Photo : Canon ZR830 MiniDV Camcorder with 35x Optical Zoom

Rating: - Some manual features, Good (but not great) quality--A Nice First Camcorder
Definitely a good starter camcorder, has pretty good features.



Pros:

-Quickstart feature

-Comfortable (although wrist strap kinda hurts after an hour or so)

-Impressive zoom (sometimes has trouble focusing on very distant objects)

-Small

-Has SD card slot (for taking crappy videos and pics, but still works if you have to shoot something and only have this camcorder)

-Can take pictures while recording (to MiniDV tape, don't know about when you're recording to the card)

-LCD joystick doesn't get in the way (in case you might be thinking that like I originally had)

-Viewfinder (if you prefer it over the LCD)

-Remote control



Cons:

-Motor noise is very loud in video IF video is taken in quiet environment, BEWARE! (Both the ZR800 and ZR850 have this problem, and, although few reviews mention it, the ZR830 certainly does as well.)

-No video light (have to get the ZR850 for that feature)

-Video quality looks great on LCD but is definitely a bit soft-edged once uploaded to computer

-Video/pictures recorded onto card are very low quality




Overall, this is definitely a good first camcorder for a beginner, but you will likely want something more later on. It certainly still lives up to the Canon name.

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Rating: - I love this Camcorder!
This is a great Camcorder. It is easy to use and is great for videoing sports. We use this a lot to video our daughter's soccer games and we get a great quality image and the sports feature helps keep the image steady. This Camcorder will hook up to your TV, VCR or DVD burner by AV cables. We connect ours to our DVD burner and transfer our video to DVD. I would recommend this for anyone that is looking for an Camcorder that is reasonably price and easy to use.

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Rating: - Decent quality for price
This camera is okay. The picture quality is a little blocky and it is shaky. Overall, though, it is pretty decent. It's comfortable to hold and the options are fairly simple to figure out. It doesn't do real well with brightness in the background, e.g. light reflecting off a mirror or window, but it does have an option that helps. Mostly a good value and possibly better for people with actual video skills.

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Rating: - Cannon camera
Bought it for my husband, he loved it. He wanted a camera that would take picture of tiny prints as he wanted does laser marking and pad printing. This camera zooms upto 35x so it takes great pic.

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Rating: - first video camera
We haven't much of a chance to use it yet, but we think it will be just fine- once we get the hang of it. The size is nice, and it's light-weight. Focusing with the zoom has been a challenge, but then again maybe we just haven't gotten the knack of it yet. It's our first video camera!