Canon ZR50MC MiniDV Digital Camcorder with 2.5" LCD, Digital Still Mode & MMC Card Slot

i've had my zr50 for two months now, and i love it!! when i was shopping around i considered the zr50mc and elura 40mc. i'm a mac user so, i had to make sure i bought a camcorder that supported mac os x, imovie and iphoto. after reading the consumer reviews on both camcorders from a few different sites, including the reviews on amazon.com, i opted for the zr50 and have not been disappointed.

i read a lot about the motor humming noises, but truthfully i don't know what humming noise was being referred to. the recorded movies are sharp and crisp; the colors bright.

i do agree with the "night mode" feature being a bit lacking, although the camcorder will record in low-light environment just fine.

no complaints on the battery life and required charging time.

the analog pass through feature is awesome...allows me to edit older movies recorded from an analog camcorder on my ibook!

i was also surprised by the quality of still shots taken on the zr50's photo (digital camera) feature...crisp, vivid colors, not too grainy. after reading some of the reviews, i didn't expect much from the still image feature.

bottom line -- the zr50 is a great buy, and it's affordability can't be beat. works fabulously with mac os x (and jaguar) and compatible with imovie and iphoto...

This is an awesome camcorder! I've had it for about two weeks now, and I love it. The video quality is very good and its compact size makes it very portable. I have a Apple iMac G4 and the ZR50 runs outstanding with it.

I am an amateur filmmaker and I was previously using my father's Canon GL1, which is a great camcorder, but I needed something for myself. I was skeptical of a high quality camcorder at a low price. So I did all the research and liked the ZR50.

The still quality isn't that good, but that is not why I bought it. If you are looking for a nice digital video and still camera, this is not for you. It is a nice bonus, though, to take low quality photos and share them with people over the Internet.

If you have read that the motor noise is a problem, well, the same noise is on my father?s Canon GL1 which is $... So, you make the decision to associate the noise with this particular camcorder or not.

If you want a small digital camcorder that takes great video at a good price, this is one for you.

I bought this camcorder just before Christmas. I've read all the reviews before decided to buy it, they are really helpful. This machine is perfect to me, having all the great features described by previous customers.

And I had a real good deal having a free carring bag and free software from Cannon and even a rebate. So, before you pay your credit card, go to check whether there is a rebate or discount offer from Manufacture. Sometimes, you have to browse some where else to find it, I don't trust other retailers, although they do seem to offer better price (they have very high shipping fee!!!).

I like Sony. But 10x zoom, size and weight steered me away from them. After reading MANY reviews on this site and elsewhere, I wanted to get the ZR40. Then the ZR50 appeared in my Gold Box and I decided to order it. I'm sure glad I did!!

I ordered it together with the external mic DM-50. (You have to order some tape with it, too. Why doesn't Canon include a tape?) I also have a Mac PowerBook G4. Here are my findings:

1. The video quality outdoors is just great. When you play back on a TV, it looks like any professional TV program. Crisp, colors are great.

2. Optics are excellent. 22x zoom lets you fill the screen with an orange 15 ft away. Shake is no problem. Digital zoom only marginally beneficial.

3. The stills are nothing special. But even a megapixel (like other brands) is nothing special. (My first digi camera was a Kodak 1.3 Megapixel. Nice but only good enough for very small printouts. I have a 4 Megapixel Olympus for hi-res printouts today.) Quality is OK if you want to send 640x480 web images.

4. Sound: The built-in mics are better than expected. They are sensitive and omnidirectional. There is some hum from the motor. Not a lot. But the real kicker is the DM-50. It's not totally cheap but it's worth it (in my eyes). The mic is very sensitive and audio is CRYSTAL clear. I taped my wife singing about 25 ft away. She is an opera singer, soprano. Her voice in the high range is a challenge to any mic. It's sensitive enough that I could hear her muttering with the organist, her pageturns. And yet her singing did not distort. The quality exceeds my 2 semi-pro mics. People only 10ft off to the side definitely sounded off mic. And even people right behind me were softer on tape than people in front 20ft away.

The DM-50 has also 2 stereo settings that are more omnidirectional. I haven't explored them yet.

5. Connection to the Mac is absolutely a breeze. Just plug in the firewire and load iMovie and you have the camera image on the computer monitor. You can record/import the camera image directly to hard drive w/o hitting record on the camera. iMovie also controls the camera to load the edited movie back onto the camera tape.

