Home > Consumer Reviews > Canon ZR30MC Digital Camcorder with Built-in Digital Still Mode

As a novice to the camcorder world I was very concerned and confused about the wide range of features and prices available in the market so, unusually for me, I took a little time and did my research.

Boy am I glad I did, and I am especialy pleased with the result. The Canon is perfect and does everything I want. It's easy to use and the results have been extremely good, especially considering that I am really new to all this.

It seems from the reviews I have read that most camcorders with built still photography features lack the quality of purpose built digital cameras, and while this is also true of my Canon, its not really an issue as I have several still cameras in 35mm and digital formats that I like to use.

The quality of the video on the Canon is really very good. I do not have the needs of a serious hobbyist or professional but I still want something that gives good quality and I am very pleased.

I am also very happy with the overall ergonimics of the camera and its ease of use. One of my first outings was a car trip out of NY city and I shot a lot of city shots from the car. The results were very satisfying.

I have only used a few of the special features and have not done any editing yet but on first glance I found the instructions a little confusing but I put that down to my lackof experience.
I really have no negative comments, my only small niggle is the hinge on the little door that covers the DC power seems very flimsy and I sense it may snap one of these days but apart from that the camera is really sturdy

In terms of value, after much research I feel I got a very good product at a fair price. I compared it to Sony and JVC products and felt that I bought a lot of quality and flexibility and saved over 200 dollars over the Sony without losing any features that I needed.

So this has been a very gratifying experience and I look forward to using the camera for a very long time. I strongly recommend it.

I recently purchased a ZR30MC and am thrilled with the output and the design of the Camcorder. I read many reviews on the net on the ZR10 and have heard many complaints about filming in low light conditions. The quality in low light is just fine - maybe they fixed the problem with the ZR30mc. I do have a friend who has a Sony TRV20 that handles low light significantly better but it is almost double the price. On outside video I cant imagine the quality being any better.

As for design - Canon has a real Gem with this one. It is small and ergonomically designed. The quality of the Still photos leave something to be desired - But I have a regular Digital Camera for that purpose.

All in all Canon has made an excellent small Digital Camcorder with a nearly perfect design !!! Would definatley recommend the whole ZR20,25,30 series.

My original goal in purchasing this camcorder was to record a festival in Russia where I would need a reliable battery between charges, good low light shooting,and plenty of space on tapes so I wouldn't run out.

In my first week of shooting, I tried various scenarios. I interviewed a friend in low light conditions. I was very impressed by the quality of the sound - both hers and mine as I was interviewing. The picture quality was good - better than I had been led to believe by reading other customer reviews.

I agree with others that the digital zoom is useless. I tried to film deer in a pasture that I could clearly see, but since it was out of range of the analog zoom, all I got was jitters and smeared video. Evidently the image stabilizer does not work above 10 power or with the digital zoom. Wish I had known this before I purchased the camera.

My other complaint was that I never got accurate readings on battery life. So I could never tell when to re-charge. The battery symbol was always empty, even though the camera was clearly full and worked. I assumed that this is a defect in the camera, called Canon Tech support who confirmed this, and am now getting a replacement.Question for other users...Do you remove the battery every time you stop shooting? It does say to do this in the manual. Just asking.

My final goal is to edit digital video and make a movie, saving it on a CD. This is because, as some of you may know, our video ( NTSC) is incompatable with European video standards (PAL). By editing the video and saving it to a CD it should be playable in Russia and elsewhere.

This small compact DV camcorder is worth every dollar, but not worth every penny. It has great handling, a slick look, with an awesome menu system. It has various digital effects, including chroma key, which I thought was very cool. It's very light, it only weights about a pound, unless you use a bigger battery, or light. Which I found to be very useful as well. This camcorder has many accessories to buy, like 2 different lights, a shot gun mic which can be mounted on the accesory shoe, which the ZR10-25 don't have. You can also buy 3 different sized extra batteries with extra power. Also this camcorder has extended recording which can make a 60 minute tape last over 2 and a half hours. All that is cool, but what I did dislike about this camcorder is it's digital zoom past 40, it just plain s u x. I know the optical zoom is what really matters. But at least let me be able to see something with the digital zoom besides blur.

The images from the Canon ZR30MC camcorder are terrific. I cannot imagine another video camera any better. This camera's design and quality is excellent, well thought out, and it is incredibly easy to use.

I love the versatility of this camcorder, you can switch from taking video to stills with just a click of a button.

I have used an analog Canon Hi8 camcorder in the past, and the ZR30MC picture quality and sound blows it away.

I am completely happy with this purchase, and would recommend the ZR30MC to anyone. For the money, this is the best video camera on the market.