Reviewed by
jcfiske , Intermediate

Price Paid
$1000.00 at B&H

Summary
This is on excellent camera. The images are noticable clearer at all light levels than my previous camera, the Elura 10. I also purchase the external shot gun microphone and that works exceptionally well.

There is also a $200 rebate in place. So you can get this camera for ~$800.

The camera is well made, well balanced and is very easy to use.

I highly recommend this camera to anyone in the market.

Strengths
Image quality, sound quality, flexibility

Weaknesses
none yet

Similar Products Used
Canon Elura 10

Customer Service
no need.

Reviewed by
Jonathan Monfreeze , Casual

Price Paid
$0.00

Summary
Listen, stop all of your tireless research and follow this protocol. I am, unlike other reviewers, not a current owner. However, I am the most scrutinizing human being whenever I am laying out greater than $1000 and have spent many days in NYC comparing brands and soliciting professional opinions. As such, accept this as the opinion of a well-researched individual, rather than well-practiced.
1. Vertical or Horizontal Orientation - If you want a hand cramp every holiday, choose the small vertical models. Otherwise, be a man and grab the larger models with more accessible controls that fit comfortably in the palm...and weighs only slightly more than the "minnie me's."
2. Sony & Canon vs. others - Let's be honest, why buy a pair of Kenneth Cole's when Johnston and Murphy has made shoes for a hundred years. These two competitors really know what they are doing. Once you narrow it down to these two, take a look at a couple features - A) Night-shot is ridiculous unless you are spying on someone or an amatuer porn star. B) A touchscreen LCD around my kids would last a week. Further, if Sony puts out a warning that consumers could damage their LCD monitors and other units by touching and cleaning the screens, should you really be buying a product which REQUIRES you to touch it? Moreover, the thing is tedious as hell and requires you to sharpen your index finger nail to a point or carry a "nerd pen" around with you all of the time. C) Cornering the market by producing one unit after another lessens quality...just run to the local shop and check the status of those that have been toyed around with by the savages. My last visit found Canon models in good shape with Sony models falling apart. D) Canon Optical Image Stablization - when was the last time you filmed on vacation and hadn't consumed a few margaritas? Forget vacation, when at all was their an occasion for filming that did not incorporate alcohol? Be serious, any advantage you can get in this area is wickedly needed.
3. The Optura Xi and Optura 300 are the top units for Canon for those of us who earn a living outside of the paparazzi arena. The Xi is undoubtedly more comfortable in the hand, produces better quality video & stills, contains more advanced features, and looks cooler!

Strengths
1. Optical Image Stablization
2. Photo's while you film
3. No touch-screen LCD
4. RGB color filter similar to 3ccd units
5. Hot Shoe
6. Easily-accessed buttons and gadgets
7. Well-designed menus
8. Middle-of-the-road weight for light travel & steady filming
9. Think Johnston and Murphy over KC
10. Accessories Galore - Canon is the professional's choice
11. Low motor noise, and not picked up by the microphone.

Weaknesses
1.Low-light filming not the best, although many reviews say better than Sony. So turn the lights up or buy an accessory light you ninny!
2. Short to Average Battery life - so buy a better one. If you are concerned about the cash, then you should really go to Best Buy or another spoof electronics store and pick up the Tom Smith $499 camera there. Stop thinking you should get everything free out there...by the way, the Firewire cable is not included in most packages either. Oh Noooo, I have to drop another $20. Come on guys, are you serious? If so, go pick up the Sony TRV-33, it is a perfect Nickle&Dimer camcorder.
3. 16:9 mode is a little half-assed. You just have to swallow that for any Canon.

Similar Products Used
Multiple. Please don't take me seriously, I just have tested too many products recently. I love this model. I love Sony when it comes to other products. It just seems to me that they are trying too hard to make the right product and keep falling a little short. By the way, who are you silly cats who are comparing the Xi to the TRV-70/80? Are you nuts serious? Have you even seen these things? My father had a VHS camcorder that looked like that thing years ago. Hey, maybe I award more points than most for style, but it hasn't failed me yet. I don't care how great the thing is, if it looks like a silver jewelry box, then you look like the cheap trick at the wedding while the rest of us go home with the bridesmaids...right?

Customer Service
I can't speak to this, but am I the only one that has come to realize how many electronics salespersons have no frickin idea what they are talking about. Conversing with these guys/gals confused me more than reading the rambling reviews of an irritated shopper...oops. Hopefulle my ranting and raving may provide some useful thoughts, especially considering it probably provided very little useful specifications and feature info. Good luck to all.

Reviewed by
G_Speed , Intermediate

Price Paid
$1300.00 at Good Guys

Summary
The camcorder is smaller than you think it is when you look at the spec sheets and pictures of it. Picture quality is the best I have seen yet on a camcorder and I have used and tested many. I have always been loyal to Sony (Sony HDTV, SONY ES Audio gear, Sony camcorders) however the quality of their Camcorders after sunset turn from excellent to very poor unenjoyable quality video. This Canon is an exception however room with a single 150 watt bulb, the quality suffers, but at least you have a picture. Sony would be completely dark (no kidding). Sony's night vision is stealth meaining you can be in a 100% dark room and turn on night vision and you can take video, however everyone is green. Canon has a mini LED light for nightshot mode that lights up a subject which looks better than the Sony green, but takes the frame per second down from 30 to 8 (a guess based on experience) so any fast motion makes night vision useless. The camera also has the 2-megapixel digital camera with flash. I must say it does a good job takeing pictures. I also have the Canon G2 4 MegaPixel camera which I still take everywhere I take this new camera. I also connect this camcorder to the Computer and then I burn my home videos to DVD. It is awesome. You can also edit the video on the computer, add titles, etc and copy it back to the camera with amazing quality. I also bought this camera so I can connect my Sony Hi-8 camcorder to it so I can them get my Hi-8 videos to the computer. Using the Canon saves me the money on buying an analog video capture card for the computer, plus camcorder to camcorder gives you better quality. I rated performance a 4 only because I feel the low light quality could still improve.

Strengths
Amazing picture quality, low light slightly better than Sony, optical zoom 11x, zoom speed much easier to control than Sony, feature rich yet easy to operate

Weaknesses
The larger Canon battery rattles when you move the camera, size is fair

Reviewed by
John Toepfer , Intermediate , from Chicago

Price Paid
$1212.00 at onecall.com

Summary
Canon has built a great camcorder here. They really put some effort into the optics, which is often a lacking point in the camcorder market. Better optics mean much better low light shooting characteristics, better focus, better color. It's not compact but not any larger than it has to be to hold the lense. I've bought and returned a couple of Sonys but this Canon is definitely a keeper.

Strengths
Low light shooting

Weaknesses
not very compact