Problems with the Elura 70 - updated from "I love my Canon Elura 70..."

Updated Dec. 27, 2005:


On December 21, 2005 - my Elura 70 stopped accepting MiniDV tapes!!!

It won't load them!

And what makes this so bad is that I just sent it back to the Factory Repair Center for a similar problem (No local repair shops will touch the camera. So, I had to ship it back to the factory wait for the estimate. Well, 3 weeks later, I get a call that the estimate is $165!!! That is a lt of money! But, I figure if it gets fixed, it will be worth it since a new digital camcorder is like $300 and I already have the optional flash/video light for this one....

Well, they "fixed it" (at least for 3 months...) and gave me no explanation of what they fixed for what was ever wrong with the camcorder!!! They just said that they charged me the "flat repair rate" of $165!!!

And now, It's done again. Finished. Dead. Just in time to miss my daughter 3rd Christmas.

And I don't want to fix it or buy another Canon camcorder.

I can't wait until the camcorder with the Hard Drives become affordable. Until the, I'm probably going to buy and use the JVC GRD244 from Wal-Mart for $198.99.

Sometimes, spending extra money on the "better" product does not work out. The only trick is to figure out when cheaper is better...







Here is my original review......

I've had my Canon Elura 70 for 5 months now, and I love it.

I purchased an Elura 60, but sent it back because I needed the Advanced Hot Shoe for Canon's Flash/Video Light (which works great, too.)

This camera takes nice stills (1.3 megapixels), but it also takes still photos (640x480) at the same time that it records video. To me, this was a huge selling point. Trust me, it will record video to the MiniDv tape & records still photos to the SD Card at the same time. Many salesman I spoke said this was impossible, but Canon has done it.

The photos are only 640x480 while capturing video, but they are still cool. And, while you view the video. you can not tell that you snap still photos at the same time. It is flawless. I love this feature because I can record video of my 16 month old daughter playing, and snap stills at the same time.

The 1.3 megapixel stills also look great. (You can't get this quality while recording video). The pics look amazing if you take the photos outdoors. If indoors, you need plenty of light. I highly recommend the VFL-1 video flash light. It works as a flash for stills, and as a video light for video. I noticed a huge improvement with my indoor stills.

I purchased my camera online from Willoughby's (http://www.willoughbys.com)- and got the best deal that I could find. I bought the flash from amazon.

While this camera comes with Pinnacle Studio 9, this is the SE version, meaning that half of the features are locked. The Canon salesman told me that this was the full version. Not so. Pinnacle wants you to spend like $60 to unlock the rest of the transitions & features, but over all - it's still good stuff. There's plenty of things to play with.

I know that I spoke primarily about the still photos feature, but I really like it. The video is also good. I use the manual exposure control often for indoor video footage. It's easy to use - and helps to give me a good control of the brightness.

Also - this is huge - the Battery is better with this camera! When I originally purchased the Elura 60, it came with the battery that only had a 1-hour life span. No good. The Elura 70 came with Canon's best - the 4-hour battery! Yes sir, that's good stuff. Especially when using the flash/video light. I have no problems with battery life at all.

I find the camera & the software easy to use. I highly recommend this camera, especially with the video/flash I spoke of. The camera has a ton of features that I don't know, and don't really care about, but they don't get in the way. It's a great camera. Thanks Canon!


Pros:
- Stills & video simultaneously.
- Advanced Hot Shoe.
- Good software.
- Great Battery.


Cons:
- Can't get the date to export from the MiniDV tape to the computer when I capture it to my pc (and I am pretty good at this stuff...)
- Not the full Pinnacle Studio 9 that I was expecting, but still good.