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| | Product Details | | Product Length: | 7.7 inches | | Product Width: | 5.5 inches | | Product Height: | 9.02 inches | | Product Weight: | 3.9 pounds | | Package Length: | 9.0 inches | | Package Width: | 7.0 inches | | Package Height: | 5.0 inches | | Package Weight: | 3.77 pounds | | Average Customer Rating: |  based on 6 reviews |
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| | Customer Reviews | Average Customer Review: ( 6 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
85 of 87 found the following review helpful:
Not bad given the other options Apr 11, 2005
By John Faughnan
"John G Faughnan"
I was looking for some very specific features when I bought this camera (I actually bought an Elura 90, used it for a week, and switched to the Optura 50 for the S-video I/O.) I'm a strictly family documentary person -- most of my videos are done at home in poor light and using the widest angle settings.
This was my list:
mac iMovie compatible
light sensitivity (good images in dim home lighting at night)
analog to digital conversion w/ S-video I/O
reliable, tough - ideally made in Japan
wide-angle for images taken from 4-12 feet
quiet motor
warranty & service (1 yr base, 2 yr when extended by my AMEX card)
price comparisons include travel charger & extended life battery
image quality
focus capability - ideally a manual focus ring
16/9 ratio playback ok
sensor: 2mpix, 1/3.6 ccd
external mike jack
top loading
Overall the Optura 50 meets most of the items quite well. I think the indoor image quality is pretty good; better than the Elura 90. Not as light sensitive as my old SONY Hi-8, but it's far smaller and lighter. This was my biggest concern, but I think the camera passes this one. The best results come with 3 CCD cameras with larger sensors -- typically costing $3,000 or so.
Canon includes a ridiculous, worthless, still image camera. Sigh. (I have two fine Canon still cameras.) What a waste. They do, however, also include an S-video for higher quality analog I/O (you have to buy your own S-video cable though!). The 2005 Eluras now lack this feature (arghh).
The Optura 50 doesn't have enough wide-angle range for my tastes (I still do 3/4 capture as my iMovie s/w expects that) but it does better than the Elura 90. It's probably as good as one will get nowadays.
Mac OS X compatibilty is excellent. The manual is sparse but adequate. Digital passthrough is tricky to figure out (read the manual carefully) but it works well.
The camera is indeed made in Japan and it feels reasonably robust -- as much as any competing device. The charger is compact, but I bought the reasonably priced very nice travel charger and an extended life battery.
19 of 20 found the following review helpful:
Great feature-set and performance for the price Mar 27, 2006
By Flashlight
The Optura 50 certainly isn't perfect and there are any number of higher-priced cameras which outperform it. However, the feature-set and performance for the price make the Optura 50 an excellent value.
The automatic white balance on the Optura 50 is more easily fooled in difficult lighting than rival cameras so you may frequently find yourself manually choosing a white balance setting. It's not a huge problem since the controls are easily accessed but it's something to be aware of. Low-light is not this camera's strong suit due to image noise.
A more serious issue is that a minority of units exhibit higher than normal tape transport noise. Several people including myself have had to exchange cameras that were much louder than they should have been. I haven't heard of anyone who got two bad cameras in a row though.
Strengths:
Optical Image Stabilization (unheard of at this price-point)
Easily accessed controls
True, high-resolution 16:9 widescreen mode
Microphone-in port with manual audio level control (unusual at this price-point)
Accessory shoe (cold)
Tilting, extendable viewfinder
Weaknesses:
Other cameras provide a better image in low light
Automatic white balance could be both more accurate and more consistent.
7 of 8 found the following review helpful:
 one nice family minidv camera Dec 07, 2006
By rob
i'm a mac user who wanted a family camera so i can input footage into the mac and edit the footage. after spending way too much time researching video cameras online and at brick & morter stores, i purchased the canon optura 50.
the optura 50 has firewire which is needed to have the footage transfered from the camera into a mac and have the mac edit software (imovie/final cut express/final cut pro) "see" the camera. this aspect has worked flawlessly.
the optura 50's specs are decent. it has the largest chip size of any 1-chip camera. now u can graduate to a 3-chip panasonic but this generation of panasonics does not come with firewire (see above).
the optura 50 also has knobs and buttons to access menu settings. i much prefer this to the sony's touchscreen menu system which maybe fine for setting up a camera but interferes with the camera when in operation.
the optura 50 also has jacks for an external mic and light. all camcorders at this level have so-so on-board mics so the ability to add an external mic is a cheap solution to an obvious problem. but not all camcorders have an external mic input.
the optura 50 produces quality video outside. its color rendition is excellent. indoors it pays to offer all 1 chip camcorders as much light as possible. when that is done, the canon optura 50 does as well as others in this price class. the kid's birthday parties have been fine, bringing the dog home was great, a surprise party for a friend all caught on tape.
for the price and the results i've gotten, i'd buy the optura 50 again. just one person's experience.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Canon Optura 50 camcorder Sep 23, 2007
By Truffaut451
"truffaut451"
This is an outstanding single chip camcorder. They don't make them like this anymore unless you are willing to spend upwards of $2,000. It has excellent automatic features but the value lies in the manual controls for shutter, aperture, standard/widescreen, white balance and audio. What makes this camera stand out from today's consumer camcorders are features like accessory shoe, mic input, headphone output and top loading. Great camera!
5 of 8 found the following review helpful:
Canon Optura 50 MiniDV is a Great Camcorder Feb 24, 2006
By Mark
"Mark"
We have been using the Canon Optura 50 miniDV camcorder for almost a month now and we are very pleased with its performance. The picture quality is very good, it is easy to operate, and the digital camera is easy to use with good quality pictures. I have not yet tried the software to burn DVD's, but if that works as well as the camera it should be a breeze. I highly recommend this camera to others.
See all 6 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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