Home > Consumer Reviews > Canon Optura 20 MiniDV Camcorder with 3.5-inch LCD and 16x Optical Zoom

A huge warning for anyone out there looking at this camera!! We dont use ours often and one day it started loading up and being stuck in its low light mode. this means any amount of light in the room causes it to wash out and record as blur. When I looked into this issue, it turned out that there were plenty of others out there that had the same problem with the Optura 20. It will cost you $150-300 to fix. its sad, becuse in so many other ways it was a great camcorder- but a flaw like this can ruin it all.

Avoid this product and perhaps all Canon Camcorders at any cost!
The IRIS is stuck in the low light setting like many others have posted.
Search CNET and other forums as well for many other reports of this problem.

Canon Customer Service has been very poor in responding to this
and say that this is an unknown problem! You will have to shell out
almost the cost of the camcorder to get this repaired or otherwise
live with a bad paper-weight.

Do not buy this camera!

I believe that this is a firmware problem of some sort, though I could be wrong. Whenever I am affected by this problem, I can no longer hit the Exposure button to adjust the exposure. My current work-around is to play a video (tape or card), and go back to the record mode. Very annoying, and it might not work later on.

I've experienced the same bad iris problem too after several years of normal functioning. Canon wanted me to send the camera in for repair--has anyone else actually had the problem fixed by Canon? If so how much did it cost and did it fix the problem? I'm wondering if I should get it repaired or just buy a new camera.

I bought mine used, and after a month or so it started developing the now seemingly notorious iris problem that makes the image look as if you're somewhere in the vicinity of the South Pole. The over-exposed image can only mean that the iris is stuck in a wide open position, as other reviewers have said. It happens about 25& of the time when I turn it on, and the only way to fix it is to take the battery out for a few minutes, then put it back in (what Canon refers to as "resetting the camera"). I suggest everyone else who doesn't feel like paying a ridiculous amount of money for repair to try the same approach.

Iris issue aside, this is a good camera for the price. Low light performance isn't great, but I do a lot of closeup work with a 75W key light, and the footage looks pretty nice (no noticeable grain).