Filters And Lens Converters

All Canon Elura camcorders are equipped with filter thread. Throughout the lifetime of Elura series four filter diameters were used: 27mm, 28mm, 30.5mm and 34mm.

The Elura series started as an upright camcorder having 30.5mm filter. The filter diameter was quickly reduced to 27mm on Elura 2, Elura 10 and Elura 20 models, then was bumped to 28mm on the Elura 40 and the Elura 50, the last incarnation of upright models.

Starting from the Elura 60, Canon switched to commonly accepted "horizontal" design, featuring longer lens barrel with 34mm filter diameter, the largest ever for Eluras and equal to more expensive Opturas. Models 65, 70, 80, 85 and 90 followed the lead, having similar layout and the same filter size.

The Elura 100 was unveiled in 2006 and marked the end of Elura series. This ultracompact camcorder had a small lens with 27mm filter diameter.

Matching Camera Filter Diameter

If you want to get a filter with diameter that exactly matches your camcorder, you may end up with buying from Canon. Canon will be happy to sell you a quality filter, but a decent third-party filter may cost twice less.

It makes sense shopping for a larger filter, and to use a step-up conversion ring to attach a larger filter onto smaller thread. Stepping up is common and it does not affect quality of the video. Some kinds of filters simply cannot be purchased for certain thread sizes. You can also share filters with other photo/video equipment. You can attach several filters without risk of vignetting. You can leave the step-up ring permanently on the camera, so you could attach and remove filters as often as you want without damaging plastic filter thread on the camera itself.

If you decide to adopt larger filters by using a step-up ring, consider 37mm thread. This size is quite popular among third-party accessory vendors and among camera manufacturers like Panasonic. There are a lot of filters and converters to choose from, just search on the Web. The picture on the left shows Canon Elura 100 with 37mm Neutral Density filter, attached by a 27mm-to-37mm step-up adapter ring.

A word of caution in regards to lens converters: with a step-up ring a converter will be farther from the lens, which may distort the picture. Also, depending on the ring quality, the converter may be a little off center from the lens barrel. This is not a big deal for filters, but telephoto and wide lens converters require accurate centering.

Ultraviolet And Polarizing Filters

The camera's CCD is sensitive to ultra-violet (UV) rays. UV light makes the image look bluish and may soften the picture. Excessive bluishness frequently occurs in outdoor photography, especially in open shade under a clear, blue sky and near water front. UV filters absorb UV light and are colorless clear glasses.

Polarizing filters (polarizers, POL filters) can greatly enhance outdoor images by increasing contrast and color saturation, eliminating reflections from glass and other non-metallic surfaces, and darkening blue sky. A polarizer has two rings, one screws on to the front thread of a lens, and another ring with filter glass can be rotated. Polarizers can also eliminate reflection from water and glass, making them more transparent.

Neutral Density filters

Besides commonly recommended ultraviolet (UV) and polarizing (POL) filters you may want to use neutral density (ND) filters. ND filters limit amount of light hitting the lens, allowing the iris to open wider, which in turn achieves shallow depth of field.

Many professional cameras and prosumer grade camcorders have built-in ND filters activated by a dial. The Elura camcorders do not have built-in filters.

The picture displays a set of three filters: ND2 (1 f-stop), ND4 (2 f-stops) and ND8 (3 f-stops). This set pretty much covers most applications, considering that you can stack two or all three of them without risking of vignetting. Figuring out how many ND filters you need is a whole different story, you can read about it in the article that explains how to control exposure manually.

Artistic filters

If you want to go artistic, check out Cokin Modular Filter System. This system uses rectangular filters made of high quality plastic.

The smallest size of Cokin filter adapter is, you guessed it, 37mm. The picture shows the assembled filter holder and two Series A filters.