Canon Optura 30 MiniDV Camcorder w/12x Optical Zoom
By: Canon Average Rating: 3.5 Total Reviews: 7
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 On: 2007-11-24
Does what you ask reasonably well.
I got this product because it met four requirements. Uses same battery as two of my still cameras. Has genuine optical stabilization (I need this for technical reasons), has a reasonably long zoom range with decent optics, and its digital.
Not many complaints yet. Like most of the new gadgets, it takes a while to learn to use all the features. Build quality is good.
Main complaint is that the batterlife is kinda short with the batteries that I swap out from my still cameras.
The night function is not so thrilling. If you want excellent low light capabilities, look elsewhere.
 On: 2006-09-28
We have owned this camera for over a year and our feelings are mixed:
For outdoor filming, this camera is outstanding. The color and picture quality are top notch.
Unfortunately, indoor filming is very poor (even during the daytime with all of our windows open and lights on). We bought the camera to film our young children and find ourselves not turning the camera on as much as we should because there is not enough light (and we have a very bright house).
The manual settings on the camera are nice (one of the primary reasons we chose the optura30), but the menu is not very intuitive and the manual is not very helpful.
Field of view is also quite small - recommend using a wide angle lense. We also recommend trying out any camera in person in an average lighted room, not an overlighted show room.
On: 2005-08-26
I shot over twenty hours of footage on this camera with brilliant results. The 2.2 megapixel ccd makes for outstanding video quality outdoors. Because my video is shot in widescreen, my friends often tell me my home movies look like independent feature films. When there is enough lighting, you will be impressed with this camera.
Unfortunately, when the lighting goes down, this camera has pretty poor results. For instance, you will often see ghosting of video because the automatic shutter kicks in to open the aperature more. Dont bother with the night mode because it has a terrible strobe like effect making video look completely unacceptable.
On: 2005-03-22
First, about the camera. Ive only had the Optura for about two weeks. Ive only used it indoors and the quality is acceptable under moderate indoor lighting. Is it great? No, but its also not a pro camera. The quality seems to be a little better than the Sony it replaced, as far as I can tell. Thats about all I can say at this point. I did notice the battery going down pretty quickly, but at this point for my family, a battery that needs to be charged often isnt a big deal. If and when it is, I suppose we will purchase another battery. Considering we paid $425 including s/h and after the rebate (from MPSuperstore) I cant complain too much.
Normally I wouldnt post a review without using the camera more, but I just have to respond to the guy who posted about his ZR10. First, buddy, if you arent reviewing the Optura 30, why are you here? Second, after my experience with a Sony MiniDV -- with less than 10 hours of record time Ive got a malfunction that could cost more to fix than to replace it -- I could say the same thing about Sony. Yeah, Im pissed as hell. And I surely wont be buying another Sony camcorder. But Im not about to make a blanket statement that all Sony camcorders suck b/c Im not exactly qualified to say that. And to say that all Sony products stink just b/c my $500 camcorder prematurely kicked the bucket, well, thats just foolery.
 On: 2005-01-25
The Pros
1. I dont see what all the fuss is about with the low light? From what I was reading I think Canon made some changes around July of 2004 to improve this feature. I was worried about this so I did a test in the basement with minimal lighting. The result was a little bit grainy but if I you are shooting video footage in the dark what do you expect? Compared to my other JVC it was 3 times better in the low light performance.
2. The next best thing is the WIDE ANGLE!!!! My JVC stretches and distorts the image like most other camcorders but the Canon was AWESOME!!!! Turn off the image stabilizer and you get an even wider angle. I have a big screen HDTV and this feature is a must for Widescreen HDTV owners. Truly one of the best features.
3. Color and Resolution - Near perfect. I do a lot of landscape and outdoor shooting so I was going to go with the Panasonic 3 CCD for the color rendition. To my surprise the resolution and color clarity on this camcorder was damn near perfect. The Blues were great, greens good, reds a tad off, yellows a tad off but overall the 1.3 MP sensor and color filter do a superb job, I could not ask for more from a non 3 CCD camera.
