CANON ELURA
DV Camcorder


The world of video recording equipment has changed quite rapidly with the recent advent and acceptance of the DV (or Digital Video) format.  Very high quality video, nearing broadcast quality, can now be captured in a unit that fits in the palm of your hand.   Something that is small and does a great job of capturing what you see and experience makes for a perfect motorcycling compliment.

Canon Elura I've worked for some time in television, but my first hands-on experience with DV and the Mini-DV format came in March of 1999 while working on a short film starring Bill Murray and Alec Baldwin.  "Scout's Honor" was directed by my old boss Neil Leifer, the famous still photographer.  The set was lit like a 35mm motion picture film shoot, with big-time lighting equipment.  But the movie was captured on Canon XL-1 video cameras which record onto Mini-DV tape.  These tapes are about half the size of a deck of playing cards, but they can hold 90 minutes of video.

I was amazed at the quality of this format.  The resulting footage looked like it had been shot on Panavision film cameras!  Of course, the XL-1 is a professional camera with interchangeable lenses, and the excellent lighting crew made all the difference, but the experience convinced me that a revolution is going on here.  DV is a great alternative to film, at a fraction of the cost.  And because the format is digital you can easily edit what you shoot and then throw it back to tape without losing any quality, unlike earlier analog video formats.

The Canon Elura is a great choice for those who want to capture their motorcycle adventures on video.  This camera has excellent features designed into an incredibly small package. It is small enough to fit in a jacket pocket yet the image quality is superb.  Size is the most important criteria to me when picking gear for the motorcycle, and often it means a compromise in features.  Not so with the Canon Elura.  Besides capturing video and audio extremely well, the unit doubles as a digital still camera.  Most of the images on this site were created with the Elura.  At the time of this writing, the Canon Elura can be purchased for around $1200.

Canon has a great lineup of DV camcorders and there are also some good cameras available from other manufactures, including Sony.  I've tried some of them out and have been pleased with the results.  But I think Canon offers advantages in image stabilization, lens optics, and bang for the buck.  I can't wait to see what the folks at Canon come up with next.

RELATED LINKS:

CANON'S DV WEB SITE


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