Canon ZR-10

Excellent camera. Very easy to use right out of the box. Use the Studio DV editing software and Fire Wire and you''ll be making movies in minutes. I''ve used this camera for a year and a half now in a wide variety of conditions. It has works flawlessly on 13,000 foot mountian tops in 15 degree weather and in a M1A1 Abrams tank in 110 degree heat. The batteries are great. As long as I have a fresh charge at the beginning of the day I''m good all day. The image quality in daylight is excellent. The colors are true and the sound quality is very good in 16 bit. Image stabalization is good too. The people who couldn''t figure out how to use this, in previous reviews, probably can''t operate a toaster either. The camera software is very straight forward, menu based. Great camera, buy one.

Small, light weight, color screen and eye piece, long lasting bateries, Fire Wire, Studio DV, bombproof.

Yes, low light, buy the optional light if you shoot in dim conditions.

None

Have not needed

great overal camera for the price. easy to use with lots of extra features. I read a few places that they eat tapes. Just had my first experience of that. have to send off to get fixed.

small light

eats tapes

None

initial contact good

Pretty good camera for the price. If you are looking to shoot home movies, here is a good little camera, i would recommend. I just got into home video, after years of still photography, i needed something new, and was real real excited of the computer editing idea. (I still havn't gotten the firewire card, and software, no idea what editing software is best, any suggestions??) anyways, i bought my ZR-10 on Ebay.com for $450.00 Not bad for a Mini DV. The thing is great, i absolutly love the LCD, swivles great, couldn't be happier. The eyepiece is good too, (color) and it extends over the battery so you can fit your face snug against it. the bottons for the vcr control, are cute and look nice, work good too. The zoom is great, except when for instance zooming to the end of a room, the focus gets lost, but i have legs i can walk over. that reminds me the macro, up close is UNBELIEVABLE!, If you pressed the lens up to a newspaper, and there was light somehow, it would be crystal clear, no joke. thats another thing, i was disapointed about.. there is no built in light, now i know im getting fussy and unrealistic, but in dark situations, low light mode doesn't always cut it, it makes it grainy and slows the shutter? oh well, if i wanted better, go spend 2000. (i'll give canon credit for putting a cold shoe on the top, for attachment of a light w/ battery pack, which i plan on purchasing) The Menu is great, and has alot of features, (which can mostly all be controled with the remote you get) The major disapointment, with the photo part, is when you take a photo, (extrememly easy to do) it is grainy and not too high res, and it shows up in the tape for 6 seconds as a still, which is okay, but i like the feature found in the ZR-25, where you can change it to say 2 seconds still, or None, just stored in memory for download. But oh well, ZR-25 is a couple hundred more. (your not buying a digita camera, this is a camcorder with a feature of being able to take stills, want photo quality, but a digital camrea)Next time... While im thinking of it, never buy the TDK's model of DV tapes, while they are inexpensive at costco for a pack of 4 at 23.99, pass up. i made the mistake of buying one, and ruining all the film i shot, because it dirtyed my video head, and when you watch the movie, bars and hige grains would appear. I got it cleaned with a DV tape head cleaner, and it works great now with the sony premium 60 min DV tapes i got for 10 each. trust me, go for thoes. ummmm the plugs for earphones, firewire, mic, ac adapter, are all easyily accessable, and usefull... the battery is small and light weight, trust me again, buy 2 more. check ebay.com they have the right models to fit canon, (bp-511). i also need to buy a battery charger so i can charge them while using another battery in the camera, now i have to charge with the batterys in the camera, so the myth of being able to have too batterys, use one while the other charges, and alternate, can't come true with out the charger. next I do think the speaker for playback could have been placed more properly on the left hand side of the camera near the LCD where Most people will watch, but there was probley no room. The lens is nice because you can add on filters and a wide angle lens, yet to purchase. well i think your sick of reading me review by now, so about the camera, i think it is great for my needs and i will really use it up, and you should get one too, all of my complaints are minor and they dont interfere with the use at all, so thanks for readin!!

*Small, Lightweight, Nice looking~! *Nice LDC desplay *Good buttons and menu *Good quality movie *Mini DV tapes *Editing capabilites *Rechargeable battery *Able to add lens's/filters *Color eyepiece *Digital still photo feature. *earphone jack for listening to playback... *Mic jack for dubbing *digital effects, fade, b&w... *Self timer, rec/still photo 10 sec *Remote *digital zoom up to 200x *able to take wide screen for tvs with that. *tripod mount *Basic ease of use. *comfortable to hold in hand

*slight low batt, Slight, not horrible, just get multiple (fairly inexpensive) batts. *Stills are in movie for fixed 6 sec. *No built in light, boo ho0 *Low light mode stinks, grainy. *still photos are slightly grainy. *funky placed speaker

*polaroid pdc-640 digital camera *Agfa ephoto 1280 digital camera *Canon es55 camcorder

Havn't called, but i have called about questions, and they are good, free. Mon-Fri. 1800-OK-CANON

I normally wouldn't do this, but this is to offset the last review. She said the ZR10 is too complicated. Let's see, turn on, set to "auto", point in general direction of what you want to capture, press record, when done, press the record button again, turn off camera. Not to be harsh, but when you list a Polaroid camera as your similar products used, you are not in a position to judge any photo capture device thingy.

Get the new Pinnacle Studio 7 for a great hobby that won't bore your friends and family to death. See the Pinnacle Studio website forum for a wealthload of tips.

Dare I say it? LOW LIGHT.

This is my first camcorder. In a few years as my skill and economics go up, I will be looking at the 3 chippers (hopefully they will be cheap by then).

Not Used

overall not so good. didn't expect to have to do research to operate the camera.

i guess the image quality was good but it takes more than that to make a good camera

no support, and to many options make it to difficult to operate. the controls are complicated and overwhelming

poloriod instant

terrible no support on opeations