Canon ZR60 MiniDV Digital Camcorder with 2.5" LCD, 18x Optical Zoom and Image Stabilization
Details
- Availability:
- No longer available through SilverGelatin.net
- List Price:
- $449.99
- Average Customer Rating:
- 3.5 out of 5
- Manufacturer:
- Canon
Features
- MiniDV camcorder with 18x optical zoom, 360x digital zoom
- Image stabilization for smoother and steadier video
- 2.5-inch fold-out color LCD screen and color viewfinder
- Takes digital still photos and stores them on tape
- Connects to PCs and Macs via Firewire (IEEE1394)
Description
Designed for point-and-shoot simplicity, Canon's ZR series camcorders allow everyone to get great results without any effort at all. Place the camcorder in your hand, and it fits comfortably and securely, like you have owned it for years. No learning curve is necessary as you soon find yourself shooting crisp, vibrant video and life-like digital photos, just by pressing a single button. Canon, the trusted name in optics for decades, has made capturing memories more convenient, exciting, and easier than ever.Canon ZR60 brings you all the benefits of digital video: a digital photo mode, a 2.5" flexible color view screen, 18X optical/360X digital zoom, a Color Night mode, an image stabilization feature, a high-quality microphone, a built-in analog to digital converter, and much more!
Looking for an easy way to break into the world of digital video? Look no further than the Canon ZR60, which makes capturing valuable family memories as simple as pressing a button. Connect your camcorder to a computer running Windows or Mac operating systems, and experience the digital world like it was meant to be: quick, seamless, and fun.
Lens
The ZR60 features a high-performance 1/6-inch 680,000-pixel CCD to capture high-quality video and digital photos. The zoom technology found in the ZR60 lens is the same as Canon uses in its broadcast TV lenses. The ZR60 is fitted with a high-performance 18x optical zoom lens, which can easily handle all your shooting needs--from wide-angle shots of all the family at the reunion to close-up sports action at full telephoto. The ZR60's 360x digital zoom significantly expands the telephoto magnification of the subject.
Image Stabilization
Canon's image-stabilization system corrects camera shake caused by, for example, an unsteady hand. This image-stabilization system makes for smoother and steadier video even with hand-held shots, at full telephoto, and with shots taken from a moving car.
Digital Stills
For added flexibility, you can take up to 700 still images on a MiniDV single tape. The camcorder records the photos for approximately 6 seconds, as well as recording the sound for your verbal notes or narration. You can search through the recorded tape for your photos using the supplied remote control.
This photo-search feature allows you to search for images recorded in photo mode. Search forward or backward through the images one at a time, or plus or minus 10 images from the current position.
More Features
- 2.5-inch fold-out color LCD screen and 0.33-inch color viewfinder
- The My Camera function is designed to let you customize a number of features, including start-up image and sound, shutter sound, start-stop sound, and the self-timer sound
- The full-function wireless remote control works at distances up to 16 feet
Inputs and Outputs
The ZR60 comes with the standard IEEE 1394 port (also referred to as FireWire), which provides a lossless connection to a PC or other DV machines. Additionally, the ZR60 features two types of analog audio and video inputs and outputs: composite and S-video. The analog audio inputs of the ZR60 let you perform dub or insert editing from CDs, cassettes, microphones, or the soundtracks of other videocassettes.
MiniDV Format
MiniDV is the new preferred format for personal and broadcast-quality video, highly regarded for its high audio and image quality. With up to 540 lines of horizontal resolution and minimum color noise, MiniDV delivers a 20 percent clearer picture than analog camcorder formats. This is all delivered on a cassette that's 1/12th the size of a standard VHS tape. A MiniDV tape offers digital recording time of 2 full hours--20 times the capacity of a CD.
Power, Size, and Contents
The ZR60 comes with a rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack, which has an approximate battery life of 75 minutes when using the LCD screen. The camera itself measures 4.1 by 2.3 by 5.8 inches and weighs 18 ounces. This package includes the ZR60 camcorder, battery pack BP-508, power adapter CA-570, wireless controller WL-D80, shoulder strap, stereo video cable, and the DV Network Solutions CD-ROM.
Spotlight customer reviews
It doesn't work
[ Posted: 2008-10-14 ]
I bought this unit about 5 years ago and used it quite extensively, but then for 3 years it sat in a drawer unused. Now, planning a trip,I resurrected it, but found that I couldn't see images through the view finder. I took it to Best Buy, and they thought that the shutter was defective. I then went to Circuit City and they recommeded trying a head cleaner. I ran the head cleaner, and it started to work at first
but then the same thing happened again - no viewer image. I'm not sure what to do, maybe send it to Canon and see what they say.
Good Value, Not Top Notch
[ Posted: 2006-10-01 ]
Overall, the camera houses some nice manual features, and an external mic in, and is very user friendly. However, you get what you pay for. The color defintion is not there; anything less than full sun and the colors drain out of the picture. Low light performance leads the camera to crank up the gain and produce a noisy image that I would call un presentable, but still fine for the price range. The camera always seems to be two steps away from a black and white image, so plan to do some color correction to fix the image. I agree with everyone else on the external mic; the tape transport is noisy. In the end, however, I love the camera. It's low quality, cheap, but has tons of features and a shoe and mic input to add a shotgun to the top. I know of many cameras that cost much much more than this one that do not even provide a headphone jack seperate from the microphone input. I realy love the camera, and you will too, as long as you can compromise on the image quality in lower light and the audio issue.
Great Cam - but possible CCD defect
[ Posted: 2006-02-09 ]
Just over a year after purchase, the LCD screen went black. I did some research online and heard about the CCD malfunctioning in a bunch of canon series camcorders, including the ZR60. The camera tech I took it to was going to charge me $300 to fix it, but luckily Canon did it for free! because of this happening to so many cameras! So, since I got it fixed it still works great! I wouldn't use it for anything professional, but its small enough to carry around for a good time and film home movies!
No problems after 3 years and still great value
[ Posted: 2005-12-03 ]
Great value for the money (at the time, and now). Very high quality images in good lighting, especially outdoors; average to lower quality in low lighting (but hard to blame this on Canon; my old Sony was worse). No motor noise or any other problems. No problems with buttons, functions, etc. Just thinking about a new one now since the 2.2M pixel CCDs are the norm now, and this one has less.
Sensor problems also but great service fixed it.
[ Posted: 2005-09-25 ]
Canon is a very good company, I am happy with the ZR60 I bought as others have mentioned. But this month (9/05) the sensor went out after a bit less than two years! You can be pretty sure the sensor is out when you detect no light at all (black screen on LCD and viewfinder) but sound recording still works. I went on this website to look up the product and found several unhappy customers complaining about the sensor going out also. I went to the canon web site and manual to try to figure out what was wrong and concluded that my sensor was out. I then looked at the Canon web site and did not find anything on this except the support line. I called and after a 3 or 4 minutes on hold was connected to someone who seemed familiar with this problem and I was delighted to hear that I would get a new sensor at no charge if the sensor problem was indeed what was wrong. I spent $13.80 to ship it (insured and confirmed delivery) and within two weeks I have my camera back and it is working. I am relieved I did not have an expensive repair to deal with. Overall, I am very happy with the product and service. Just wish the sensors were more stable and wonder now if the new sensor will go out in a couple of years or if it will be good for the 10 years I would expect.