pros:
- ultra compact design (2.0 x 4.6 x 4.0 inches), very light weight at 15.9 oz.
- 10x optical zoom.
- very good video performance when you have enough light.
- analog-to-digital conversion.
- 2MP stills.
- ability to capture MPEG4 movies directly into SD card.
- allows a good deal of manual control.
- supports add-on lenses and lots of optional accessories.
- miniDV media is widely supported.
- great connectivity options: firewire, USB, S-video, headphone, mic input, etc.
- very silent motor operation - you can't hear anything even in a quiet environment.
- built-in pop-up flash and AF assist lamp for taking stills.
- continuous shooting mode at 30 VGA images at 3 fps.
- bright LCD.
- as with most canon products, the printed manual is very good.

cons:
- high price, especially compared to sony's pc-105 and panasonic's gs-70.
- below average low light performance.
- no accessory shoe (it's really puzzling to me why canon didn't incorporate a hot shoe).
- lots of controls in the rear part of the camcorder - this will take getting used to.
- image stabilization could be better.
- below average battery life with included battery.
- video is pretty useless (very choppy) with low light modes, even with built-in LED lamp.
- this camcorder loads from the rear; depending on your tripod, you may or may not be able to replace your tape while mounted on a tripod.
- viewfinder does not extend.
- as with the Elura 50, mic placement is on top of camcorder (most vertical camcorders do) which means it picks up the videographer's voice more readily.
- higher capacity batteries are bigger than what was supplied (BP-407) and WILL protrude sideways from this camcorder's body, making holding this unit a bit awkward.
- even with 2MP stills on this camcorder, you can still do better with a stand-alone digital camera.
- it would have been nice to get a bigger 3.5" LCD.
- 8MB SD card provided is inadequate so add $$ to your budget to buy more memory.
- you'll definitely want to buy a spare battery so add a few more $$ to your budget.

the optura 300 is a solid camcorder when you have sufficient lighting with the hook of 2MP stills. but i believe that you can do better. if you want a matchbox style ultra-compact camcorder, you would be better off with sony's pc-105. or, you can get panasonic's gs-70 and move up to 3CCD video performance. either way, you'll end up with a camcorder with similar features as the optura 300 (except for the 2MP still capability) and have a couple of hundred bucks left over for more electronic toys!

i hope this helps you with your buying decision. peace

17 of 18 found the following review helpful:


Good DV Camera, but MPEG digital below par  Mar 19, 2004 By regil
MiniDV
Okay, if you want a compact (hand-size) DV camera with excellent video, this is a great product for you.
The DV recording has many advanced options you can access by changing the configuration through menus. The default configuration is great for automatic recording without having to know what to configure and how to set up. Easy to use in auto mode.
The MiniDV tape loads to the back, but it will not fall out unless you try to make it fall out.
The resolution/picture is very sharp, and you get the necessary accessories to view video on the TV in high quality: Audio/Video and SVideo cables.

MPEG4 - really ASF (Microsoft Advanced Streaming Format)
So I was disapointed with this.
Perhaps the video cannot be written to the card fast enough to allow for higher resolution, so the resolution is half the size of what is recorded on MiniDV. AND when you play it back on the TV, it is only displayed in half size (half size view area than normal TV (and MiniDV Tape) viewing). However, this was not the biggest disapointment, as it was documented to be half the resolution in the manual you can download from http://www.canondv.com .
The biggest disapointment was the digital movie format the video is saved in. When the product specifications said MPEG4, I was expecting standard MPEG4 -- no, not the case! Instead of strict standard MPEG4, you get the Microsoft proprietary ASF format! Great if all you want to do is play back the clip in Windows Media Player. If you want to edit, you will need to get software. I use Apple iMovie, and that does not recognize ASF movie files. Apple iMovie supports MPEG4 though.
Best yet, if the file format were AVI or standard MPEG4 I would actually be able to use the movie clip in Linux - which was my original hope.
Look on the internet for Freeware file convertors and other movie tools, and you will see a lot for AVI and MPEG4, but not ASF (This is available in Shareware apps - but you must buy to get higher quality conversion beyond MPEG1).

