What this reviewer  first noticed about the Optura 600 is its size. Weighing approximately a pound, it  can easily fit into your jacket pocket or any medium-sized bag which gives it extra points for mobility. Gadgets after all should exist to make life easy for its users and not encumber them;  this is the case with the Optura 600 which is so light to tag along you don’t almost feel it’s there. But the fact that it’s small doesn’t mean that Canon scrimped on style for this model. Its dark gray body looks sophisticated and flipping open the ample 2.5 inch LCD screen to the left is akin to the experience of  flashing a clamshell phone. You are likely to be the envy of everybody when you focus, point and shoot with the Optura 600 and rightly so. This mini-DV camcorder is not by any means cheap; you are better off insuring it in case it gets stolen or lost, as we found out (sigh!)

Canon Optura 600

The Optura 600’s sleek body has a grip belt attached to it for ease of operation. Unfortunately, the cam has more than a dozen buttons and a few controls that it would be quite unrealistic to expect that you will reach all of these while  shooting. The first-timer can be  confused at first navigating through  the numerous buttons for the menu, digital effects, light setting, LCD backlight, audio level  etc; not to mention,  the set dial, the zoom lever, and the tape/card switch. Canon would do well to reduce these confusing set of controls in the future. If you are like me who is too lazy to read the 142-page manual,  the most convenient way is to put the mode in Auto, then you won’t  scratch your head and blame yourself for being an amateur in the first place (as I did!)

Now. I have always been a photo person but the Optura 600 was savvy enough to transform me into an instant video fanatic. Taking it on a spin in my children’s Christmas party and the office, I found out that the Optura 600 takes crisp, colorful and true-to life moving images with its 4.3 mp resolution and 10x digital zoom. The other desirable features I’ve seen include the image stabilizer to prevent blurry shots while on the move, the self-timer, video light  and the option to record in widescreen format. Further, this model has a built-in stereo microphone, supports video in and out as well as enables its owner to easily transfer videos to the computer using Firewire or USB 2.0

And because I’m used to digicams, I had as much fun taking still photos with the Optura 600 which were aptly saved in the SD card provided for the purpose. Aside from basic functions like the built-in flash with red-eye reduction and continuous shooting,  one can play around with the light metering options, a variety of scene modes (e.g. night, beach, fireworks, sunset) or settle for Auto Exposure Bracketing. Printing  pics taken from the cam isn’t a hassle with the Optura 600’s Print and Share Button as well as PictBridge compatibility.Of course I also asked myself whether it was possible to record videos while taking photos at the same time. Luckily, I found out that this was possible with the camcorder’s simultaneous recording  function.

In sum,  the Canon Optura 600 is a very good dual performer and changed the way I look at videocams. Furthermore, it made me realize that one can indeed have the best of both worlds - that is,  possess a gadget that takes both realistically vivid videos and photos. This two-in-one wonder should be one of the must-haves for the new year.