Canon hit the daily double with its new video cameras. The compact Canon Elura 50 and the traditionally styled Optura 20 are two solid, easy-to-use camcorders that deliver 1,024- by 768-dpi progressive still images and impressive AV quality.

The Elura 50 is Canon's upright palm-size wonder, so small that it can easily fit into most jacket pockets and purses. You hold it upright, using the 2-inch LCD or the fixed color eyepiece to frame your shot and accessing most controls with your thumb on the back panel.

Zoom controls are located toward the front and are easy to access, but be careful not to wrap your hands over the assist lamp used for low-light shooting. And don't release the zoom too quickly; we did, creating an audible click that we captured on tape. We also had a tendency to jerk the camera when pressing the photo button.

Shooting controls are similar to the Optura's, with both fully automatic and manual settings available, plus focus and exposure controls that are easily accessible on the camera body. The Elura uses the same light-assisted night mode, which works poorly if the video subject contains even minimal motion.

The camcorder is very sturdy and solid for its size, but what impresses us most is its video quality. Though built with the same size CCD as the Samsung units, the Elura outshone them both in video quality. Colors were accurate, with good facial tones and detail and artifact-free backgrounds. The Elura generated slightly more noise than the Optura, but it wasn't readily apparent during normal playback.

Low-light performance was very good, with accurate colors and minimal video noise. The only small-camera pothole the Elura couldn't avoid was audio, which was faint and a bit muffled. But Canon does sell an optional adapter bracket that can hold either a microphone or an external light.

There's even more to like with the Optura 20, including a 16X optical zoom and a manual focus ring on the lens. Nearly every other camera uses a digital switch on the camera body or LCD, which is totally unintuitive. Though the 3.5-inch LCD panel houses only 123,000 pixels, it's very clear, and most critical shooting controls are on the camera body, so you don't have to fumble through the menu when you should be concentrating on the action.

All the ports are conveniently located in one panel, close to the intelligent accessory shoe, which can house either a light or a directional microphone. Zoom controls, though a bit of a stretch for small hands, offer multiple speeds and are very easy to manipulate. Tripod users should note that the camera is bottom-loading. The Optura 20's construction is excellent, except for a cheesy LCD latch that can easily snag on a pocket or purse. Other negatives are the slight lag time for auto-focus and a low-light setting that blurs the slightest motion.

The Optura was a top performer on our tests, with very good color reproduction in the foreground and background and accurate, fine details. This level of quality was evident even on our motion video test, where details were exceptionally sharp and free of artifacts. Though audio exhibited a slight background whine, voices came through much more clearly than from the Elura. Our only complaint was a fine patina of visual noise over both studio trials, visible only when we zoomed to 2X.

The Optura proved very competent in low-light shooting, a frequent Achilles' heel in Canon's consumer line. Images were slightly noisy, but overall quality rated near the top. In direct sunlight, the Optura captured good colors and detail, with minimal artifacts, and it proved very competent with flesh and hair tones. For excellent features, accessories, and quality, this is the only camcorder we tested that could pull double duty in consumer and professional roles. Our Editors' Choice award goes straight to the Optura 20.