Canon Announces Elura 50 with Few Upgrades Over Elura 40MCby News EditorPublished on Apr 15, 2003 12:00 AM |
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Canon USA today announced the vertical, matchbox style Elura 50 MiniDV camcorder for $899, replacing the Elura 40MC. The Elura 50 is similar to the Elura 40MC both in features and in body. The Elura 50 camcorder includes Canon's new ''DIGIC DV'' technology - designed for utilizing the CCD differently for video and still images. The announcement confirms a rumor which CamcorderInfo.com ran on Saturday, telling of an Elura 50 - and the feature set reported in that story is the same as was announced in the camcorder today.
The Elura 50 includes a 10x optical, 400x digital zoom. The CCD is 1/6 of an inch and includes 680K pixels. The Elura 50 includes a 2 in. LCD screen. Continuing the tradition of great manual control on even the least expensive Canon camcorders, the Elura 50 includes manual focus, exposure lock, white balance and shutter speed control. Sadly, canon has not included a focus ring on the Elura 50.
One of the few new features over the Elura 40MC that Canon has added to the Elura 50 is the new DIGIC DV Technology. The press release states ''Canon DIGIC DV technology is responsible for achieving optimum results in both video and digital photos. For this reason, DIGIC DV provides dual image signal processing capabilities, which can differentiate between the video and digital still formats.'' The technology utilizes two different color processing techniques for still images and for video. If the technology is effective, it will be a great innovation by Canon.
Both reviewers and users alike complain that camcorders produce terrible quality stills. The reason behind this is that the CCD in a camcorder is different than that of a digital camera. When you ask the CCD in a camcorder, which is designed to shoot digital video, to take stills - there are problems. The still quality is poor and doesn't compare to that of a dedicated digital still camera of the same resolution. We'll have to wait for a review unit but if this technology is successful, it will solve one of the major problems with digital still technology in camcorders.
Canon has also introduced 'VIC' with this camcorder. The company press release explains it by saying that ''Traditionally, multiple chips were needed to perform the camcorder's input and output functions. However VIC manages it all with one single chip.''
The Elura 50 camcorder can record digital stills to SD or MMC memory cards and includes an 8 MB SD card in the box. The camcorder uses progressive scan mode to take digital photos, which the company web site describes as ''A mechanical shutter used in combination with an interlace scan CCD produces still images with very little blurring.'' This feature is now standard on most camcorders which take digital stills. Some people might be confused because the camcorder does not include the 'MC' in it's name, which Canon has used in the past to differentiate between models which do and do not have a memory card slots. With the introduction of the Optura 10 (Specs, $373.15) and 20, which both have memory card slots, Canon dropped the MC addition to model names.
The camcorder can record both 1024 x 768 and 640 x 480 pixel resolution stills in standard, fine and super-fine quality modes to the SD card. The camcorder can also record Motion-JPEG movies for up to 10 seconds in length at 320 x 240 pixel resolution or 30 second length movies at 160 x 120 pixel resolution. The Elura 50 also includes Canon's 'Direct Print' feature, which allows users to print directly to a Canon printers which support the feature or to Canon's Card Photo Printer CP-10 dye-sublimation printer. The direct print feature connects the camcorder to the printer via the USB port and bypasses the need for a computer.
The Elura 50 has a Firewire in / out port. An RCA Composite in /out. A Lanc / Control-L port. The Elura 50 camcorder also has a hot shoe for attaching and powering microphones, lights and other accessories. The camcorder has an extendable color viewfinder and electronic image stabilization. The camcorder also can record in 16:9 mode.
For audio options the camcorder includes both a microphone in port for attaching external mics and a headphone out port for monitoring audio. The Elura 50 also includes an integrated speaker, as well as a microphone which is mounted on the top - not the best positioning but better than a front mounted microphone which would get in the way of your hand.
Another upgrade over the Elura 40MC is the inclusion of more software. Early this month, Canon announced an agreement with Pinnacle Systems to bundle Pinnacle Studio DV8 SE - a lower feature version of Studio 8 with all their consumer camcorders. Pinnacle Studio 8 is a consumer video editing application for the PC that is aimed at the home user. The camcorder software package also includes DV messenger - software which allows the user to use their Canon camcorder as a web cam with Microsoft XP. The software also allows users to share photos, chat, and even control the other persons camcorder - even if they are thousands of miles away.
The Elura 50 maintains the same form factor of the Elura 40MC, however it does not include the decorative green blue plastic siding. In the press release, Canon touts the key feature of the Elura 50 to be ''the Elura 50's ultra-compact design.'' It is slightly embarrassing that this is the feature which Canon is 'headlining' with on the camcorder, the reason being that it appears as though there are very few feature upgrades with the Elura 50 over the Elura 40MC.
In comparing the feature set, their are very few differences between the Elura 50 and the Elura 40MC. The Elura 50 adds both the DIGIC and the VIC technologies. The Elura 50 also takes away the color siding. The Elura 50 adds color night mode in addition to the standard night recording mode which the Elura 40 had. The Elura 50 is also 10 grams lighter. The Elura 40MC consumed 3.4 watts of power with out the viewfinder and 4.4 with. The Elura 50 consumes 4.4 watts, and 5.4 watts respectively. This means that unless Canon improved the batteries (although the camcorders use the same battery type) - the Elura 50 will get less time out of batteries than the Elura 40MC did.
Both camcorders have 10x optical zooms, 1/6 in. 680K CCDs, 2 in. LCD screens, the same Auto Exposure modes, the same special effects, practically the same body and the same manual features.
In August of 2002, Canon replaced the Optura 100MC with the Optura 200MC. With that camcorder, Canon only made the camcorder slightly smaller, included USB video streaming, and super night shot mode, and the ability to record MPEG video to the SD card. Canon actually decreased the physical size of the CCD - causing uproar. When the news came out, many people regarded it as a 'downgrade', strongly criticizing Canon. It seems that the 'update' of the Elura 50 replacing the Elura 40MC is similar. One user of CamcorderInfo.com was quoted as saying ''Yes it looks a little more slick, but so what. the bottom line here is getting your money's worth. The 100MC can practically do everything the 200MC can for a whole lot less.''
The Elura 50 MiniDV camcorder by Canon is expected to be available in May, for an MSRP of $899 - though the camcorder will probably sell for slightly lower. That's a $100 price drop from the original MSRP of the Elura 40MC, which was $999.