Canon ZR50MC Mini DV Camcorder
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- Recording System: NTSC
- Camcorder Type: Digital
- Recording Media: Mini DV
- Optical Zoom: 22x
- Weight: 1.17 lb.
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User ReviewRead All Reviews »
Great first camara... I think.
Pros
Small size, 22x optical zoom, accessory shoe, decent battery life.
Cons
Minor motor noise apparent, requires manual adjustment for low light recording.
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
Seems like a very good product that could be GREAT with two minor tweaks to the product.
I received this as a generous Christmas gift (thanks Dad!) and have been experimenting and using it for a couple of weeks now. This is the ONLY camcorder I've ever used, though I have a years worth of experience using an Olympus D490 Zoom digital still camera (again, thanks Dad!). I've read the reviews for most of the competing products in this price category and I would like to add my comments on this product to assist potential buyers.
I'll update the review in the near future to include more details on the products, right now I just want to get a list of pros and cons going based on my current experience so bear with me as this is NOT a complete review.
Pros
* Small size, great for travel and fits comfortably in the hand. Seems smaller than most of the competitors.
* Awesome 22x optical zoom. Most of the competitors in this price range, if not all of them, max out at a 10x optical zoom. I have completely disable the digital zoom as I've found the optical more than serves my current needs.
* Picture quality is excellent, assuming you have adequate lighting. I'm impressed with the quality with the exception of low-light conditions mentioned in the cons below.
* Color viewfinder. I was surprized to find that many products still include a black and white viewfinder. I tend to use the viewfinder mostly to conserve battery life.
* Good battery life. I haven't run out of battery unexpectedly...yet. I've recorded a tape and played it back a couple of times without recharging, as long as you don't use the LCD for playback too much. According to the specs the battery supports 135 minutes of LCD record time, which is about 2 tapes worth.
* Accessory shoe. Unsure if other cameras include this but it seems like an excellent feature. I'm sure a microphone or light would overcome some of the cons I'm about to list.
Cons
* As many other reviewers have stated it DOES have an audible, but low volume, motor noise present on the recordings. This is primarily audible during low volume recordings but it is annoying. I've read one review that indicates the noise can be canceled with low pass audio filters in Adobe Premiere but cannot verify that at this time.
* Low-light recording requires manual tweaking. In full auto mode I've found my low-light recordings, which seems to be most of my house indoors, to be a bit darker than what my naked eye sees. There is a "low light" mode you can manually enable that brightens the picture significantly but it seems to over-brighten the picture not to mention it ruins the ability to capture fast motion as you will get ghosting/streaking. Recently I've been adjusting the AE Shift which appears to be the best solution to the low-light problem. However, it would be ideal if the automatic mode could expose the picture a bit more so no manual adjustment would be necessary. I'm considering buying the $50 VL-3 accessory light to see if that helps my problem. From what I've read ALL camcorders perform less than satisfactory in low-light conditions. Apparently it's a delicate balance between opening the shutter to let enough light in to expose the shot frame after frame and opening it too much to overexpose and cause ghosting/streaking. In contrast a digital still camera only has to capture ONE good frame. Even so I've seen some streaking in low-light with my digital still if the lighting is particularly dim, so it's not like this problem is specific to the Canon ZR series.
* Includes no MiniDV tapes in the box. I had to go to the store and buy a tape to use this, a minor annoyance.
* Includes no video editing software in the box. However, Canon does offer Arcsoft ShowBiz software for free via mail-in offer. However you have to wait weeks to receive it.
* The digital stills are terrible. However, I have a 2.11 megapixel Olympus that I use for digital stills. But it would be nice if camcorders could take better digital stills so I wouldn't have to lug two cameras around. From what I can tell all camcorders take bad stills.
Conclusion
This is my first camcorder and I don't have any other products to compare them against first hand. At the current time I'm pleased with the product though I could easily teeter either way depending if the motor noise bugs me too much or I cannot satisfactorily produce good low-light video with AE Shift adjustments or an accessory light.
