Canon Updates Elura Camcorder Line

by Andrew Alexander
Published on Jan 5, 2005 8:15 AM



From the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Canon has announced the replacement models in their Elura camcorder line. Canon's new Elura 80, Elura 85, and Elura 90 will replace last year's Elura 60, Elura 65, and Elura 70, respectively. While Canon has not made many performance changes to the new camcorders, they have slightly shrunk them, increased their zooms, and are introducing them at a $50 - $100 lower price across the board than the camcorders were introduced at nearly a year ago.

While the new Eluras are approximately one tenth of an inch smaller on all sides than last year's models, Canon has not reduced their approximate weight. Each of the Eluras measures 5.2 in. long, 2.8 in. wide and 3.1 in. high. The main upgrades that mark the difference between this year and last is an increase in optical and digital zoom on all three of the new Elura camcorders. The Elura 80 includes an 18x optical zoom upgraded from the 14x optical zoom on the Elura 60 which is replaces. The Elura 85 also includes an 18x optical zoom upgraded from the 16x optical zoom on the Elura 65. The Elura 90 includes a 20x optical zoom upgraded from the 18x optical on the Elura 70 which it replaces. The upgrades in the Elura zooms go in tandem with similar upgrades in Canon's budget ZR line. The industry trend of late has been to push zooms past the 20x optical barrier, as it is a feature which markets well in the big box stores like Circuit City, Best Buy, Walmart, Sears and Target..

In an effort to reduce the size however, Canon has in some ways downgraded the Eluras. The S-Video ports available on last year's Eluras have been removed from this year's models. Also, the hot accessory shoes found on last year's Elura 65 and Elura 70 have been replaced by cold shoes on this year's models. In a ways, the alterations made to last year's Eluras are similar to those made on the ZR series this year. Canon has removed some features in the interest of making these new models not only more affordable but also slightly smaller.

The entry level Elura model this year is the Elura 80. The Elura 80 is being introduced at $549, $50 less than the Elura 60 which is replaces was introduced at in 2004. The next model up is the Elura 85, which is being introduced at $599, $100 less than the Elura 65 which it replaces was introduced at. The Elura 85 adds to the Elura 80 with a built-in flash and a microphone jack. The third Elura being introduced is the Elura 90, at $699, $100 less than the Elura 70 which it replaces. The Elura 90 couples a larger optical zoom at 20x with an included 0.7x Wide Angle attachment. Also, the Elura 90 also adds a built-in video light. Both the Elura 90 and the Elura 85 include Canon's Super Night Shot mode.

As with their new ZR models, Canon has kept the same imaging system on the new Eluras. This camcorders includes a 1/4.5 inch CCD imager with 1.33 Megapixels gross. Out of these pixels, the new Eluras utilize 690K for video capture and 1.23MP for still capture. This publication found that the same system in Canon's 2004 Elura did well in video light but poorly in low light. In an interview with CamcorderInfo.com, Mike Zorich, Director of Marketing, for Canon's Consumer Video Group explained why Canon kept the same CCDs in the ZRs and Eluras in an attempt to keep costs low to consumers and maintain profitability in the increasingly competitive consumer camcorder industry.

"If you change the technology every generation and every year, to any significant degree, your going to have to continue to recoup the R&D dollars that go into the development of that new technology, whether it's the change of a circuit board, or the change of a lens or the change of a CCD image sensor."

The new Eluras also feature the same DV Photo Plus still photo feature found on last year's models. This technology couples the camcorder's imaging hardware with Canon's DiGiC DV processor and Canon's print-and-share technology. The manual control options on the Elura 80, Elura 85, and Elura 90 have remained consistent with last year's provisions, offering a similar jog dial for accessing manual options as well as options themselves. Each of the camcorders can record 1.23 Megapixel stills at a resolution of 1,280 x 960 pixels. The camcorders each have an SD slot for saving digital stills, and each one includes an 16 MB SD card. The Elura 85 and Elura 90 include a built-in flash. All three Eluras are capable of recording MPEG video at 15ps to SD cards, with resolutions of 320 x 240 and 160 x 240.

While the new Eluras all feature Firewire, USB, and composite input/out ports, Canon removed the S-Video ports found on last years models. Also, the hot accessory shoes found on both the Elura 65 and Elura 70 have been replaced by cold shoes. Zorich explained that all these moves were done to make the camcorders more affordable.

While there are downgrades from last year's Eluras present on this year's models, there are some modest upgrades on the new camcorders. Not only have the optical zooms on all new Eluras been increased, but now all Eluras feature the High Definition Widescreen mode featured on last year's Optura 400 and Optura 500. This options utilizes the full width of CCD while cropping the top and bottom. As the camcorders' LCD screens are 4:3, the 16:9 image recorded to each camcorder's tape is letter boxed during on camcorder viewing.

The Elura 80, Elura 85, and Elura 90 will all be available in mid March. The Elura 80 will be introduced at $549, the Elura 85 at $599, and the Elura 90 at $699.

2005
2004

Elura 80
vs
Upgrades: One tenth of an in. smaller on each side, 18x vs. 14x optical zoom, high-definition widesreen mode
Downgrades: S-Video port removed

Elura 60

Elura 85
vs
Upgrades: One tenth of an in. smaller on each side, 18x vs. 16x optical zoom, high-definition widescreen mode
Downgrades: S-Video port removed, hot accessory shoe turned cold

Elura 65

Elura 90
vs
Upgrades: One tenth of an in. smaller on each side, 20x vs. 18x optical zoom, high-definition widescreen mode, inclusion of .7x wide angle adaptor
Downgrades: S-Video port removed, hot accessory shoe turned cold

Elura 70

Robin Liss contributed to this article.