Electronics Gadget Reviews

Canon BP 2L14 Battery for Canon HG HV ZR Optura and Elura Camcorders

The Canon BP2L14 is a Lithium-ion battery for ZR100, ZR200, ZR300, Optura, and Elura camcorders. Charge and carry it as a spare for your camcorder, doubling your amount of uninterrupted shooing time.

Lithium-ion batteries, unlike Nickel-Cadmium batteries, are free of memory effect, which can reduce the usable power of the battery over time.

The Canon BP2L14 is compatible with the following Canon camcorder models:

• Elura 60
• Elura 65
• Elura 70
• Elura 80
• Elura 85
• Elura 90
• Optura 30
• Optura 40
• Optura 400
• Optura 500
• ZR100
• ZR200
• ZR300

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Very pleased
This battery is amazing. A must have item. It is fit into my HG10 nicely. Just slightly bigger than the piece of craps battery that came with the canon HG10. This battery should have come with the HG10. Every time I used the HG10 for 15-20 minutes and the battery still shown full power. The original battery would have shown 1/2 power or need to be recharge.

4 Stars Not the extended use battery for HV30
Good battery to replace the one that comes with the HV30, but this is not the extended use battery.

5 Stars Works great
Purchased this for our video camera over a year ago. It really helps ensure that we won’t run out of power for an event.

5 Stars Great battery!!
Had to buy to replace the one we bought over four years ago. We got hundreds and hundreds of hours of recording on our camcorder with this battery. I know we’ll get long life out of it. There is long usage between charges. You definately get your money’s worth.

5 Stars Works great for me
I took two of these batteries with me on a recent trip to China – I always recharged them overnight and didn’t have any situations during the day while site-seeing where I ran out of battery juice. I used them in a Canon HV30 video camera and they have more than enough juice for me to watch my 1 hour HD tapes on the plane flight back.

Buy/More Info

Rode VideoMic directional Video Condenser w microphone

The RODE VideoMic is a professional grade shotgun microphone. Based on the latest Film industry technology, the VideoMic is designed specifically for use with high quality digital video cameras.The microphone exhibits low noise and an unusually wide bandwidth for its size. It is ultra lightweight, yet rugged due to it’s ABS construction. The VideoMic is powered by a standard 9 V battery and offers a low battery LED status indicator and a switchable high pass filter to reduce unwanted low frequency rumble.The VideoMic attaches to any camcorder that has the standard camera-shoe fitting and utilizes a stereo mini jack for audio output.RODE VideoMic Shotgun Microphone FeaturesBroadcast and studio sound qualityRugged reinforced ABS constructionTwo step high-pass filter – flat or 80 HzIntergrated shock mount9 V battery operationCondenser transducerLow noise circuitryLow handling noiseIncludes windscreenIntegrated camera-shoe mount

User Ratings and Reviews

3 Stars Thanks Rode
I’ve tried the different settings and I’ve come to conclude until I find out more to just use the on-board mic. I do like the mic, so don”t get me wrong, I am keeping it. I think it may just be too early for me to write an adequate review. My apologies. I do however think that the instructions should be a little more informative. Describe the settings and what they do.

5 Stars well design and built
After a lot of research on a external mic for my HG10. I decided on the Rode VideoMic and love it, nice design and solid. It picks up clean sound and also picking up back ground noise. But I change the setting to

-10db to reduce back ground noise. Very happy.

Update.. I did a 15 minutes video with the Rode VideoMic. The sound is clean and clear. Set it -10db and am very please with it. I have not try -20db setting but I ‘ll it at that.

1 Star Not much better than the onboard mic
I bought a canon HV30 & the Rode videomic. I recorded a couple songs from

my stereo, putting the cam about 5 feet in front of my stereo. Used Sony Vegas Platinum to transfer to pc, then dvd. The Rode is only marginally better than the built in mic. I will return it.

5 Stars This is a great microphone!
If you are using this outside you might want a Rode DeadCat, but this is an essential product to me for my Canon VIXIA HV30 MiniDV High Definition Camcorder with 10x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom. It fits perfectly on top!

It does require one Duracell Batteries in Reclosable Storage Pack, Size 9 Volt (Pack of 4), but as Duracell are the best around you might want to buy the pack I linked.

5 Stars FINALLY, A MIDDLE TIER!
If you’re searching for an affordable solution for capturing relatively clean audio, this mic may be the one for you. I paired this mic with a Canon GL1 just recently while shooting in a warehouse and couldn’t believe the clarity I was able to achieve in comparison to other near-priced mics I’ve tried. I’ll skip the praise and jump directly into what you may have issues with. If you’re planning on capturing a voice, you’ll probably have to stay within a pretty close distance of your subject. There is a notable difference between 5 feet and 7 feet. Any further than 5 feet and you’ll probably have to do extra work in post production to make the sound seamless. This is by no means a professional mic but I’ll go out on a limb and say that if you’ve found this mic because of its price range, and a direct line-in to the camera is out of the question, I wouldn’t look any further. It’s definitely worth its price.

Buy/More Info

After being invited by an avid reader to share his personal technology 'gadget' picks two years ago, The New York Times' David Pogue now presents the 2008 edition of his "David Pogue’s Gadget List," featuring the Nikon D80 and Canon SD700 cameras, the Canon HV30 camcorder, plus cell phone and personal computer picks. Check it out...