Canon Optura 40 MiniDV Camcorder w/14x Optical Zoom

Wonderful! I don't know much about video, but I just plugged it in and it worked. I am really pleased with the quality of the video and the nice way it connects to the software that came free on my computer (iMovie).

Yesterday I took video in falling snow. I set the camera to Snow/Sand setting, and it took care of everything. Nice feature.

The manual is minimal. I hope to find something better online.

After doing a great deal of research I purchased the Optura 40. It was highly recommended by Consumer Reports and reviewers on this and other sites. I also purchased the Video Light since most reviewers mentioned poor low light performance as the main drawback to the camera. First of all, the light created red eye in my child, the main subject of my recordings. Without the external light video of indoor events, my main place of recording, was grainy and dark. Second of all, the automatic zoom was terrible. It was almost always out of focus. Third of all, the noise when the camera is recording is extremely loud. I had to look up tips online for how to adjust the camera so the noise wouldn't show up on the actual tape. I have a Sony analog with low lux and 16x zoom which I held side by side with the Optura and used to record the same things. The Sony was far superior. For the price of this camera you would think you could expect good low light performance and zooming. Canon can't manufacture a camcorder that doesn't make loud mechanical noise? I don't understand how everyone could say this is a good camcorder. Needless to say we have returned the item and are going to start looking at Sony digital camcorders.

Canon Optura 40 MiniDV

My family just bought the Canon Optura 40 MiniDV Camcorder w/14x Optical Zoom; it is a digital video camera. I fell in love with this camera as soon as my mom charged it up and turned it on. I immediately wanted to take the camera out and start taping the first thing that came to mind. I started with video taping my house just like I was on MTV's cribs. I went in all of the bedrooms of the house, then I went to show off the cars, next I went into the back yard and taped the pool and all of the extensions that we've added on to the back yard. There were three excellent features on this camera; they were the readable buttons, flip-out side panel-viewing window, and the long battery life.
The best part about the camera was the simplicity of the buttons. The buttons on the camera are located on the underneath the flip out screen. The buttons had their symbols on them and also had the function written above. After messing around with the camera for a few hours, I had remembered the order of the buttons. A slight down side to this camera is that it is for right handed people in general, which allows you to have your fingers on the buttons at all times.
The next item is the viewing window on the camera. The camera has a flip-out, rotating, side view panel. This panel has crystal clear imaging that is amazing. Looking at a tape that I had taken a few months prior; I was amazed of how the crystal clear images of the tape place me back in the moment. The tape was of a parade in North Dakota. With me living in Arizona, and to feel as if I were back in North Dakota is truly breathtaking. The reason why the picture on the screen is so realistic is the vivid colors. Even in low light the picture quality is superior.
Battery life is another huge plus with this camera. The battery on the camera can almost last one tape; however, this isn't continued use. If the battery is used continuously it will last about an hour. The battery takes approximately fifteen minutes to charge up. This is a huge plus, if you are in a hurry and need another battery right away or even if it is a back up battery.
There are several other wonderful qualities to this camera: compact, lightweight, comfortable eye piece, clear voice recorder, extraordinary playback, and exceptionally easy to travel with. This camera has a high rating from most of the people that own it. It is definitely worth every penny spent. It is highly recommended by most to go take a look at one soon.

I received Optura 40 as a gift about a month ago. This is my firs DV camcorder.
The quality of movies is amazing, colors are just perfect, and it performs quite well in a low light condition. The are also night modes that turn night in a day (not too realistic, but would be great for recording a wildlife at night for example). Quality of pictures is also great - I do not have to buy a separate still camera, 8X10 enlrgements came out fantastic, and combined with 14X optical zoom you can make it a spy tool. The camera is quite easy to use and intuitive. I really enjoy using this camera. The ability to record 16:9 picture is according to some specialists the best solution on the market unless you want to spend big money on 16:9 CCD camera.

The downsides:
MANUAL!!! I was close to returning the camera to the store after getting frustrated with it. Just sucks.... everything is actually in there, but it as readable as a phone book.

Software - Why there is not a single software for DV capture to a PC? I realize that a lot depends on the card controller, but there has to be a more or less universal solution. So far, Windows Movie Maker 2 fails to properly record sound in DV quality, Ulead has a similar problem and the only one working properly is Adobe Premiere 7.... But maybe it is my Firewire card, who knows...If thre is anyhing more frustrating than recording DV onto a computer, I have yet to find it. I feel Canon could include a simple capture utility and editing program.

Still picture quality with low light is too grainy, looks like the camera tried to go to the highest ISO settings, the results are not too encouraging.

Battery life is about 1 hour without the LCD (elongates somewhat when the battery goes through a couple of initial charge cycles).

Because I am left handed I also use my left eye to see through the viewfiner, but occassionally I start and stop recording with my nose. Fortunatelly the left handed are a minority.

I also had an impession that the camere motor become a bit more noisy recently, but it could be due to a very quiet scenes.

Overall, I love it!!! I think that the quality far outweighs some minor quirks.

I will give 5 stars for the Optics - just amazing pictures, especially in daylight. I shot a few pictures under a 60 Watt (yellow) light and the picture quality was surprisingly good.

What I liked most about this Camcorder:

1. Great image quality, especially in daylight (comparable to the panasonic 3 ccd model which is much more expensive)

2. Very sleek and compact. Love the look of it

3. Robust. My 3 year old has already dropped it twice and the camcorder has taken it very well.

4. Very good Mic. Audio quality of the recorded movies with the built-in mic was amazing

5. The LCD is big, bright and has crisp images

What I did not Like (complaints):

1. The manual sucks. It is just a little more than a complete listing of all the menus that the camcorder provides. Not much explanation and no good flow.

2. The camcorder "automatically" chooses between optical and digital zoom. There is no way you can manually control that

3. The battery lasts for just 30 minutes (at least in my case). I had to buy a high capacity battery seperately to make it meaningful.

4. The camcorder provides a 12 bit and a 16 bit audio mode. But if you choose 16 bit mode, then later on, you cannot mix audio with the movie using the Audio dubbing feature. The audio dubbing just stops if it sees a 16 bit clip, it works only with 12 bit. Very annoying and very nonsense. I think the reason is that the camcorder stores both, the original as well as the dubbed audio and needs the extra bits for this. But nevertheless, annoying.. (In my enthusiasm, I recored two tapes in 16 bit mode and now am stuck, I cannot mix in audio without first converting them to 12 bit and there is no easy way of doing that).

But overall, this camcorder is a champ.