Canon ZR800

Pros: mic port, built in lens cover, decent image quality, inexpesive

Cons: Bottom loader, no accesory shoe,

Summary: With the consumer world making the switch over to disc and hard drive options, there's still some of us who know what were doing and stick to tape, don't argue tape is better for camcorders. Being the owner of a Canon xl2 and a canon elura 100, I needed a cheapo camcorder that i can strap to a boom and dangle over the lions at the zoo or basically anything that could had some damage to the camera. Being a professional videographer,the still function is not needed i have a dslr for that stuff. Some positives of this camera is the image quality for being such a cheapo it delivered good enough for me but in comparison to my elura 100 , it was so so. The built in lens cover is great along with a level marker. THIS CAMCORDER HAS A MIC PORT!! THE 850 DOES NOT!! the sound quality is average along with low light. some cons of this camera is the mode switch, on my elura to switch it to camera you turn the switch up but on the 800 you turn it down for camera, this is mildly annoying, The battery life of this is pretty bad but since it's on the back you can buy a extra extended battery. The biggest glitch is that its a bottom loader camera!!!!!!! i love having it on top with my elura and xL2 , i was planing of having this one on a tripod in my studio for using it to transfer over the tapes to my editing station. For somebody whos starting or needs a stunt camera this is a good choice for somebody looking for camcorder of the year go for an elura 100 or an xL2.