Canon Optura 400 Camcorder Review

by Matt Culler
Published on Aug 4, 2004 12:00 PM



This year, the upper tier of Canon’s matchbook camcorders starts here, at the Optura 400 (Specs, $999). With an MSRP of US $999.99, and succeeded only by the Canon Optura 500 (Specs, $1199), the Optura 400 packs a 1/3.4 CCD with 1.23 effective megapixels for video and 2 MPs for stills into a small body, complete with a 10x optical zoom and 200x digital zoom. While these specifications are not new from last year’s Optura 300, this year’s models include more digital still options and offer improved handling.

Video Performance(6.5)
The Canon Optura 400 is armed, like its compadres the Optura 500 and last year’s Optura 300, with a sizable 1/3.4-inch CCD that packs 1.23 effective megapixels for video and 2 effective megapixels for digital stills. It ships with a 10x optical zoom and a 200x digital zoom. With lots of manual control and good button placement, the Optura 400 handles like a dream, and its automatic and manual controls work well in good to average light settings.

At 3000 lux and other bright light settings, the Optura 400 performed well. Its large CCD and effective pixel count afforded the camcorder good performance results, showing good representation of colors. The Optura 400 correctly captured many colors at 3000 lux that many camcorders would misrepresent. Colors are crisp and well defined within a balanced spectrum. The grayscale shows a balanced progression from bright white to pitch black, with no bleeding from other colors on the chart.

The only noticeable problem at 3000 lux is the amount of noise that the Optura 400 produced. It is unfortunate that a camcorder with such a large CCD and effective pixel count would turn up such a noisy image at such a bright light level. If one looks closely at the yellow tile, the high noise level can be discerned.

The Front (8.0)
The Canon Optura 400 is a matchbook style camcorder. Its predominately square shape yields a front side consisting of the lens, with a focal length of 4.7-47mm and a filter diameter of 30.5mm. Immediately to the right of the lens is the flash, which is long and narrow. Below the flash is the camcorder’s assist lamp, which lights up the surrounding area while in Night+ and Super Night Modes. On the Optura 500, this lamp also functions as a video lamp, which can be turned on at any time during recording. To the left of the assist lamp and below the lens are the remote sensor and the tally light, which flashes when recording. (It can be turned off.) Directly below the assist lamp is a port cover, revealing the Audio/Video composite input/output port that doubles as a headphone jack, the DC adapter port, and the USB port.

The Right Side (8.5)
The right side of the Canon Optura 400 houses the strap mechanism which conveniently offers a nice movable arm that rotates almost a full 180°, allowing for a decent handgrip for a matchbook camcorder. There is a panel towards the top of the right side that features the zoom toggle, photo button, and the switch for MiniDV tape and SD card recording.

Below the right side of the viewfinder, located in the upper left corner of the right side of the Optura 400, is a rubber port cover that conceals the MIC input jack. Below this is a button for manually adjusting the audio level. Pressing this button brings up a green bar for -40dB to 0dB. The Audio mode must be set to manual; when in automatic mode, this button switches the auto audio indicator on the display off and on. The Optura 500 features another button here: the light button, which switches on and off the video light at any point during recording. A ring light adapter that ships with the Optura 500 fits over the lens as well as the video light to prevent shadowing during close-ups; this is achieved by spreading the light into a reflector circle which surrounds the lens, looking really cool. Too bad the 400 doesn't have it. In this vicinity there is a switch for easy and manual. Behind the strap is the backup battery slot, covered by a rubber port cover, as well as the S-Video in/out port, also covered by a rubber port cover.

The Left Side (8.0)
The left side of the Canon Optura 500 is comprised of the LCD Screen, which sits on the top half of the left side. Below the LCD are the battery slot, a button panel for print sharing and Night Mode, and the FireWire port. Underneath the LCD is a cluster of buttons, featuring buttons for digital effects, VCR playback operations, card mix, slide show, flash, self-timer, and drive mode (burst photography and exposure bracketing modes). While the Optura 500 includes a button here which switches between still and MPEG4 movie playback modes, the Optura 400 plays both stills and MPEG4s back at the same setting, so there is no button. The SD card slot on both camcorders is located on the far right edge of the LCD screen bay.

