Canon ZR10 Digital Camcorder

After placing the order for this camcorder, I immediately began second guessing myself. I was particuarly worried about all the posts I had seen about the picture being "grainy in low light". I worried myself to the point of wishing I had just gone with a Sony Hi8. My camera arrived and the first thing I did when I took it out of the box (the battery was already charged and a 3 year old child can learn to operate it in 7 seconds) was to turn off all the lights but a table lamp and begin filming. Man did I feel silly for worrying. The people writing those comments must be used to watching HDTV movies, because I found the picture fine. It wasn't as good as if I was outside in sunlight (WOW does the camera do well outside), but that's because I wasn't in the sunlight, I was in a poorly lit room that was too dark to read a magazine. The image (my Jack Russell, Murphy) was clear and I could easily distinguish her facial features (in fact the camera picked up more light in the room than my "nekkid" eye could). You simply can't expect the same quality picture in poor lighting as in perfect lighting for less than 500 dollars. And unless you are fanatical about high definition, the quality is as good as one would expect.

The camera is so small. Any doubts you have about this camera will disappear once you slide your palm around this beauty. Also, the image stabilizer worked nicely. Ultra tight zooms produced some shake (this was almost unoticable if I braced with both hands). No shake was noticable on wide shots.

I also looked at the other ZR models, but the best I could tell the main differences revolved around the "digital camera" aspects of the camcorder. I wouldn't suggest the ZR-10 if you are looking for a "digital camera/camcorder combo". The ZR-10 just saves the picture to tape at 6 second increments (basically the same effect as pressing pause). This function is for the most part useless if you have a computer capable of video editing, in which case I would say never use the "photo" button and just capture frames from your video.

The ZR-10 has been out for a couple of years and is kind of hard to find new, but if you do find one or are thinking about buying a used one, I would highly reccomend it. I bought mine for just under 500 dollars and am VERY glad I didn't pay the extra dough for any of the newer models (the "extras" were to minimal for the difference in price for me).

I own pro digital cameras, but I get an awful lot of use from this little Cannon. Scouting locations, special events, vacations, you name it I've used it. The picture quality is superb, though don't expect the same results as a $10,000 pro cam. It does not work well in low light situations, using the low light setting the camera must be held perfectly still, as in tripod, even then the results are not very good. But that's what camera lights are for. That short comming aside, buy this camera and you will want to take it with you every where you go. It will far exceed your expectations. It's easy to handle, fits snug in the palm of your hand. Well worth the price.

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...we use the camera with digital editing software on the PC and Mac and have had no problems with the computers communicating with or controlling the camera. Makes it incredibly simple to shoot a short training video or video for the internet. Picture and sound are professional grade. Tape transport mechanism is much more reliable than the JVC we replaced. The analog input is convenient to take existing analog (S-VHS) footage in and convert to digital for use in our latest projects.

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This is my first digital camcorder and I am very impressed. It is easy to use, shoots excellent video and has great battery life. We visited Thailand late last year and the camcorder behaved flawlessly. It coped very well with lighting extremes, switching from bright, midday sun to deep shadow without missing a beat. Add the excellent steady shot feature and I was able to capture footage of the Jade Buddha from 200 feet away, shooting from bright sunlight, through a door into deep shadow. The best single feature is how small and light it is. We travel often and we like to use the cancorder to capture our journey and get candid shots of our surroundings. With larger camcorders, this is impossible, With this one, most people did not even notice I was shooting. We got some excellent street scene footage in Bangkok and almost nobody noticed I was shooting. It may not match the picture quality of a high end 3CCD camcorder but a highend camcorder would not fit confortably in the palm of my hand and the battery would not last through two hours of taping.

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This is an absolutely amazing little camera... and boy is it little! The only (minor) complaint I have is video quality in low light. Otherwise, this little camera is perfect for everything a normal person needs a camcorder for. I was using it out of the box in a few seconds (the battery came well charged). It is remarkably sturdy, easy to handle, and has a great selection of features. Add that to what I can do with my iMac and iMovie, and I have everything I need, and then some!