Canon Announces Elura 50 Mini DV Camcorder

Reprinted from a Canon press release:

Canon U.S.A., Inc., a subsidiary of Canon Inc. (NYSE: CAJ), and a leader in analog and digital cameras and camcorders, is introducing the new Elura 50 DV camcorder. Along with its exceptional quality digital video and digital photo capabilities, the Elura 50’s ultra-compact design makes it the perfect recording companion anywhere your travels take you. And with its new DIGIC DV image processor consumers are assured that every special moment will be recorded in brilliant color with excellent exposure for years of enjoyment. The Elura 50’s ultra-compact design means never having a high-quality DV camcorder farther than your jacket pocket. The Elura 50 also provides Direct Connect print capabilities when used with Canon’s CP-10 Card Photo Printer and select Canon Bubble Jet Direct Printers making it easy and fast to print photos at home or while traveling. And even the most distant subjects are brought to the forefront by a 10x zoom lens with genuine Canon optics plus a digital zoom from 40x to an amazing 400x.

“The Elura 50 is one of the most versatile and portable DV camcorders in the market,” said Yukiaki Hashimoto, senior vice president and general manager, Consumer Imaging Group, Canon U.S.A.

“The ability to create excellent digital videos and digital photos in a camcorder small enough to fit in your pocket allows consumers to record life’s special moments without being weighed down with heavy, cumbersome equipment. High-quality images from a lightweight, compact body will encourage consumers to take the camcorder everywhere they go,” Mr. Hashimoto added.

XGA High Resolution Photos
The Elura 50 accepts either a Secure Digital (SD) or Multimedia (MMC) card for recording digital photos. Users can easily select between two picture-quality modes: XGA (1024×768) and VGA (640×480), which in turn can be set to three different resolutions – standard, fine and super-fine – based on the image quality that best suits their needs.

Motion-JPEG
When set in the Motion-JPEG mode, users can record short video clips of family occasions, holiday wishes or other video messages, attach them to an email and transmit them over the Internet. Video clips are stored on an SD or MMC memory card and length options include 10 seconds at 320×240 resolution or 30 seconds at 160×120 resolution.

Print Digital Photos Anywhere, Anytime
The Canon Elura 50 is the latest in Canon’s line of DV camcorders to include a Direct Print feature, allowing users to connect directly to a number of Canon Bubble Jet Direct Printer and the Card Photo Printer CP-10 dye-sublimation printer. Once connected with the supplied USB cable, users can select the image and quantity to be printed, making it easy and fun to print at home and share photos with family and friends.

DIGIC DV
Canon DIGIC DV technology is responsible for achieving optimum results in both video and digital photos. For this reason, DIGIC DV provides dual image signal processing capabilities, which can differentiate between the video and digital still formats. DIGIC DV makes it possible to achieve accurate color for both video and digital photos by utilizing two different color techniques to maximize video quality on a TV and still image quality for print or computer display.

VIC
The Canon Elura 50 features an exclusive connection circuit, called VIC. Traditionally, multiple chips were needed to perform the camcorder’s input and output functions. However VIC manages it all with one single chip. The result is seamless connectivity whether one is connecting to a computer, TV, or VCR.

Imaging Technologies
Beyond its numerous recording capabilities, the high-quality video and digital photos produced with the Elura 50 can be attributed to a number of key design features including its 1/6-inch, 680,000 pixel CCD image sensor and DIGIC DV processor, which improves the color reproduction for TV playback and printing color photos.

Genuine Canon Optics
In addition, its miniature 10x genuine Canon optical zoom lens further enhances the image quality of video and digital photos, rendering amazing detail and contrast and the 400x digital zoom magnification brings even the most distant subject up-close.

Image Stabilization
The Elura 50’s Image Stabilizer feature complements the powerful zoom by instantly compensating for unwanted camera movement, providing smooth and steady video, even at the full telephoto zoom setting. This feature is also an effective tool during panning or zooming.

Flexible View Screen and Color Viewfinder
Composing low and high angle shots and self-portraits is easy and fun with the rotating 2-inch, color LCD screen. The screen is also useful for instant playback of recorded images or tucks away neatly when the eyecup color-viewfinder is preferred.

Image Control and Special Effects
Beyond being fully automatic for point-and-shoot simplicity, the camcorder has an assortment of manual controls including focus, exposure lock, white balance and shutter speed control. The Auto Exposure (AE) Shift feature lets the user select how light or dark the camcorder sets the automatic exposure level.

While the Auto mode is fine for most shooting situations, the camcorder includes a variety of pre-programmed auto exposure modes; each carefully designed to deliver the best results under special shooting conditions. They include Sports, Portrait, Spotlight, Sand & Snow, Color Night mode and the newly added Super Color Night mode. The Color Night Mode function allows users to see, and shoot video in virtual darkness and functions much like “night vision” in certain binoculars and other optical devices with the exception of the “green tint” overlay experienced with other devices. Instead, objects are presented in color, providing even the dimmest shooting conditions with realistic color rendition for easy recording.

The Elura 50 also offers Super Night Mode. A white LED assist lamp located on the front of the camcorder allows users to illuminate their subjects and continue shooting even in virtual darkness.

A variety of special effects make it easy to exercise creativity and change the look of the video image. Special effects include Art, Black & White, Sepia, Mosaic, Ball, Cube, Wave, Color Mask or Mirror. Fade effects, which create unique scene transitions, include Wipe, Corner, Jump, Flip, Puzzle, Zig Zag, Beam, Tide, Fade Trigger and standard Black.

The Elura 50 includes a Stitch Assist feature for creating 360-degree panoramic still images. Using the supplied Photo Stitch software, users can transfer images to a computer where the software will seamlessly crop, align, and overlap the individual images to form one extra wide-angle panoramic photograph.

A Wide Selection of On Board Interface Terminals
To ensure versatility and maximum connectivity the Elura 50 camcorder is packed with a variety of A/V terminals. A standard In/Out terminal permits connecting to a TV or VCR, copying old analog videos to a MiniDV tape, converting analog signals to digital for transferring to a computer, A/V insert and audio dubbing. Additionally, it includes Firewire and USB terminals for interfacing with a PC or the Canon CP-10 Card Photo Printer among others.

Additional Features