Canon ZR800 Mini DV Camcorder

I bought this camera because I really liked the shape and overall size and feature set, but then... Canon came out the the ZR-10 which has way longer battery life and more features, so I was kinda bummed out that I hadn't waited. Still, it is a good, solid mini DV camera. It's very easy to use and produces great quality video. The only downside is the fairly short battery life - about 50 minutes to an hour. If you buy one of these, buy a second battery. The microphone placement is also kinda funny, on the top of the unit, so it picks up the operator's voice a LOT louder than the subjects, but as long as the person with the camera doesn't say much, you won't really notice. Overall, the big advantage over other mini DV cameras is the relatively low price and the great form factor - I'd bet a lot of people would never even know it's a video camera and not a digital still camera.

I've mostly just used it for some simple home/family shots, but I've just got my hands on a firewire card for my PC and am going to be pulling video into the PC for editing and web distribution. This is where DV camera really rock - digital video editing is amazing.

I would mostly recommend this camera for people who want high tech features without a big pricetag - if you're not price sensitive, go for a higher-end model, like the Elura. Or, if it's available, get the ZR-10, which I haven't used, but looks great.