The Back (8.0)
The back of the Canon Optura 400 contains the viewfinder, which is permanently angled about 30° towards the eye. It is immobile; the dioptric adjustment device is located on the viewfinder’s underside. Below the viewfinder is the Optura 400’s mode dial, within which is the record button. The mode dial includes options for camera, off, playback/VCR mode, and Network (computer connection). Immediately to the right of the mode dial is the wonderful jog dial found on so many Canon camcorders, offering smooth navigability though the menu screens. The menu button is located below the mode dial as well as the focus/datacode button (which shows the datacode during playback) and the exposure button.

The Top (7.5)
The top of the Canon Optura 400 merely contains the stereo microphone, which is placed on the top side of the viewfinder, angled slightly toward the viewer and unfortunately, close to the user’s nose for optimal nasal sound recording.

Picture & Manual Control
Automatic Control (7.0)
There are two modes of Automatic recording on the Optura 400. One is the camcorder’s easy mode; the other is the Automatic setting of the Program AE mode. Easy mode locks exposure, focus, white balance, windscreen, shutter speed, and microphone. While no digital effects, 16:9 mode, card mix, or microphone attenuator are available in this mode, the camcorder’s two options for digital zoom (40x and 200x) are still available.

Automatic adjustments to white balance are slow and subtle, producing a nice slow bleed into correct balance, and while automatic adjustments to focus are quick at 0x optical zoom, once the telephoto is engaged, automatic focus develops a significant lag between camcorder movement and adjustment. Automatic exposure works well with quick accurate adjustment.

All in all, the Canon Optura 400 offers good automatic control, as well as an easy usability for the point-and-shoot crowd. After all, matchbook camcorders, like the Canon Optura 400, are designed for convenience and handing over manual control options and all the tinkering that, say, an amateur filmmaker would be doing. This is not to say that the Optura 400 doesn’t offer plenty of options for manual adjustment (in fact, it does), but the camcorder is definitely geared towards the convenience market. I mean, it’s meant for one-hand use….

Overall Manual Control (6.5)
Manual control features on the Optura 400 are great for a matchbook-style camcorder. It offers all the great functions as last year’s Optura 300, including shutter speed, exposure, white balance, focus, and audio level. While shutter speed and white balance are buried in Canon’s menu system, the buttons for exposure, manual focus, and audio level are located on the back and right side of the Optura 400 for easy access.

Zoom (6.5)
The Optura 400 has an optical zoom of 10x and a digital zoom of up to 200x, with an option of 40x. While zoom toggles on matchbook camcorders aren’t exactly my bag — they seem misplaced, or maybe it’s just my fingers — the Optura 400’s toggle operates well, affording zooms at multiple speeds, although they take a little practice. Also, if you’d like to jump into an extremely fast zoom, you might experience a bit of lag time before the regular zoom increases its speed. The optical zoom is very quiet, which is nice considering Canon’s notorious noise.

Focus (7.5)
The manual focus button is located on the back of the Optura 400. The focus can be controlled by Canon’s glorious jog dial, as opposed to buttons under the LCD screen or something, which is great.

Exposure (Aperture) (5.0)
The manual exposure button is located directly under the focus button on the back of the Optura 400. When it is pressed, a meter and a numerical indicator show on the display. Exposure can be adjusted between a numerical window of 0 and -11 with an integral interval.

Shutter Speed (4.0)
Manual shutter speed control is available within the Optura 400’s menu system. Options of adjustment exist for 1/60, 1/100, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000, and 1/2000. It would be nice to have some really slow shutter speed options besides those available in night mode; however, that may be asking too much from this little guy. Also, preset shutter speed windows of performance are available by pressing the jog dial while outside of the menu system; they include Sports, Portrait, Spotlight, Sand & Snow, Low Light, and Auto. These presets set windows of performance for the camcorder’s shutter speed to best approximate optimal light settings for a specific situation.

White Balance (7.0)
Manual options for white balance are available on the Optura 400 in order to more accurately approximate the appropriate color temperatures of an image. Options for Auto, Indoor, Outdoor, and Set (manual) exist. Manually setting the white balance with the jog dial, an easy and seamless process, allows the user to store a “real” white value, or relative white value, and apply that temperature reading to other lighting situations. Indoor and Outdoor options give the camcorder a window of performance to work from by approximating appropriate light levels for indoor (low light) and outdoor (high light) settings.

Gain (0.0)
There are no manual gain controls on the Optura 400.

Still Performance (7.5)
With an impressive 2.0 megapixels effective for digital stills, the Optura 400 matches the Optura 300 in still performance capabilities. Unfortunately, the Optura 400 and 500 do not improve in the still photograph department compared to last year’s Optura 300. The Optura 400 and 500 both offer still resolution options of 1632 x 1224, 1280 x 960, and 640 x 480. Both camcorders capture to tape and to SD card, whose slot is located underneath the LCD bay. The Optura 400 ships with an 8MB SD card.

