Canon Elura 100 Camcorder Review

Picture & Manual Control
Automatic Control (6.0)
While the manual controls for the Canon Elura 100 are uncomplicated, the Canon Elura 100 is definitely a camcorder for the auto-mode enthusiast. And while shooting in regular or preset program mode is a non-terrifying endeavor, Canon has included an Easy mode option to allow greenhorn users a leg up. To engage in full automatic control, a switch on the back of the must be moved from Program to Easy mode.

Auto controls for the Canon Elura 100 performed quite well. The through-the-lens auto focus system responded quickly to shifts in focal depth, although slight breathing did occur when subjects weren’t positioned in the center of the frame. The auto focus definitely improved over the slow drifting AF of the Canon ZR700, which has an identical MSRP. When shooting in Easy mode, auto focus will be the only focal option available to the user. When shooting in AE and program modes, the user will have the option of selecting between AF and a manual focus feature.

White balance reacted in a similarly successful fashion as the auto focus and produced accurate image results, even when forced to contend with two mixing light sources such as an interior halogen lamp and exterior daylight. In addition to the auto and manual modes, the Canon Elura 100 comes with Daylight and Tungsten presets. Although the presets are limiting in both their functionality and success, the manual mode was simple to use and access, even for beginners unsure of manual control settings.

Moving between areas of extreme brightness or shadow did force the camcorder to struggle and caused a lag of three or four seconds. While this lag isn’t a large surprise considering the price and imager size, it would still be nice if the camcorder took a little less time to transition and settle on proper focal, white balance and exposure levels.

The Canon Elura 100 has a lengthy list of auto exposure presets, located within the Func. menu of the camcorder when not in Easy mode. The preset shooting modes for the 100 are Portrait, Sports, Night, Snow, Beach, Sunset, Spotlight and Fireworks. These modes are quickly accessible and have full text labels to describe each icon. Like all menu options on the Canon Elura 100, shooting preset options are displayed as a transparent overlay on a live view screen. While these might be a good idea when shooting hurriedly or when really unsure of manual controls, the results will inevitably be mixed, since the settings are general in their parameters. If possible, take the time and use manual controls, and with some time you’ll get video that will be far more accurate.

The Canon Elura 100 also comes with a number of digital effects for both faders and digital filters. The fader options for the Elura 100 include fade trigger, wipe, corner wipe, jump, flip, puzzle, zigzag, beam and tide. Digital filters for the camcorder come in settings of black and white, sepia, art, mosaic, ball, cube, wave, color mask and mirror. Users will likely recognize many, if not all, of these effects from those mid-eighties dance videos that teemed with super sweet transitions and effects.

Overall Manual Control (6.0)
Manual control options for the Canon Elura 100 are fairly comprehensive with options that allow manipulation of focus, exposure, shutter speed and white balance when shooting in program modes. And while there are certainly more options than Sony MiniDV camcorders, the Canon Elura 100 is still no match for Panasonic models at the same price that include options for both gain control and aperture with extensive ranges and setting options.

While it isn’t complicated to get to a single manual control alone, accessing more than one may necessitate the user entering three separate menu structures—though there are only four manual options. Focus and exposure control are accessed by pressing the joystick inwards, while the white balance control is found within the Function menu and the shutter speed is found within the administrative menu. Although actual menu structures, labels and displays are logical and easy-to-use, accessing these controls in different places isn’t an intuitive process.

One of the benefits of accessing manual controls via dedicated buttons outside the LCD cavity is that they can be engaged while using the viewfinder instead of the LCD. But the non-adjustable and undersized viewfinder is not comfortable to use, and makes this normally positive design feature a moot point.

When shooting with the Canon Elura 100’s manual controls, the user will have two white balance presets in addition to auto and manual control, a shutter speed range of 1/60th of a second to 1/2000th of a second, an exposure scale of +/-11 and a manual focus control.

The biggest problem with manual control is the joystick, perhaps the most detrimental aspect of the camcorder. While we fully support the idea of a joystick, and we love the Panasonic and Canon ZR joysticks, this particular design barely raises its head from the rest of the frame. There is nothing to grab onto. This is particularly problematic because pushing the button in is like hitting the "enter" button, and every movement - up, down, left, right - threatens to push the button in. In summary, this is a bad joystick.

