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

Thanks for this site, I know realize my optura 20 is doing the same thing. It seems like it's stuck in low light mode. It goes into the is about 80% of the time when I power it on to the record mode. Sometimes I get lucky, but you can't shut it off, because if you do you may not be able to get it into the right mode again. You can't really use it because everything is slow and too white. I've had the camera for 3 years and it's been used very little. Not good build quality, now I can't wait to hear what the cost of repair will be. Is there enough people out there for a class action?

I should have known what to expect...this appears to be a fundamental design/component issue. When I first shopped around for this unit in Dec 2003, the display unit at the Best Buy had a washed out picture. Yet, I purchased based on reviews. I would give it 5 stars then. I experienced the "iris problem" with washed out picture in Jan 2005, just 1 month after warranty expiration. Sent unit to Canon, with a letter expressing my disappointment and disgust, since I had previously bought Canon SLRs and liked the quality. Surprise, they fixed it free of charge! However, have the same problem again. I guess I will have to pay this time. Next time, Sony. My Sony CCD101 Hi-8 purchased in 1991 gave almost 12 years of hassle free service.

Have done lots of shoots with a digital still camera, so ventured into the digicam world 3 weeks ago. Seems like Optura 20 has some potential, but the menus are cryptic and the manual is terrible- constantly refers to terms that aren't explained, diagrammed, or indexed. I know what I want to accomplish, but Canon routinely frustates my ability to do it. After 3 weeks, cannot view a still picture recorded onto the card, but not positive I've even taken one.

Microphone is sensitive to low noise (good thing), but on playback the sound is overpowered by motor noise unless you're recording a rock concert. Very distracting, so add $180 for their accessory mike.

Wide angle close-ups are amazingly detailed, but images quickly lose their fidelity as you shoot more distant objects (like a house from across the street). Wide angle is a very relative adjective here; it's still a narrow field of vision, and Canon's wide adaptor is only a .7x (for $160!). I bought a Sony .6x for $39 that did well, and a fisheye that took in about the same breadth as our field of view.

Button for shooting stills is directly under where your thumb fits, so my first attempts at video recorded only stills (I think... see above).

Jury's still out on a looong recess with Canon's Optura 20, just glad I didn't pay more than $719 for it.

I bought this camera in early 2004 and have had no problems that other users have experienced. Maybe I just got lucky. My main use for this camera was golf swing analysis. I looked for 3 main features: Manual shutter speed of at least 1/2000, manual focus, and a larger LCD screen, because at that time I didn't have a laptop and planned on doing analysis at the driving range through the screen.

The Optura fills all of those criteria perfectly. Since I bought this camera, I've also added a laptop to the mix and the firewire port works great.

One other interesting feature with this camera that I didn't know when I purchased it is the analog to digital converter. You can hook up analog A/V, change a setting in the menu, and the camera will convert it to digital and output the a/v through the firewire. So I can record TV shows (yes, golf swings.. such as the CBS SwingVision), in real time. Pretty cool.

The ONLY con I have experienced is that it's not a very good low light camera. I do have to crank the shutter down to about 1/250 when I'm inside in a dome. But outside during the day whether overcast or sunny it works great.

Oh, the Optura 20 -- I love what it does!! I'm very impressed with all of the features, when I can find my way thru the beforementioned confusing menus and incomplete manual. However, Canon provided me with a very negative experience that I mentally relive every time I pick up my camera to use it.

I bought this camcorder because I wanted to digitally edit on a computer... I have to say, it works fine on iMacs, which I have access to at work, but let's face it - iMovie isn't the be-all and end-all of editing programs, and I hate spending late nights alone at work just editing my stuff.

On my home PC... well, I've yet to get it to work thru the 1394 (firewire) card that DID work excellently with a grumpy JVC minidv cam. I plug it in, and it crashes my PC immediately.

I called Canon to ask for help with the firewire connection setup nd the person I spoke with gleefully walked me thru the USB setup, which I'd already done.

Then he became abusive and demeaning and said the problem is all my computer's fault, and that I should upgrade it to Windows XP because it's a miracle operating system. He treated me as if I'm an idiot who can't even run a PC, and not the decently-intelligent person who had a big part in personally BUILDING this PC. Oh, and he took issue with my calling it a firewire card because this is a PC and not an iMac. (Is that REALLY important to point out to me?)

Who knows if he was right or not? He didn't really listen to me, and seemed bent on putting me down over the phone, instead of trying to help me make it connect. I wound up reporting him to Canon when they emailed back days later asking how much I liked my call to technical support. I was honest - I'll probably never buy another Canon product because of their customer abuse - I mean support - staff. It doesn't really matter so much about the camcorder, because I remember how bad he made me feel every time I pick up my Optura 20.

I regret purchasing the camcorder, but only because of how Canon treated me when I needed assistance. The camera's good, and if you figure it out but never need help, you'll love it. Just pray you don't ever have a question that's not answered thru the manual. You won't get the answer.