4. The next best thing I loved about this camera was the stabilization. I often shoot while driving and with my JVC sometimes I would get car sick just watching some of the footage I took! I zoomed in 12X and purposefully shook the camera, then I turned off the stabilization and did the same thing. The results 10 times better with the stabilization. It also did not chop the frames like some other camcorders do.
5. The Miscellaneous Features, I like the feel of this camera, small compact and light. I liked the Output and input jacks. Firewire, USB, S-Video, etc etc this baby has it all.
6. Last but not least the price. $450 after [...]!!! Im a penny pincher and this camera more than met my expectations
7. Comes with Pinnacle Studio 9 SE, great software for the average video editor.
The Cons
1.The battery has a short life. Take a hint go to E-bay buy a cheap knock off or 2, I got 2 NB-2LH batteries for $25!!
2. As with all digital stills from a camcorder. If you havent read any other reviews yet they all say the same thing and it is true with all camcorders, The CCD is meant for live moving pictures, not stills, They are OK but cannot compete with my 3 MP Kodak
 On: 2004-06-16
2 1/2 stars.. Good feel and Features saves it from a 2 star rating. With minimal low light performance, this camera would have been 5 stars.I tried both this camera and the Elura 65/70 side by side. While I prefered the feel and overall features of the Optura, the low light is so bad on the Optura, that I ended up selecting the Elura 70. Overall, the Elura has better video performance for less money. And isnt video performance the top reason to buy a camcorder? Low light is relative.. Im talking regular indoor lighting, not near dark stuff. I tested it with 300 watts of artificial light ins a 25x15 room and the colors were dull/drab and noticably darker and less colorful than the elura. Whats worse, as you lower the light, movement/pans of the camera leave echos of objects! Below 60 lux, the camera is pretty much useless without an accesory light. I find this unacceptable in a $899 camera. I will say that nantural sunlight does wonders for performance, but this only helps when filming near windows or in a sunroom and does nothing at night. Dont even consider the night modes, they slow down the frame rate and look worse anything you would film in standard mode. And to those that may ask, yes, auto slow shutter is off(which i recommend for any Canon camcorder). I think the cultrip is the RGB filter... which produces more accurate colors but decreases luminance levels. This is why single CCD cameras genreally use Complementary filters... and why if you want RGB, yuo should get a 3 CCD Camera. I suppose that Canon thought that the 2mp CCD would make up for this weakness. It doesnt. I would have loved this camera with a Complentary filter. Ill sacrifice a negligable amount of color accuracy in bright light for tolerable indoor performance anything. The truth its hard to tell the difference in the colors, but its easy to tell the difference indoors.. and indoors, its brightness and Color that are so bad! The Elura 65/70 performs MUCH better indoors producing reasonably well at normal lighing conditions.. and even as low as 15 lux. Still Performance is OK, but the overall quality isnt much better than the 1mp elura.. except that the pictures are 1623x1224 rather than 1280x960... While good for a camcorder, they are still no substitute for a digital camera. Dont buy either for stills! The Elura takes suprisingly good photos without a flash, but an external flash is available. After trying both cameras, I loved the 30.. and it was difficult to part with it. I ran the same tests over and over, and even tried a different Optura, thinking that mine may have been defective.
The bottom line is: If these cameras were the same price, I would have taken the Elura... with the Elura being cheaper, its a no brainer. Good Luck Optura Likes: Excellent auto focus, focus ring, overall feel of Camera is the best that Ive felt. Integrated flash, 2mp CCD, Top Loader, Exposure setting. Dislikes: INDOOR PERFORMANCE IS VERY POOR. Menu Dial is in awkward position. Price. NOTE: Canon was SO close with this camera. Im not saying its not a good camera.. its feel and performance are great.. it just performs at the bottom of the bell curve on indoor performance... even when compared to cameras half the price.
by: Anonymous On: 2004-05-29
I recently purchased the Optura 30 at a local retailer after months of research. I must say that I am happy with all of the cameras features except the night mode, which was suppose to be improved. The Optura 40 has Super Night mode, but I havent been able to find the camera in retail stores to test it out. Aside from the poor low light feature, the Optura 30 is a great camera. It takes great digital stills (2.0 megapixel) and pretty good Motion JPEGs. I recommend this camera!
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