Canon Optura 40

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CNET editors' rating: 4.0 stars Excellent
Detailed editors' rating

Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 14 reviews
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Product summary

The good: Small size; fine zoom lens; above-average sound quality; decent color; easy to use; video light.

The bad The bad: Wimpy battery; cheesy digital effects; minimal bundled software.

The bottom line: If the Optura 30 is good, the Optura 40 is better, thanks to its video light. But if you don't find yourself shooting in a lot of low-light situations, it may not be worth the cash.

Specifications: Video input type: Camcorder; Optical zoom: 14 x; Media type: Mini DV See full specs

Price range: $3,996.92

See all products in the Canon Optura series

CNET editors' review

Reviewed by: Jeff Dorgay
Edited by: Lori Grunin
Reviewed on: 08/13/2004
Released on: 05/23/2004

As they say in This Is Spinal Tap, "this one is one bigger." The Canon Optura 40 differs in just a few ways from its slightly less expensive sibling, the Optura 30. It includes a 14X optical zoom instead of the 30's 12X version and adds a video light and couple of extra sound capabilities: audio levels adjustment and a microphone attenuator. Like the Optura 30, this camcorder is compact, has a very bright 2.5-inch LCD, and shoots clean footage as well as 2-megapixel still photos.

The video light on the Optura 40 (left) slightly expands the area for which you can capture detail over that of the Optura 30 (right).

Just like the model 30, the Canon Optura 40 captures excellent footage with good color. The extra illumination afforded by the Optura 40's video light significantly improves the look of video taken in low light. But if you don't think you'll be shooting a lot of evening events, it's probably not worth the extra bucks.

See more CNET content tagged:: Canon Inc.,; microphone,; adjustment,; video

User reviews

Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 14 reviews
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Showing 3 of 14 user reviewsSee all 14 user reviews
3.5 stars

4 out of 5 people found this review helpful

"Soo many features, so little brain..."

on September 1, 2004

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3.0 stars

3 out of 4 people found this review helpful

"Great Video, poor still images..."

on May 31, 2004

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4.5 stars

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful

"Great consumer camera"

by bnklwyr on March 31, 2005

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Canon Optura 40

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