Canon ZR500 Mini DV Camcorder

Pros: Inexpensive, Small, good picture quality for it's price range.
Cons: No light source,trying to accessing the options with the joystick control.

My wife and I were looking for a replacement for our old JVC DV camera that was starting to show it's age. We went to Best Buy to shop around after comparing various models online. We narrowed it down to two Canons. The ZR500 and ZR600 the ones in ...

Pros: Easy to use, stylish, good quality picture.
Cons: Complicated to transfer video to computer.

I bought the Canon ZR500 because I wanted to capture family memories. This camera is very simple to operate if you are a beginner as I was. You can just point and shoot and the automatic adjustments turn out a very nice quality picture with no effort ...

Pros: VERY EASY to use in easy mode WIDE mode available LiOn battery Small size
Cons: No still photo options No manual focus ring

I bought a ZR500 at Best Buy for essentially the employee price of $199 which seems lower than anything I have seen on the internet pricing (lowest is 214). I have had 2 other camcorders in the past 20 years: a on the shoulder VHS full size for a few ...

Pros: PRICE, PRICE, size, weight, sheer convenience.
Cons: Low light struggles, image quality.

Picked up from TigerDirect for $200 after rebate, very good price for a decent little camera.

The Good:

Very portable, fits in the palm of your hand, or in a coat pocket. Takes decent video in outdoor or bright light situations. Has some manual controls to improve video quality in lower light situations. True 16x9 CCD, built in lens cover, lightweight. Sound from onboard microphone is adequate, has jack for external mike.

The Bad:

Lower light performance is frustrating. Almost any indoor video has needed brightness and contrast adjustments in Vegas, which result in a slightly noisy picture. Optics seem well below par for a Canon product.

This is the camcorder you buy when you're taking a trip and don't want to lug around a lot of equipment. This is NOT the camcorder you want to record important events, such as weddings, etc.