the controls and menu interface.
- An extremely small camera, so it can go with you just about anywhere.
- Plenty of input/output jacks for audio and video.
- Great ergonomic design. It is very easy to control this camcorder with one hand.

Cons:
- Small LCD, but that couldn't change due to the size of the camcorder.
- No accessory shoe. However, most consumers will not use this feature anyway.

I looked at quite a few DV camcorders before I settled on the Canon Elura 40MC. You will not find a more compact camcorder with this many features in this price range. I especially like having the ability to convert my old analog videos to digital using the pass-through feature.

My only complaint is that it is easy to block the auto-focus sensors with your fingers as you hold the camera. I practiced holding the Elura so that I know the proper position of my fingers. Other than that, I haven't found anything else that I dislike.