Canon Elura 100 camcorder reviews?

[HarambeGuy]

It was camcorder of the year on camcorderinfo.com, but I've read complaints about performance in low light. It's always hard to know who'd doing the complaining (expert, amateur, pro) and what their expectations were going into it.

I'm looking for reviews from the Dis, not links to websites. Specifically, I'm looking to see what your experience has been with this camcorder indoors, as that is my only reservation on purchasing this model.

Does it do OK for birthday parties and family gatherings indoors? I don't want dim and/or grainy video for these kinds of events.

Thanks to any who can contribute

 

[KaitlinsMom]

I would LOVE to know the exact same thing! My DH got me a JVC MG37 (HD) camcorder for Christmas and we are going to return it - It's not very good in low light situations (could barely see my DD opening gifts on Christmas morning) - So that has put me off a little about getting another HD camcorder - But there is a Sony HD that is getting great reviews - As well as the Canon (miniDV) but as you, I am interested in what "everyday people" say about it -

 

[Master Mason]

I don't know yet, but based on the reviews I read, I purchased one for my brother for christmas. He just had his first child, and figured a camcorder would be a good present for him. Hoping it was the right choice.

 

[extreme8]

I bought the Elura last summer despite all of the "the sky is falling" warnings about low light issues.
I've done the high-end thing before but I just wanted a small, basic machine and this really fits the bill.
The anti-shake works incredibly well. I strapped this thing into my brothers racecar for some in-car shots. He told me that the car shakes so bad under acceration that he can't even use the mirrors because everything is a blur but the video is rock solid.
I'ts also really small. Much of the time I carry it in the pocket of my cargo shorts. Otherwise it's tucked into one of the lens compartments of my camera bag.

I haven't noticed any issues with the image quality in the conditions I've used it, but to be honest I'm not running around pushing it's limits just so I can gripe about how bad it looks. I guess I haven't viewed the video with a very critical eye.

Maybe I'll do just that tonight - I'll fire it up and see how low the light has to be before I'm not satisfied with the picture quality.

I'll let you know what I find.

 

[HarambeGuy]

Bump (a general bump, not to be confused with a nag for extreme8 )

 

[extreme8]

Sorry for the delay. My sister-in-law offered to take the kids overnight that night and, needless to say, our camcorder test took a backseat to my evening of freedom.
Today is my sons birthday - a pretty good excuse for low light testing if I ever heard one. Let's see what it does by candle light.

I won't forget ya!

 

[HarambeGuy]

Bump -

Does anyone own this camcorder? Bueller? Anyone?

 

[Delphis]

I have the Elura 100. I purchased it in late August 06 mainly for taking vids at Sea World and WDW for some friends over in the UK to share the clips via the internet.

I don't have family for gatherings nor children either, so not sure how much my input could help you. The Elura has 2 little bright LED lights on the front they can give off a blueish tint if you're close to the subject with no other light in the area. It also has a night mode which I haven't used on any rides yet but might expieriment with on some of the dark rides, but it makes the picture very grainy and when in night mode turns off the image stabilizer so I'm not holding my breath for great results with the night mode. I do have some videos shot on a couple of dark rides at MK, and also a couple of indoor shows at SW. Haunted Mansion shows it's low light weakness the most.

They're just basic home movie type video clips, nothing slick, polished, or even remotely wanna be pro here. LoL

I have my videos hosted in my Phanfare albums, (you can check the homepage address in my profile here for the link to my albums.) All of the widescreen videos that are in my albums were shot with the Elura 100.

The video footage and audio quality is generally better in the WMV format than Phanfare's Flash version, and the quality is even a little better than WMV on the original non compressed Mini DV tape/ raw AVI footage themselves.

Hope this helps you in your decision in some way. I'm very satisfied with my Elura 100. If you have any questions I'll try my best to answer them, just don't get too technical on me.

 

[HarambeGuy]

Thanks. Those look like good videos, considering the loss through conversion to the various formats.

I've always wanted to be around for a shuttle launch...may have to do that one of these days.

 

[drag n' fly]

We purchased this along with the Canon SD900 and we are happy with both so far.