Zoom (7.25)
Zoom is controlled via a zoom lever on the top of the camcorder. This lever moves across the surface of the camcorder from left to right and allows users to adjust the 20x optical zoom range with less control when compared to the toggle found with Sony consumer MiniDV camcorders in 2006. This lever is capable of variable rates of transition, but engaging variable speeds is convoluted and was best accomplished by placing the camcorder on a tripod and using both hands to make subtle adjustments. The positioning of this control is partially to blame since the index finger of the right hand overshoots the control considerably and made gripping the camcorder while activating this control nearly impossible.

Perhaps in order to overcome this setback, Canon has included in their 2006 models a zoom speed setting within the administrative menu. The zoom speed submenu allows the user to select between variable, speed 3, speed 2 and speed 1. While having three fixed zoom speeds can be helpful if shooting continual footage in only one zoom rate, this isn’t really something that many users will find consistently helpful.

Zoom Power/Ratio (20.0)
The Canon Elura 100 has an optical zoom level of 20x and a maximum digital zoom level of 800x. The digital zoom level can be turned on and a cap of either 80x or 800x engaged by entering the digital zoom submenu, located within the administrative menu. The problem with digital zoom is that the higher the zoom level, the higher the image degradation. This degradation becomes visually apparent even when shooting with extremely low levels of digital zoom, and if video quality is at all important to the user, the digital zoom feature will be ignored entirely. If higher zoom levels are needed, camcorders like the Panasonic PV-GS29 or PV-GS39 offer 30x optical zoom, while the Canon ZR700 comes with an optical zoom level of 25x.

Focus (5.5)
There is manual control over focus on the Canon Elura 100. Granted, it is digital and not controlled via an external ring or other device, but it is better than nothing. It’s accessed by pressing the joystick inwards, which displays a joystick diagram in the lower right corner of the LCD screen. The focus control is then entered by pressing down on the joystick, which will switch the diagram from the exposure to focus menu. Once entered into the focus diagram, the user can toggle the joystick left and right to adjust the camcorder to the appropriate focal depth. The left arrow is for subjects in close range while the right arrow allows focal lengths of greater distance. Adjusting the focus is always hard with small controllers; however, once engaged the focus range smoothly transitioned without problems. For focus to be accessed, the camcorder must be set to Program mode via the switch located in the corner, on the back face.

Exposure (Aperture) (4.75)
The Canon Elura 100 does allow manual control over exposure in program mode; users must press in the joystick. A diagram representing the joystick is then displayed in the lower right corner of the LCD. The exposure settings are accessed by pressing the joystick upwards to open a second diagram that has a + and – sign for the right and left controls, which scan a horizontal exposure scale displayed in the upper left corner of the LCD. The exposure scale has numerical values of +/-11 EV assigned to it and can be scanned, in its entirety, by pressing the control once and holding it down. To return to the main diagram, where manual focus can also be engaged, press the down arrow.

Shutter Speed (3.0)
The Canon Elura 100 allows control over shutter speed, although accessing and altering this parameter is more complicated compared to the accessibility of the manual focus and exposure settings. Shutter speed can be manually set by pressing the Func. button directly beneath the joystick. Once this menu is opened on the LCD, the user will be able to enter the Func. menu, where the final listing on the bottom of the screen is a secondary administrative menu. Once this menu option is selected, the Shutter Speed submenu can be entered, where the following settings are listed: auto, 1/60th, 1/100th, 1/250th, 1/500th, 1/1000th and 1/2000th of a second. While entering the shutter menu takes longer than the exposure or focus options, the inclusion of this feature certainly provides a compelling reason to consider this camcorder over Sony MiniDV consumer camcorders that are geared more heavily towards the point-and-shoot user.

White Balance (7.0)
White balance on the Canon Elura 100 is manually controllable, and users will find that this setting is also accessible when the camcorder is in program mode. When in program mode, the Func. button can be pressed to display the Func. menu on the LCD screen. This menu has a white balance submenu that allows the camcorder to be set to Auto, daylight, Tungsten and Manual. These settings appear in a transparent horizontal bar that runs along the bottom edge of the LCD as the submenu categories are scanned on the left side of the LCD screen. The menu structure for the Func. menu, like all the menu structures on the Elura 100, is navigated through the joystick control on the back of the camcorder.

Gain (0.0)
There is no manual control over gain on the Canon Elura 100. While manual gain control isn’t normally found on most camcorders within this price range, consumers will find that Panasonic does offer MiniDV format camcorders with manual gain.

Other Manual Control (0.0)
There are no other manual control options on the Canon Elura 100.