Still photo options in the menu system include most of those that the camcorder employs; however, some are stripped down, while others are added. Shutter speed settings for automatic adjustment, 1/60, 1/100, and 1/250 are available. Only 40x digital zoom is available. There is an auto focus assist light, which lights up before capture to help automatic focal adjustment.

The focus priority mode can be used when the object to be focused on isn’t at the center of the frame. Three different focal points are available on the Optura 400. While in focus priority mode, the display shows four framing brackets enclosing the focus point. If the user toggles either up or down on the jog dial while outside the menu system, he or she can select which focus point to use. If the jog dial is pressed outside of the menu system, preset shutter speed settings are available for Sports, Portrait, Spotlight, Sand & Snow, and Low Light. Again, these presets set windows of performance for the camera’s shutter speed that most appropriate for that environment.

A drive mode is also available for still capture. In this mode, the camcorder is capable of continuous capture of stills at normal and high speeds, as well as automatic exposure bracketing, which takes three pictures instead of one at different exposure levels, allowing the user to pick the best shot.

Also available is a Stitch Assist Mode, in which the user can take panoramic stills by capturing many stills to be merged later. The Card Mix function allows images to be combined and animated, with included novelty images.

While photos are available for review and playback in playback mode, up to ten seconds of review following recording are available in capture mode as well. The Optura 400’s built-in neutral density filter is also available in card mode, which can be either turned off or set to auto, in order to prevent negative bright-light effects.

Image qualities of normal, fine, and super fine are available for stills. These quality settings correspond with file sizes.

VCR Mode (7.0)
Playback of media from the card and the tape is available in playback mode. Also, recording to a VCR or a digital video (DV) device is available using a FireWire cable. The user can record from analog devices, such as VCRs, TVs, or analog camcorders, to digital devices using the FireWire. Recording from another digital device and converting from analog to digital are possible as well. In network mode, video and stills can be viewed and manipulated on a computer using the FireWire cable and the included software.

Low Light Performance (4.5)
It is old hat to say that Canon camcorders, which usually perform splendidly at 3000 lux, fall flat at low light levels. While it is at once cliché and apropos to say that low light performance is where camcorders show their “true colors,” Canons often get significantly panned in low light and while producing fantastic 3000 lux images.

That said, in the case of the Optura 400, an exception can be made. Under low light, the Optura 400 and 500 perform better than any other Canon I’ve seen. This is not to say that their big 1/3.4-inch imagers shouldn’t be expected to produce great low-light images; it is only to point out that, for once, Canon has produced some camcorders with decent low light results. It should be noted that Sonys with similar imagers, such as the DCR-HC85, do perform substantially better than the Optura 400; however, on Canon’s terms, this is a good effort. In the matchbook market, the Optura 400 does rise above Sony’s DCR-PC109, which, while not having a similar imager, is of a similar price.

So, without further introduction, the Optura 400’s performance at 60 lux is not bad. Yes, colors suffered a loss of some of the vibrancy attained at 3000 lux, and the unusual noise at 3000 lux was increased at 60 lux, as expected. I think this is the main drawback of the Optura 400 at 60 lux: the amount of noise could be enough for the user to disregard the fact that the colors are still pretty good, albeit significantly duller and not nearly as crisp.

At 15 lux, things change for the worse. This is the main area where the cheaper competition with smaller imagers and effective pixels, like the JVC GR-DX97 (Review, Specs, $799) and GR-DX77 (Review, Specs, $279.95), pulls ahead. At 15 lux, the Optura 400 produces not only more washed out, grayish colors, but above all an image shrouded in noise, which almost renders the other strengths of the Optura 400 at 15 lux unsubstantial. At 15 lux, the Optura 400 does produce pretty well defined colors, considering the lighting. Colors are easily distinguishable from each other on the spectrum; however, the amount of noise involved renders this distinction impotent if noticeable at all.

LCD/ Viewfinder (7.0)
The Optura 400 is equipped with a 2.5-inch LCD with 123K pixels. The Optura 500 upgrades this to 211K pixels, while last year’s Optura 300’s LCD contained 200K. Unfortunately, the LCD screen solarizes when viewed from an angle. If you’re interested in a better LCD, look into Sony camcorders.

