Canon ZR200 MiniDV Camcorder w/20x Optical Zoom (High Metal)

Great Camera, Battery Sucks

I bought this camera to replace an old Panasonic VHS-C camera. After reading many reviews over at www.camcorderinfo.com (a great site BTW), I decided to save a few bucks and get the ZR 200 instead of the 300. The light seemed useless to me and I already had a SD card.

The ZR 200 outperforms our old Panasonic in every way. Very happy with this camera. I've been using it mostly in "easy" mode. I did try out the wide-screen feature, and MAN was it cool! I filmed a concert band at a local community college, in low light, on a ti-pod with lots of panning and zooming. It really did a great job. It looked like a freakin' documentary!

You will read lots of reviews complaining about motor noise. These are greatly exaggerated. I've used it to tape the audio of my wife's sonogram (fetal doppler sounds) in a very quiet doctor's office and it worked perfectly, no motor noise.

This is a consumer level camera, and as such performs very well for casual capturing. Kicks butt for home movies, low light concerts. Real pros might want to consider spending more.

One bummer, the battery really sucks. It lasts about one hour, so you'll want to get another one, or do what I do and plug it in whenever you can.

One little tip: You must hold the focus button down! You will read complaints of slow manual focus times, and I noticed the same thing, until I HELD DOWN THE FOCUS BUTTON. Manual focus is very snappy.

Amount Paid (US$):

239.99 (www.dell.com, w/ 2 coupons from www.dealmac..com)

Ease of Use:

Excellent; operates with the touch of a button

Durability:

Good; solid it will last until new technology develops

Battery Life:

Average; lasts 45-90 minutes

Movie Quality:

Good; stable and crisp image, very good sound

Recommended for:

Home and Families Keep Memories of Family Vacations

Pros:

Great Images, Very Small, Easy to use

Cons:

Batteries only last one hour.

The Bottom Line:

Highly recommend it for home, family buyers AND budget buyers.

Overall Product Rating:Above Average

Recommended: Yes

This camera replaced Canon's ZR85, which was another lightweight, no-frills camera. This one is even lighter, and a fair bit smaller. It fits just right in the palm of my hand. If it was any smaller or lighter it would be awkward -I like there to be a little bit of weight to a camera, since that gives it a litle bit of stability due to inertia; as it is it is just right.

It has more functions than you'd really want in such a camera -if you are ever going to do something with the footage you will be using a computer and an editing program, so you don't really need the editing modes on the camera. Still, there's no complaint here, and it's flexible enough for most non-professional, home users.

My only complaints are: when they "upgraded" to the ZR200 from the ZR85, they got rid of the neck strap. So this unit is totally free floating and you have to be more careful about dropping it. I suppose you could rig a neck strap but it isn't included and it would be a little more awkward, since the slots they give you to fasten a strap are very close together. I ended putting one on there but rarely use it, because it makes the camera twist around a bit. I really liked the neck strap on my ZR85 as a way of stabilizing the camera: I could put the camera down near my waist, and look through the LCD monitor, and the tension from the neck strap would help me keep the camera steady as I walked, usually while filming my children ahead of me. The other complaint is that the viewfinder on this one no longer swivels up and down, but is fixed in place. This makes it much less usable for me -because it means that the camera has to swivel with your head if you are using the viewfinder. It means that I use the LCD screen much more often than I used to, and that runs the battery down much more quickly. Still, for simplicity and convenience and ease of use, you'd be hard pressed to find a better camera at this price.

Buy Canon ZR200 MiniDV Camcorder w/20x Optical Zoom (High Metal) Now

I purchased this camera to replace my Panasonic VHS-C camcorder. I was very surprised at how much smaller the camcorders are as compared to when I had my VHS-C. This camera is great. Its small, compact design makes it easy to fit into the palm of your hand, and the mini screen is perfect for viewing images while recording. The feature that really sold me on this camera, aside from its low price, was the image stabilization. With the stabilization on, there is no image bouncing, and you'll be sure to get clear, sharp images every time. I was disappointed in the short charge that the battery holds, so I recommend purchasing another battery or plugging the camera in whenever possible. The tapes the camera uses are very small, and you can easily store several in a camera bag.

I highly recommend this camcorder. It was ranked the best camcorder in its price range by Consumer Reports magazine. You'll be sure to get many hours of enjoyment using this teriffic camcorder from Canon.

Read Best Reviews of Canon ZR200 MiniDV Camcorder w/20x Optical Zoom (High Metal) Here

I imagine most people who buy this camera will be using it to make home movies and so far I've found it to be very easy to use and the video quality to be excellent.

A few words of warning, the provided USB cable is only good for tranferring still images to your PC. If you want to transfer video you need and IEEE394 cable (I think that's what it's called). This does not come with the camera. However if you do some looking online you can get one very cheap (I got one for $1.95). Most brick and mortar stores sell them for a much higher price, as much as $30.

Want Canon ZR200 MiniDV Camcorder w/20x Optical Zoom (High Metal) Discount?

You get what you pay for and more... For a camera that is normally under 300 bucks, one can not really complain. If you expecting it to perform like a 2000 dollar camera then don't buy it. If you are looking for something simple to use (for me it was for the birth of my son etc...) It was perfect. Get another battery, an SD card for pictures, and a few DV cassettes and you are good to go. Amazon sells it for a bit high, I would go to Dell and purchase it with a few coupons, normally ends up to be like 240-270 free shipping + your local taxes, so under 300.