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"Great budget camera" on by Fortinbras
Pros: Cheap, but good, trustworthy quality
Cons: Tape transport noise is recorded
Summary: This camera is great for its price. The only downer is that it records is own tape transport noise.
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"ZR800 same as MD120 (PAL)?" on by cgramer
Pros: Clean video (in bright light), good optical zoom, bright widescreen LCD, widescreen (16:9) shooting mode
Cons: Bottom loading of cassettes, noisy in low light, noise from tape drives picked up on built-in microphone, so-so battery life
Summary: I believe the ZR800 is the NTSC version of the Canon MD120 (PAL)--can anyone confirm this?
The camcorder records nice, clear video in well-lit situations (especially outdoors in sunlight) and the electronic image stabilization is pretty good at keeping things steady as long as you don't zoom in very far. Sound quality could be better, and the built-in microphone picks up the noise from the tape drive motors. However, connecting an external microphone should eliminate that issue. (I'm not sure if the microphone input on the camcorder is mono or stereo--again, can anyone confirm this?)
Overall, considering I paid only $268 for the MD120 (after converting from ~RM999--I bought it in Malaysia), the camcorder seems to be a good value. If you plan on creating videos as a profession, you'll definitely want to look into their higher-end, professional camcorders. -
"Worked a total of 5 minutes" on by tootrusting
Pros: They answer the phone quickly
Cons: Crap quality; must return for repair; know recall problems
Summary: This camera worked a total of 5 minutes before it no longer knew that the lens cap was off or on and thus no longer was usable for recording. Apparently there has been a mass recall due to same problem. Only option is to send to Canon for repairs. Had brought on our vacation to Europe and so forced to buy another camera because they refuse to honor gurantee while traveling. Tomorrow we buy a Sony. Canon has so many repair issues. Why bother? This is my last Canon product, I am longer loyal.
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"Much better than I expected" on by jporter91
Pros: Very good video quality, small and light-weight, extremely easy to use, takes MiniDVs, stylish
Cons: battery only last about an 1hr 20min, feels a little bit cheapy
Summary: I would definitely recommend this to anyone who is looking for a good video camera but doesn't need anything top-of-the-line or high definition. I like that it takes MiniDV tapes. It's true that the video doesn't look that great in low-light environments but outside it looks amazing. The UI is also very friendly.
Canon ZR800 user reviews
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