Audio (6.0)
The Canon Optura 400 records in 12 bit and 16 bit audio. It includes a built-in microphone attenuator and a windscreen mode. The microphone level can be manually adjusted with a button located on the right side of the camcorder. The camcorder includes a headphone jack.

Handling (8.0)
With the Optura 400, Canon has improved the handling of their matchbox model camcorders. While none of the hardware features on the Optura 400 have been upgraded from last year’s Optura 300, altered button placement has certainly been an improvement. The typical Canon handles like a dream, with a beautiful jog dial and plenty of important buttons outside of the menu system or underneath the LCD, such as audio level, exposure, and focus. The immobile viewfinder could be a problem; however, the LCD will most likely be used with this camcorder.

Ports (7.5)
With the Optura 400, two USB modes of operation are available: standard and storage. With the storage function, the user doesn’t need to use the included software to access SD card content. Other ports include A/V input/output (Headphone), FireWire, and S-Video.

Other Features (7.5)
Card Mix
This allows the user to mix stills and video with pre-existing novelty graphics. These pre-existing graphics come on the included SD card. They can be erased to free up space.

Drive Mode
Used in when recording stills, this mode gives the user options for exposure bracketing and continuous still recording at high and normal speeds.

Night modes
The Optura 400’s night modes include Night mode, which slows the shutter speed automatically when the image is too dark, Night+ mode, which adds the video light to regular night mode, and Super Night+, which adds a more intense video light to Night+ mode.

Stitch Assist Mode
This allows the user to take multiple photographs to be combined into a panoramic shot.

Focus Priority Mode
In this mode, the user can choose among three focus points to use during still photo capture: one on the right, one on the left, or the default center.

Widescreen Mode
The Canon Optura 400 offers a 16:9 widescreen effect. In order to approximate a true 16:9 chip, the Optura 400 slices the top and bottom of the frame and expands the sides. This is to say that the full width of the chip is utilized, while the top and bottom are chopped, giving the desired ratio.

MPEG
The Optura 400 takes Motion JPEGs at 320 x 240 and 160 x 120. The Optura 500 takes MPEG4s at 352 x 288 and 176 x 144.

Analog to Digital Pass-Through
The Optura 400 supports analog to digital pass-through.

Comparisons
The Optura 400 ships with a 1/3.4 inch CCD with 1.23 megapixels effective for video and 2 megapixels effective for still capture. It affords a 10x optical zoom, with up to 200x digital zoom. The Optura 400’s max still resolution is 1632 x 1224. Its test results at 3000 lux show a decent image, and the low light performance is the best we’ve seen so far for a Canon. It lists at US $999.99.

Several camcorders fall into the Optura 400’s price or characteristic range. They include the Panasonic PV-GS200 (Review, Specs, Recent News, $1299), the Sony DCR-PC109, the JVC GR-DX97, the Canon Optura 500, and the Sony DCR-DVD201 (Review, Specs, $549).

Panasonic PV-GS200
For just under a grand, the Panasonic PV-GS200, a 3 CCD camcorder, is available; that means that instead of the 1/3.4-inch CCD included in the Optura 400, the PV-GS200 includes three 1/6-inch CCDs: one for red, one for green, and one for blue. In the camcorder world, this is usually a prescription for excellent imaging quality. It is indeed amazing for Panasonic to offer such an inexpensive 3 CCD camcorder. Come to think of it, they have one, the PV-GS120 (Review, Specs, $479), available for even less. While each CCD has only 440 effective video pixels and only 800K gross pixels, the PV-GS200 still produces fantastic images that especially surpass the Optura 400 in low light environments. While the PV-GS200’s still resolution is only 1760 x 1320, it does offer the manual control that the Optura 400 offers, with perhaps better handling; it includes a focus ring.

Sony DCR-PC109
If you are interested in a matchbook style camcorder like the Optura 400, maybe you’d like to consider Sony’s offering. For just under a grand, the DCR-PC109 ships with a 1/5-inch CCD with 690K effective video pixels and a megapixel for stills. While zooms are comparable between the Optura 400 and the DCR-PC109, the DCR-PC109 doesn’t offer some of the manual control that the Optura 400 does, such as truly manual shutter speed and audio adjustment. Also, still resolution is higher on the Optura 400, with the PC109 capturing at a max of 1152 x 864. The PC109 does include an intelligent accessory shoe. While both camcorders produce great images at 3000 lux, in the low light fight, the Optura 400 narrowly surpasses the DCR-PC109 in color information. Both images are excessively noisy.

