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| Product Reviews from Amazon.com (Rating System 1 to 5) |
| Review | Rating | Last Updated | Canon Optura S-1 makes the day!
I purchased this through an online wholesale membership site for $399.99 plus tax and shipping (total $459.00) and couldn't be any happier.
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<br />As soon as I had the battery charged up I started shooting in and out of the house. While there is remarkable difference between lit and dark background, the S1 did take good videos inside the house. I set the camera to SCN (screen mode) and chose NIGHT mode and it did the trick: less graininess compared to shooting in AUTO mode and video was bright. My PC has firewire and it picked up on the S1 right away as soon as it was plugged in.
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<br />I didn't care too much for the bundled software on the driver disc but it worked pretty good as well. My wife and I have been looking for a quality camcorder at a non-exorbitant price tag and we found it all in the S1.
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<br />Yes, there is a 10-SECOND DATE STAMP on the Optura S1. Set your camra mode to "P," press menu , press Display, choose lcd and tv....voila!
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<br />One other drawback I found, by surprise, was that the S1 takes mini-SD, not the standard size. Oh well, I guess I'd have to fork out another $50 to upgrade the 16 MB that came with it to 1 GB.
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<br />Now we can document our kids' growing years. | 5 | 796 days ago | There is very little not to like about this videocamera...
This camera produces excellent image quality for the price, it's very compact, and ergonomic. It's packed with features. If you are a mainstream user, it is more than adequate. There are those who will compare it to $1000-$2000 videocams and it will naturally fall short. But the fact is, it's reasonably priced, has sufficient features for most users, and can be taken anywhere because of its size. I would recommend getting an extra battery since you will only get 45 minutes - 1 hour energy if you use the LCD display and do a lot of zooming, etc. Speaking of zoom, some people think that a 10x optical zoom is less than ideal, but face it -- if you are trying to zoom much beyond that level, you are going to need a tripod. Overall, this is an excellent item, and delivers the quality I would expect from Canon. | 5 | 796 days ago | A bit dissapointed
I don't usually purchase things sight unseen, but this camera was an exception. I had only my past experiences with Canon to go by, which I had been satisfied with.
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<br />I wanted something compact, so the size is perfect for me. I like the widescreen mode. And the camera is fairly intuitive, although I've had to reference the manual on a couple occasions.
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<br />The boxey shape reminded me of an elph still camera I purchased sometime back, so I naturally assumed it was encased in metal as well. Nope. Cheap plastic feel that I'm concerned I'll end up breaking.
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<br />But my biggest gripe is the video quality when shot indoors. Even with the light on the picture is really grainy. I'm going to put it up against my old Sony Video8 camera as a test, but I swear the old camera took a brighter picture.
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<br />We purchased this to take shots of our new baby girl. I've been really dissapointed with the indoor shooting since that's where new parents spend a great deal of time. | 3 | 796 days ago | Excellent device, but only for its market target
I'm not a professional videographer. Still I might well be the pickiest man in the world when it comes to video quality. I'm the one who keeps noticing MPEG artifacts in TV transmissions all the time, because I've been doing my own DVDs for 5 years. In short, I can judge video quality at first sight.
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<br />This said, you'll never see me with a big professional camera over my shoulder, because I don't film for a living in the first place and also because I already had many experiences where I had to leave my camcorder behind because it was too bulky to carry. And I'm not talking about big VHS cams, I'm referring to the "small" Hi-8 cameras from Sony: great image, excellent sound, yet too bulky to carry to many wild adventures or long trekkings.
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<br />At this point in my life, I came to the conclusion that comfortableness proved to be more important than top-notch quality, especially for a backpacker like me who can't afford to choose between carrying a camcorder or two extra bottles of water. This mini DV camera the size of a digital still camera was worth a try.
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<br />So this is the reason why I bought the Canon Optura S1 in the first place: the smaller available camcorder in the market in October 2005 ( FBI/CIA gadgets don't count here ;) and manufactured by my favorite still camera brand. So I bought it with all this in mind. As you will see (and I really knew this before purchasing, so I'm not complaining) such small size has its trade-offs limitations, and it's up to you to decide whether it's worth to buy it or not. What follows is my personal opinion on the camera.
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<br />Pro's
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<br />* Small as hell, that's my baby!!! Can fit in a still-photo case and attach to the belt.
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<br />* Colors are *in-cre-di-bly* accurate. Now, this is a tough one when dealing with NTSC!! By far the best color-matching camcorder that I ever owned.
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<br />* Excellent image quality in daylight, and I mean it.
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<br />These 3 thing | 4 | 796 days ago |
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