I have the canon Powershot S200 which records video in AVI. I can import it into iMovie or Windows Movie Maker, and even save it on CD-R and play it back on my Philips DVD 724 DVD player (downfall is that canon powershot s200 records ony 4 seconds in 640x480, 2MP (They had a bad idea that all movie clips should fit on a floppy disk! - argh!)). Why did Canon not keep using AVI, or basic MPEG4? Storage is not an issue since these days you can purchase 1GB SD Cards - and they will be getting cheaper and bigger in the next year. (of course xD-picture cards would have been nice instead of SD cards)

Concerning the digital video, however, you can record a lot of that ASF formatted movie video on Memory Cards (200MB for 60 minutes of video). You'll need to pay $100 for Pinacle Studio or some other software if you want to actually do something with the footage you took.

Additional Advice:
You will want extra batteries. Look at Lenmar (www.lenmar.com) Batteries, to get equal quality and guaranteed compatibility for less than half the cost. (also look here for battery chargers)
You do not need the higher speed Ultra SD cards (higher speed) to record the highest resolution ASF video - so better to stick with less expensive regular speed (non-Ultra) SD Cards (unless you want Ultra just to transfer faster to Win/Mac/Linux).

14 of 15 found the following review helpful:


It Plain Does The Job !  Dec 17, 2003
Having read other reviews (one, here). I am compelled to write in praise of this little gem. I spent hours doing a spreadsheet analysis of the 5 or 6 contenders, using; size (in my hand), portability, video quality, ease of use (I am not a pro), and various tech numbers. Compared the Sony (PC 105, 330,) JVC and Panasonic to other Canon models. Well,..for MY use, this beauty does the Job. Hey, I throw it in my barn jacket and it's there (Very Important, why have one if you can't use it). I have 2 extra batteries (they are tiny) and a 256K SD card. What else? It takes great home movies, the stills (set to highest everything) are great "snapshots" I print out dozens(4X6) on a Canon i960 (dedicated just to pics). It works and it's a good deal (less than $900 delivered). So,.. it's not an XL-1, but heck, I wouldn't want lug that big thing around.

11 of 12 found the following review helpful:


Great Camera if you have a reeeal steady hand.  Apr 26, 2004 By Robert S. Wright
I bought this camera as a supplement to by TRV80 to use on hiking trips in the southwest when space and weight are a factor. I love the picture quality and the 2 megapixel shots are definitely better than sony's although not quite as good as a dedicated digicam at the same resolution. As for why I chose this unit over the Sony's 330, it was largely due to price. I could buy two of these cameras for the cost of the sony and since I do not need the hotshue or the minor increase in still resolution, I felt the Canon was more cost effective. I should point out that the rest of this review will focus on problems I had with the unit. I can't be sure if these negatives are common with vertical compacts like this or if the issues are Canons alone so I will let you be the judge. Also, if you are planning to use a tripod or have a way to brace this camera while shooting, most of what I am about to say will be irrelevant. However, if you are using it on the go and will be taking action shots or using it at maximum telephoto range, you may be disappointed.

Location of Microphone - It is located on the top of the viewfinder (by the way, the viewfinder is fixed and cannot be adjusted). Up until now, I did not notice that I breathe heavily as it never factored into my other videos. This unit had me holding my breath while I shot so I did not ruin the scene.

Location of Zoom - This problem will vary with the size of someone's hands but I found it to be difficult to operate and hold the camera steady unless I used my pinky to control the zoom. My hands are small and I needed the top three fingers to steady the camera while I moved it. This problem is further exacerbated by tendancy of the zoom too move to quickly if not properly controlled.

Photo/Tape switch - A seperate switch is used to move between the SD card and the Tape. Sony integrates this function on the start-up dial switch which makes it easier to remember to turn to the desired setting when turning the camera on. As it was, if I had last used the photo setting and turned the camera off and then wanted to shoot video, I almost always screwed-up and started recording in MPEG format on the SD. Not a terrible problem but it wastes time and may cause you to miss quick moving wildlife scenes.

In fairness to the mechanical functioning of this unit, it probalby deserves four stars and not three. However, if you do not need the still camera feature, there are better cameras out there for your money and I just can't excuse the location of the microphone.

6 of 6 found the following review helpful:


Great camera with certain limitations  Jun 02, 2004
I bought this camera just a day before my trip to Alaska and it worked out great. Since there was not much time to read the thick manual, the controls were intuitive enough to operate. The video quality was great.
Pros:
- Great size. Very compact
- Great video quality with 2 Mega Pixals
- Easy to operate.

Cons:
- Still pictures come better in light. Not good if the light is less
- Red eye reduction does not seem to work well for still pictures
- In the video, the sound recording seem to pick up wind and other noises more than you actually hear.
- Some times still pictures are not in focus.

See all 9 customer reviews on Amazon.com