Title : Canon ZR40 MiniDV Digital Camcorder with 2.5" LCD, & Digital Still Mode
Author : Canon USA
Release Date : 20020325
Binding : Electronics
Regular Price : $598.00
Amazon.com Price : $
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Editorial Reviews : Improving on an original can be a daunting task. Canon has succeeded quite well, thank you. The ZR40 is the successor to the ZR20. Canon increased the optical zoom to 18x--the digital now sits at 360x--and added an analog pass-through port. Although the ZR line featured analog-in for dubbing your movies to MiniDV, the new pass-through port allows you to go straight to the computer, eliminating a possibly cumbersome step. The ZR40 also has a lot of the same features that made the original a lot of fun. A 2.5-inch LCD is swivel-mounted, permitting the shooter to use the camera at odd angles. Various digital effects and autoexposure modes help ensure your footage turns out well. Finally, Canon threw in a low-light color-shooting mode that makes the ZR40 that much more attractive.
Buyer Reviews : I'm always been fond of the Canon line of consumer DV cams. They always have great optics, electronics, and durability. But what really sets them apart is thier menu systems! It's totally disgusting that on most any other brand, including ones as prestegious as Sony, that they lump all the menu options into a hoard of small, finger nail sized, buttons for most of thier consumer models. For Canon's you simply press the menu button then scoll and press a togele wheel. This way, once you get the hang of the wheel, you now understand how to use the whole menu system for any function. This is a great improvement over those that require the manual to find that 'secret button combination'. This is a consumer camera but I use it for many large applications. It has been sized down from it's Optura and Ultura ancestors but pretty well all the functionality and then some. It has other sister cams such as the ZR45MC and ZR50MC. These pack the all-in-one memory card digital camera and mini Dv. I have friends who love these models dearly. Personally I go for a seperate camera with larger resolution. Whatever your needs are ...
I've noticed a large number of reviews that say something to the affect of 'I pulled it out of the box, plugged it up, and the image was grainy' or 'I turned on steady shot and nothing happend'.
This might be old news for most but to explain for those of you that might be concerned by this ...
Video cameras these days still thrive on ample lighting! This and other cameras have a sort of slow motion low light mode (accessible from the menu) that works by slowing down the frame rate and sucking every bit of image data off the CCD. THis is ok for an emergancey but if you want good image, turn on an extra light or two. Human eyes are so adaptable that you might not even notice if the lighting is more subdued than usal but it will make a mile of diffence for the camera. Secondly, get to know the manual menu and exposure system. The auto functions can't always guess what your trying to do.
About steady shot... this only takes of the headache inducing shock that occurs when you jar the camera. It's extremely useful in it's own right but it won't keep you from waving the camera around.
This is a great cam that I fully recommend. THere is one issue that doesn't dampen my five star rating but is noteworthy. To size this camera down to an even more portable size, the engineers made it with the DV cassette loading from the bottom instead of the top. THis is fine except that if you are a true believer in tripods, as I am, then you have to take the camera off the tipod or tripod plate every time you need to swap tapes. Just a minor concern...
(by micahster)
Features/Technical Specs : * MiniDV camcorder * 18x optical, 360x digital, zoom with image stabilization * 2.5 inch color LCD and color EVF * Digital photo mode records onto MiniDV tapes * Analog pass-through ports for direct connection to computer
