Customer Reviews

Canon Elura 60 MiniDV Camcorder w/14x Optical Zoom

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

So our Sony HI8 died after only about 20 hours of use :(

We decided to give a canon a shot. The ejection door for the mini tape seems less "mechanical" so fewer things to go wrong.

This camcorder is very easy to use. you are able to take decent pictures while taping video and it does not interfere with the video.

Some people complain about "motor sounds". I don't here it, even in my kid's room at night when it is silent.

At low light, the colors are not all that great, kind of surprised. At night the "night shot" is terrible. I would recommend getting the attached light for $60.00.

The things I like:
Size.
ease of use.
Zoom works fast and decent.
Focusing is fast and accurate.
When you turn the camera on, it is ready in about 2 seconds.
When it is on and you hit record, it is ready in about half a second(fast).
In decent lighting, takes pretty good pictures, I was surprised.

The things I don't like.

A lot of these camcorders don't have lense caps or covers that are permanent? They snap on and off, hang from a strap.
I don't have really big hands, but my fingers are too big for the buttons, or should I say that the buttons are very small.
As I mentioned, the low light use is not too good, make sure the room is bright.
Comes wit a 8 mb card with some stupid graphics on it (I erased it all).
No mike input.
No light?

All in all, for the price (when on sale) I highly recommend this camera. Now that I have used it for a while, for a little more money, I probably would have bought the model (Elura80?) with the light.

Like buying a pair of shoes, try several different camcorders, "feel" them at the store. you will see big differences.

Enjoy!

John

Our Elura 60 also has the "Remove the Cassette" problem that other reviewers have posted. Search for this error code and you'll find thousands of pages of frusterated Canon owners and no fix to be found.

Had this camera for 3 years. It has always had problems, and the thing just keeps getting worse. Had numerous problems including the 'eject tape' warning, no tape detected, viewfinder has gone out, buttons stop working, photo camera doesn't work, zoom malfunctions and randomly starts zooming in or out, and now something is seriously wrong with the digital chip, as I can't play back the tapes.
All these problems with 1 camera. Wow. What a piece of junk. Seriously, avoid this camera at all costs.

Add me to the list of customers who have been burned by Canon camcorders...and for me this is the second time around and with a completely different camera.
I owned an expensive Elura 2MC and liked the camera a lot - until it began eating tapes. I took care of this camcorder, live in a dry climate (i.e., have no condensation issues), and used the camera as intended so was surprised and angry that it failed. Unfortunately the tape-eating problem surfaced just before a trip so instead of having the camera serviced I shelved the Elura 2MC and bought a new Elura 60 - a downgrade at something less than half the cost of the Elura 2MC. My reason, though, for sticking with Canon was I was a fan of Canon optics and I assumed the failure was either a random event or a problem isolated to the Elura 2MC.
Needless to say I nearly blew a gasket last night when my Elura 60 refused to accept tapes (I tried several). The problem, thankfully, does not appear to be the same I had with the Elura 2MC but the camera is not functional and in my view it is completely unacceptable that expensive camcorders from a top tier company like Canon should have these failures. I will likely send this one in for the dreaded repair but I intend to buy a new Sony and donate the Canon when I get it back.
I gave Canon the benefit of the doubt but will not go back to the well a third time.

After doing extensive research I decided to go with the Elura 60 versus the Sony HC30. I received the Elura and filmed my kids playing for about two minutes. The kids wanted to see themselves on the LCD screen. I switched the camcorder to VCR mode and rewound the tape. After rewinding the tape it gave me an error saying "Remove the Tape". I removed and then reinsterted the tape. The automatic loading mechanism wouldn't accept the tape. I then tried a brand new tape and had the same problem.

This all occurred on Thanksgiving, so I was unable to talk with Canon about the problem. I did some research and found that many other Canon users had the same exact issue. Most had to return them to Canon for repairs that sometimes still didn't fix the problem. Not to mention you are without the camcorder for two weeks.

After having the camera for one day I returned it very disappointed. Today I bought a Sony HC30 and I'm hoping for better things.

Good luck if you decide to go with Canon.

I have owned it for 3 years and 4 months. Within the first two months, we had to return it for service because it didn't have any picture. I was told the whole lense assembly needed to be replaced. Now it has an eject tape error and the tape won't eject. It makes grinding noises. It has been well cared for. People who give it good reviews haven't owned it very long

My wife and I decided to buy a camcorder to record our wedding. Our wedding was on the beaches of St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, so it was something special and we wanted to tape it. Unfortunately, the cost of hiring someone to film it would have cost us $750. So, in the end we decided to invest in a camcorder, set it up on a tripod on the beach next to us and tape it ourselves.
Before buying I spent over 20 hours reading reviews all over the net and the Canon Elura 60 consistently came out on top for camcorders under $400. It even beat out other camcorders costing twice as much! So we bought it and couldn't be more happy. We bought a $20 tripod from Circuit City, an extra battery, carrying case and tapes. It comes with a Fire Wire too, so that's a plus. Overall its easy to use, great picture quality, fair battery life, lightweight and does well in low light. Take my word for it or search the review sites yourself, this is a great camcorder!

When it worked, this camcorder is a thing of beauty. The pictures are brilliant, the sound is good, and the battery lasts a respectable amount of time. The menus were fairly straight-forward for a novice to use. However, this thing spent to much time in the Canon factory shop because it kept needing to eject the tape, but couldn't. It basically became unuable. 1-2 tapes and it would go back to the shop. The factory is great - free repeairs, motherboard and fuse replacement - and returned in about a week. However, all these returns and lack of confidence and we've barely recorded anything of our newborn, now a year old! I'm going to buy a non-Canon camcorder for my baby's 1st birthday. Can't take that risk again!

Buyer Beware! Do not buy this or any Canon item! The remove the cassette error is for real! If you search the internet under "canon remove the cassette" you will find many, many people with the same complaint! Do not buy this camera! The backing by Canon is atrocious. They will do nothing, but offer to fix at your expense. Mine was fixed and ended up doing the same thing again, as well as the mind of its own zooming issues. You will read all these same things on many reviews/ratings postings around the web. Lemon product and Canon does nothing about it. I will not buy another Canon product and you should not either! I don't care how good their next one is. They didn't back this camcorder or do anything about the NUMEROUS complaints by people!

I purchased this camera brand new a few years ago, was happy with the features and ease of use, and it seemed to work great. I used this camera for video on ONE vacation following purchase. Upon returning home, I had the TAPE EJECT PROBLEM and it hasn't worked since. Tape won't eject, can't use the digital camera features, nothing. Canon demands $ for repair due to being out of warranty since (I waited too long to contact them, now it's out of warranty, go figure). Honestly I can't justify spending another 100 to 150 to repair it. I now find that many consumers who purchased this product have experienced the same mechanical problem.

After spending 600 bucks on this camera and using it ONCE, I would consider it an EXTREME WASTE OF MONEY and TOTAL INCONVENIENCE. Now i sadly have priceless video inside the camera of a deceased relative, and no way to get the freaking tape out, nor transfer the video elsewhere.

*****I would HIGHLY recommend doing your research prior to purchasing any high dollar camera or electronic equipment***** (sorry my review is a little late)