JVC GR-DX97
This is the upset and seismic anomaly, the JVC GR-DX97. This camcorder is a matchbook as well. It ships with a 1/6-inch CCD with 680K effective for video. The kicker is that it lists for only $479.95. While the JVC GR-DX97 lacks much of the manual control and other features that the Optura 400 provides, it does produce surprisingly high quality video that surpasses the Optura 400’s results. So, if dropping a grand on a camcorder seems out of the question, what about less than half?

Canon Optura 500
For US $100 more, the Optura 500 includes many of the same features as the Optura 400. Its video and low light performances are almost identical, due to their shared imager. The Optura 500 does come with a video light function, allowing the user to turn the video light on at any time and spread its illumination out across a reflective circular device that fits around the lens for closeups with no shadows. It also records MPEG4s to the SD card rather than motion JPEGs, and at a slightly better resolution. It also uses 2.0 Hi-Speed USB as opposed to Full Speed, and includes a LCD screen with almost 100K more pixels.

Sony DCR-DVD201
If gimmicks are your business, the Sony DCR-DVD201 camcorder is the most expensive DVD camcorder on the market. It includes inferior video, less manual control, and does not have an SD card. However, it does record to DVD-R and DVD-RW, which can be finalized on the camcorder. If you do think you may want a DVD camcorder, however, consider looking into Hitachi DVD camcorders, which perform better light-wise and cost a chunk less.

Canon Optura 40--For the same chunk of change, the Optura 40 is available. It is a horizontal camcorder with the same imager as the Optura 400. The Optura 40 does offer a 14x optical zoom and 280x digital zoom. It features much of the manual control that the Optura 400 has, and adds a focus ring. It shoots stills at the same resolution as the Optura 400. Our tests show that the Optura 400 performs better in low light than the Optura 40, while both camcorders produce excellent video under bright light conditions.

Who It’s For
Point-and-Shooters (8.0)
All matchbook camcorders are designed for the point-and-shoot crowd, and the Optura 400 is a pretty good matchbook. Its low light beats some of the JVC’s celebrity series camcorders, particularly the GR-DX307 (Review, Specs, $449.95), and while Canon’s low light performance can’t really hold a candle to the JVC GR-DX77’s performance, the Optura 400 handles like a dream, and let's face it folks, this is the most important factor for the point-and-shoot crowd.

Budget Consumers (5.0)
At an MSRP of $999.99, the Optura 400 offers nearly everything that the Optura 300 offered, at a much lower price. While the Optura 400 is a relatively expensive camcorder, it could be a good deal for the money.

Still Photo / Video Camera Hybrid (7.0)
With stills taken to card and tape at a max resolution of 1632 x 1224 and many new still photo options, like burst and exposure bracketing, the Optura 400 is a good hybrid.

Gadget Freaks (5.0)
An average gadget freak machine, the Optura 400 is small and packed with all the extra options it could fit. While it offers nothing brand new gadget-wise, a lot of old hat gadgets have found a home here.

Manual Control Freaks (8.0)
Manual control freaks may have enough here to motive them to climb feebly up and out from their parents’ basements into the bright midday street and scream triumphantly to the heavens. The Optura 400 includes manual control of just about everything, including exposure, shutter speed, focus, audio level, white balance, and focal point. The only thing lacking is gain.

Pros/Serious Hobbyists (3.0)
The pro/serious hobbyist unfortunately doesn’t get much from matchbook camcorders. While the Optura 400 does have a tripod-mounting hole, it’s meant for handheld use: stalking celebrities, catching illicit skateboarding videos in prohibited city parks, even your child’s soccer game.

Conclusion
The Optura 400 is a nice little matchbook camcorder. It has lots of manual control to fiddle with, including a nice audio level adjuster, full manual shutter speed, manual exposure, white balance, and focus. Convenience is further boosted by button placement greatly improved from last year’s Optura 300. As far as video performance goes, the Optura 400 does well at 3000 lux and pretty good, for a Canon, in low light.

What sets the Optura 400 apart from the competition is the price. Panasonic offers a 3 CCD for the same price, which performs great (see comparisons). And if matchbook is your bag, JVC offers a surprisingly cheap and well-performing matchbook. However, if you are trying to decide between the Sony DCR-PC109 and the Optura 400, I would recommend the Optura 400. When up against the Optura 500, for a hundred more dollars, the Optura 400 does seem a bit better, although it doesn’t include the cool video light reflector that the Optura 500 does. Check eBay: they’ll probably have one of them for just ten bucks.