6. After the first 15min of taping I got a message that the heads would be dirty?? I ignored it and kept going. No problem. Maybe there was some residue on the heads from the factory? (The handbook says to clean the heads every 20 h.) 3 h of taping later, the message still hasn't come back.

I'm so glad I got the ZR50. 22x zoom and DM-50 are worth it!

Most of the video cameras I have used in the past several years have been Sony's. However, I have had very good experiences with both Canon digital cameras (G2, Powershot s300 and Powershot s230) and Canon 35mm cameras. Considering the excellent return policies that are out there, I thought that Canon was worth a risk. Note that I was in the market for a Mini DV camera and wanted to keep my budget under $1,000. The other camera I was considering was the Sony DCR TRV27.

The packaging of the camera was very nice (especially when compared to the TRV27), with 4 color printing on the outside, and a little molded plastic tray inside to hold all the wires, battery, remote, and other accessories. Although I wouldn't ever make an electronics purchasing decision based on packaging, this was a nice touch that is getting lost by other brands. When you consider that many camcorders are given as gifts, presentation does count for something.

Inserting the battery and plugging in the power supply is quick and intuitive...no surprises here. Inserting a Mini-DV cassette is also fairly simple and loads from the bottom. Compared to the Sony, the loading mechanism is almost the same. Both have the counterintuitive feature of half-closing the tape compartment to trigger the mechanical tape insertion. Although this seems to be the "standard" tape insertion protocol for Mini-DV cameras, it might be easy for an untrained friend or family member to injure your camera if they change the tape.

The Canon ZR50 body feels great in your hands. It is very balanced, appropriately light, and the on/off and record toggle buttons fall naturally under your thumb. The on/off/record buttons are big enough to easily manipulate which is a BIG advantage over the tiny, cramped Sony buttons. If you want very simple controls, or are giving this to a novice camcorder operator, the Canon ZR50 might be a great choice. The play/rewind/forward/stop buttons that you can see in all the photos of the camera are also very big and intuitive. You can even change the backlight colors of the p/r/f/s buttons for an extra cool factor. There is also added perk that the p/r/f/s buttons can glow different colors when the camera is in Player mode vs. Camera mode; when my friend couldn't get the camera to record, I could tell from across the room by the colors of the buttons that he was in the wrong mode.

The construction of the camera is really solid, and feels much tighter than the Sony. The swing out LCD screen and the viewfinder are adequate. Some people who held it made a comment that it had an overall "PlaySkool" quality to it, as if the camera was a rugged little toy. For some reason, this comparison does seem somewhat appropriate.

Recording quality is where the camera falls short. I lined up the Canon next to an older Sony DCR-PC10 (since I didn't have the TRV27 yet, this was the closest test I could do). Holding the cameras side by side, my friend and I shot indoors images, outdoors images, and zoomed in/out with the optical zooms. Comparisons were made based on video quality, color accuracy, brightness and sharpness.

The Canon was consistently off in terms of color accuracy: whites tended to have a red cast and purples were blue. The Sony was very accurate and even its LCD was close to what our eyes saw. Light/bright colors were blown out when outdoors on the Canon, but the Sony captured more color detail in these situations.

The Canon was roughly 20% darker than the Sony in low light. Using the Canon's Low Light and Night modes did not sufficiently compensate for brightness. Image was very grainy and dark in situations such as normal office lighting. Grain became excessive on the Canon at moderate to high zoom levels, but was always present nonetheless. Sony was superior to the Canon in all these situations. Furthermore, the Sony image was approximately 50% sharper and retained better detail on subjects like the folds of a shirt or leaves on a tree. Manipulating the manual settings such as shutter speed, or the various AE modes did not significantly improve quality on the Canon.

Quality comparisons between cameras held true when viewing on LCD screen, NTSC monitor direct from camera, or NTSC monitor after transferring DV files to Final Cut Pro.

Finally, there is the issue of the tape whine that is commonly reported. The wine was clearly present. Since the human ear can hear any DV camera's motor whine, I can't completely fault Canon for recording ambient room noise - including its own motor! However, it is more aesthetically pleasing to have a camera that doesn't pick up its own hum. Again, the Sony Mini DV did not pick up its motor noise.

In summary, this camera would be a great pick if Canon could improve the quality of the picture with a special emphasis on indoor lighting conditions. Unless you are not concerned with getting the best video quality you can for a similar price, I would not purchase this camera. The Sony DCR TRV18, 25, 27 and 50 all have the same Mini DV mechanism (i.e. Mini DV quality), so you should be able to find a price point to fit your budget.