Easy and fun to use! A must for the new user!
Written: May 14 '03
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Pros: Great hand held, excellent ergonomic, good video quality, excellent zoom
Cons: controls and functions can be difficult to learn
The Bottom Line: If you are just getting into video recording, this is a definite must. Ease of use, and available transfers to all media types make it an excellent buy!
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| jmbronk's Full Review: Canon ZR45MC Mini DV Camcorder |
So, what makes a good camera? With the hundreds of various video cameras and company’s manufacturing them, its can be tricky to find the best on for you. Your best bet is to research well, because it is an investment!
After doing my own research I settled on the Canon ZR 45 MC Mini DV Camcorder as the best for me. It is relatively light weight and easy to hold, fitting comfortably into your hand, with the pause/record button right by the thumb. The various affects, such as fade and slide shows, give some good added bonuses, but it’s the features that make the difference. It has a great, clear zoom, allowing to video tape up close and personal, or get that scene way in the distance with just a move of the finger. Not to mention it offers an 18X optical zoom, a great addition and improvement, considering most camcorders tend to stay around 12-14. It also has a built in adjustment for lightening affects to give you the ability to shoot in various levels of light and still get a clear picture. The ability to add attachments such as an exterior light also adds a bonus for the night owls. The connections for the power supply, VHS inputs, USB and the available 1394 firewire are easily accessible and allow for fast, easy transfer of your recorded material to various media types.
Although some people say that the MiniDV system for recording is expensive (somewhere around $10 dollars a tape), I find them very useful. You can easily adjust the quality of the recording getting an hour of high quality recording or 2 hours of lower quality/tape. Their small size also makes for convenient carrying and fast changing of tapes.
AUDIO/VIDEO QUALITY: Video quality is excellent! Audio can be noisy at times, especially if shooting at a distance.
VIEW SCREEN: This model has a 2.5" pivot color view screen. This allows for you to rotate the screen completely around and actually record yourself or let others see what you see. Having the main menu controls behind the view screen also helps so that you don’t accidentally push something you don’t want to, but also gives easy interface when wanting to change functions, seeing them displayed on the screen. Gives good resolution for play back as well, so you can see just how well you did.
INPUTS/OUTPUTS: Having outputs for almost every need, including S-video, RCA, 1394 firewire and USB, you can easily interchange your video to the computer, display it directly on the TV or put it on the computer. The RCA, firewire and USB interface all work both ways as well, allowing you to add things to the camera, and do editing on the computer.
ERGONOMICS: Superb ergonomics. The camera fits like its part of your hand, with button control right where you would expect it! The easily adjustable lens piece also allows modification for comfort and shooting position. The menu function uses a scroll wheel that doubles as the volume control, making accessing the menu easy and fast. The view screen pops out with a small button easily accessible by your off hand, and the zoom control and still photo button line up perfectly with your index finger!
IMAGE STABILIZATION: Very good. Even clears the picture up if you use high zoom to a distant location for you!
BATTERY LIFE: As long as you don’t actively use the view screen, you can record up to two hours before the battery dies, giving many fun road trips a life of their own! With the screen, the battery life cuts a little more then half, giving around 50 minutes of easy use.
NIGHT SHOT: Not horrible, but not great. Objects tend to be dark and indefinable for the most part, especially if you transfer and try to recompress in a video editing program on the computer. If you are outdoors with back light or street lights, however, you can almost not tell the difference! The add-on light can also come in handy, although if shooting people or a school play, it could get annoying.
TAPE FUNCTIONS: Having the option to vary the record time and quality is a great benefit, depending on what you are recording. I do like the MiniDV system because it allows for small tapes that are easy to carry anywhere, even your pocket if you need to. The high quality is well worth it.
PHOTO RECORDING: Don’t use it often because I also own a cannon digital camera, but the quality is still good, using a small flash card.
DIGITAL FUNCTIONS: The digital zoom is very nice, but can be shaky in your hand. A tripod comes in handy if you plan on using it for a long time. Most of the extra functions like fade in and out I haven’t messed with on the camera itself, preferring to use Adobe premier for my editing.
REMOTE CONTROL: The remote is good for playback, and if you like to do random candid stuff and set it up on a tripod and can just start recording, that way you can be in the picture too.
COMPUTER INTERFACE: Comes with a built in USB and 1394 firewire connection. Although most computers don’t come pre-built with the firewire connection, if you plan on editing with the computer it is a must. The firewire allows for easy, fast transfers into any DV recording system in editing software.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 460.00
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Epinions.com ID:
jmbronk
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Reviews written: 2
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