Canon ZR60 Mini DV Camcorder
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- Recording System: NTSC
- Camcorder Type: Digital
- Recording Media: Mini DV
- Optical Zoom: 18x
- Weight: 1.2 lb.
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No I can't see you, turn a light on!
Pros
Cheap price, decent video quality, ease of use.
Cons
Bad quality indoors and in low-light.
Recommended it?
No
The Bottom Line:
IF you need a camera for your family, and friends to capture lifes moments, this works. Stay away if your concerned how your image looks.
I was excited to purchase the Canon ZR60. I have always wanted a digital camera, and at only $400, it was a steal, right? I had done little research prior to purchase, basically just looking at a few different cameras and comparing them, rather than actually reading opinions written by people who purchased one. I know now that a little research can go a long way.
Outside in the light this camera is great. It records with great quality, at a decent size. You can even turn thr feature on what it has to be; Auto, Sports, Porttrait, Spotlight, etc. It even has low-light and night modes, but I will talk about those later. This can be a great camera, you can record your childrens soccer games, the view at the grand canyon on your vacation, etc. If your intent is just to record your family, and friends, and want to be able to put this onto the computer to send to the relatives, it is a great camera for doing so.
If your intent is not this, stay away. In the dark you will not be able to see anything. Even inside in my living room I have a hard time seeing what I recorded, with all the lights on. The low-light and night modes are a joke. Sure, it brightens up the picture, but makes it absolutely horrible quality. The low-light can come into handy inside with little light, but it does damage the quality of your video. Expect there to be an almost "grainy" picture when taping inside. It almost looks like a filter or something was added to the video. Little "fuzz balls" like on a TV when there is no picture. You can tell the pixelation of the video right away.
There is another feature with the "picture" button. I do not know why they even call it a picture, because all it does is captures the current frame still for 5 seconds. The quality of this is absolutely horrible. And on top of that, you can't even buy (at least to my knowledge) a seperate memory stick to have the pictures saved to; they get saved right to the camera tape.
The accessories that come with the camera can be handy. It comes with a lens cap, shoulder strap, battery, and built in battery charger. Why not come with a light? It is very bad in the dark, so you would think it would come with a light to help this, but does not. The battery charger is a nice touch because you do not need to buy a seperate peice of equipment, just put the battery in the camera and plug it into the wall. The battery itself lasts a decent amount of time WITHOUT using the lcd. The LCD really burns the life down to about only 45 minutes or so. If you need to tape something over an hour, I would not recommend using the lcd.
One last thing I have mixed feelings for is the zoom. It has 18x zoom, with 360x digital zoom. It zooms in and out nice and smooth, but again, quality becomes an issue. You can zoom up to 18x with decent quality, not saying good, but you will still be able to see. After that, forget it. The image becomes so mangled that it is impossible to tell a tree from grandma.
Now, if you just want a camera to mess around with your friends, not concerned about quality and do not have too much to spend, the ZR series is the way to go. But, if you need good quality, and want a perfect picture indoors and out, do not get this camera. This is not for professional use. I am not satisfied with this and wish I did more research before hand; my advice is to stay away!
Outside in the light this camera is great. It records with great quality, at a decent size. You can even turn thr feature on what it has to be; Auto, Sports, Porttrait, Spotlight, etc. It even has low-light and night modes, but I will talk about those later. This can be a great camera, you can record your childrens soccer games, the view at the grand canyon on your vacation, etc. If your intent is just to record your family, and friends, and want to be able to put this onto the computer to send to the relatives, it is a great camera for doing so.
If your intent is not this, stay away. In the dark you will not be able to see anything. Even inside in my living room I have a hard time seeing what I recorded, with all the lights on. The low-light and night modes are a joke. Sure, it brightens up the picture, but makes it absolutely horrible quality. The low-light can come into handy inside with little light, but it does damage the quality of your video. Expect there to be an almost "grainy" picture when taping inside. It almost looks like a filter or something was added to the video. Little "fuzz balls" like on a TV when there is no picture. You can tell the pixelation of the video right away.
There is another feature with the "picture" button. I do not know why they even call it a picture, because all it does is captures the current frame still for 5 seconds. The quality of this is absolutely horrible. And on top of that, you can't even buy (at least to my knowledge) a seperate memory stick to have the pictures saved to; they get saved right to the camera tape.
The accessories that come with the camera can be handy. It comes with a lens cap, shoulder strap, battery, and built in battery charger. Why not come with a light? It is very bad in the dark, so you would think it would come with a light to help this, but does not. The battery charger is a nice touch because you do not need to buy a seperate peice of equipment, just put the battery in the camera and plug it into the wall. The battery itself lasts a decent amount of time WITHOUT using the lcd. The LCD really burns the life down to about only 45 minutes or so. If you need to tape something over an hour, I would not recommend using the lcd.
One last thing I have mixed feelings for is the zoom. It has 18x zoom, with 360x digital zoom. It zooms in and out nice and smooth, but again, quality becomes an issue. You can zoom up to 18x with decent quality, not saying good, but you will still be able to see. After that, forget it. The image becomes so mangled that it is impossible to tell a tree from grandma.
Now, if you just want a camera to mess around with your friends, not concerned about quality and do not have too much to spend, the ZR series is the way to go. But, if you need good quality, and want a perfect picture indoors and out, do not get this camera. This is not for professional use. I am not satisfied with this and wish I did more research before hand; my advice is to stay away!
