Canon Elura 100 First Impressions Camcorder Review

by Nick Hyacinthe
Published on Jan 7, 2006 6:00 PM

Intro Performance
Format Tour
Auto / Manual Controls
 Still Features
Handling and Use Audio / Playback / Connectivity
Other Features Comparisons / Conclusion


Automatic Control
Canon has offered an Easy mode which allows the camcorder to make all control decisions over the quality of the image. This feature is ideal for beginners and point-and-shooters, who wish the cam to take over on exposure, shutter speed, white balance, and 9-Point AiAF Auto focus. The Easy mode is activated by a small switch beneath the joystick on the back of the camcorder. On the CES floor, the camcorder made adequate adjustments. The only noticeable issue with the Easy mode was its inability to swiftly adjust focus when the camcorder was near full zoom capacity. The Elura 100 lagged for several agonizing seconds, straining to achieve the correct focal adjustments.

Manual Control
All manual control adjustments are initiated through the menu and utilized with a small joystick protruding on the back of the camcorder. With the Elura 100, the user can manually control white balance, shutter speed, exposure and focus with greater ease than with previous models. In the past manual control options had to be made through external buttons. This year’s implementation of the joystick makes it easier achieve manual control adjustments. Unfortunately the elimination of these external buttons has created an extensive menu. Locating and utilizing the desired manual control is a very time consuming process.

The Elura 100 features two menus; the function menu and the general, administrative menu. The function menu is accessed by pressing the Function button underneath the joystick at the back of the camcorder. This menu will bring features such as White balance, Image Quality, Image effect. A general menu lies at the bottom of the function menu, which will bring up overall camera features. It will take some time before one can figure out the where, and the how of these menu options.

Zoom
The camcorder is equipped with a 20x optical zoom and 800x digital zoom. Its Sony competitors, the DCR-HC26 and HC36, share similar zoom specs. The Elura 100 has four options for controlling zoom speeds. Found in the menu, this allows you to select the speed and fix it, no matter how hard you push the zoom toggle. Speed 3 allows for fast zooms that can leap from one side of the room to the next in a single bound, while Speed 1 let you take nice slow zooms where the image leisurely crawls from point A to point B. Speed 2 is, as you might guess, is right in between. One can also disable this mode and choose the variable speed that lets you have complete autonomy on zoom.

Focus
Like all manual control functions, manual focus adjustments are made with the joystick: however the means of accessing this feature is different. Instead of going through the menu system by pressing the function key and scrolling to that menu, the user just presses down on the joystick. Adjustments are made by angling the joystick towards the portrait or landscape icon for the desired modification. This will cause some unwanted movement of the camcorder during these adjustments. The Elura 100 does not offer any true numerical value which prevents the user from making precise modifications. The user has eyeball whether the focal changes are accurate. This is a problem that plagues most entry to mid-level camcorders.

Exposure
Similar to focus, manual exposure is initiated by pressing down on the joystick. Exposure adjustments are made in EV stops, but no numerical system is provided. Adjusting the aperture in F-stops is not available. One must simply toggle between Exp+ and Exp– icons superimposed at the bottom left corner of the screen.

Shutter Speed
The Elura 100 offers these manual shutter speeds: 1/60, 1/100, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000, and 1/2000. To access the shutter speeds, one must press the small function button, scroll down the function menu into the general menu, choose camera setup, choose Shutter Speed, and finally scroll down to the desired shutter speed. The adjustments will surely take up some time. By the time you’ve made the adjustment, your subject may have long since left the frame.

A Slow Shutter Speed feature is also available. This function will set a slow shutter speed that will allow more time for light to pass through the aperture, therefore making a brighter image. No numerical value is offered for the Slow Shutter feature. Last year’s Elura 80 had its Slow Shutter Speed was fixed at 1/30. Canon was unable to confirm if this year’s model had a fixed or variable shutter speed in this mode.

White Balance
In the function menu of the Elura 100, users can set the white balance to Daylight, Tungsten, and Evaluative (manual). Once you toggle to the desired setting, press down on the joystick to initiate the adjustments.

Gain
One cannot adjust manual gain with the Elura 100, as is the case with most entry level camcorders. The Panasonic PV-GS59, the top Panasonic cam in their 2006 MiniDV series, offers manual gain ranging from 0dB to 18dB.







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