I'm giving this 4 stars right now as I'm confident it's a high-quality product. 3 stars seems too average for the amount of product you're getting at this price. However, it won't ever get 5 stars from me due to the slight motor noise and the lack of good automatic low-light video.
I'd recommend this product but make sure the potential customer is aware of the two drawbacks I've identified.
I'll update the review in the near future to include more details on the products, right now I just want to get a list of pros and cons going based on my current experience so bear with me as this is NOT a complete review.
Pros
* Small size, great for travel and fits comfortably in the hand. Seems smaller than most of the competitors.
* Awesome 22x optical zoom. Most of the competitors in this price range, if not all of them, max out at a 10x optical zoom. I have completely disable the digital zoom as I've found the optical more than serves my current needs.
* Picture quality is excellent, assuming you have adequate lighting. I'm impressed with the quality with the exception of low-light conditions mentioned in the cons below.
* Color viewfinder. I was surprized to find that many products still include a black and white viewfinder. I tend to use the viewfinder mostly to conserve battery life.
* Good battery life. I haven't run out of battery unexpectedly...yet. I've recorded a tape and played it back a couple of times without recharging, as long as you don't use the LCD for playback too much. According to the specs the battery supports 135 minutes of LCD record time, which is about 2 tapes worth.
* Accessory shoe. Unsure if other cameras include this but it seems like an excellent feature. I'm sure a microphone or light would overcome some of the cons I'm about to list.
Cons
* As many other reviewers have stated it DOES have an audible, but low volume, motor noise present on the recordings. This is primarily audible during low volume recordings but it is annoying. I've read one review that indicates the noise can be canceled with low pass audio filters in Adobe Premiere but cannot verify that at this time.
* Low-light recording requires manual tweaking. In full auto mode I've found my low-light recordings, which seems to be most of my house indoors, to be a bit darker than what my naked eye sees. There is a "low light" mode you can manually enable that brightens the picture significantly but it seems to over-brighten the picture not to mention it ruins the ability to capture fast motion as you will get ghosting/streaking. Recently I've been adjusting the AE Shift which appears to be the best solution to the low-light problem. However, it would be ideal if the automatic mode could expose the picture a bit more so no manual adjustment would be necessary. I'm considering buying the $50 VL-3 accessory light to see if that helps my problem. From what I've read ALL camcorders perform less than satisfactory in low-light conditions. Apparently it's a delicate balance between opening the shutter to let enough light in to expose the shot frame after frame and opening it too much to overexpose and cause ghosting/streaking. In contrast a digital still camera only has to capture ONE good frame. Even so I've seen some streaking in low-light with my digital still if the lighting is particularly dim, so it's not like this problem is specific to the Canon ZR series.
* Includes no MiniDV tapes in the box. I had to go to the store and buy a tape to use this, a minor annoyance.
* Includes no video editing software in the box. However, Canon does offer Arcsoft ShowBiz software for free via mail-in offer. However you have to wait weeks to receive it.
* The digital stills are terrible. However, I have a 2.11 megapixel Olympus that I use for digital stills. But it would be nice if camcorders could take better digital stills so I wouldn't have to lug two cameras around. From what I can tell all camcorders take bad stills.
Conclusion
This is my first camcorder and I don't have any other products to compare them against first hand. At the current time I'm pleased with the product though I could easily teeter either way depending if the motor noise bugs me too much or I cannot satisfactorily produce good low-light video with AE Shift adjustments or an accessory light.
I'm giving this 4 stars right now as I'm confident it's a high-quality product. 3 stars seems too average for the amount of product you're getting at this price. However, it won't ever get 5 stars from me due to the slight motor noise and the lack of good automatic low-light video.
I'd recommend this product but make sure the potential customer is aware of the two drawbacks I've identified.
