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

Great size, excellent video quality and very easy to use. It's nice to not have to haul around a big video camera. This one fits in a coat pocket, a purse, or a back pack and doesn't get in the way. Don't let the small size fool you though! It has a lot of nice features, but keeps it simple...
I'm a satisfied customer!
--Mike from Portland, Oregon

I must apologize for my previous review of the Canon ZR30. The review was rather negative, but the problem was in my ignorance--not the camera.

I had complained that the recorded picture was too pixelated--That anything with hard edges was represented by over-sized wobbly digital blocks. This temporary problem, I since learned, resides in my iMovie editing software.

iMovie cannot reveal the true quality of the digital footage. It simplifies the images to save processing power for editing. After reading "iMovie: The Missing Manual", I learned that the only way to see the true glory of a digital camcoder's video is to hook it up to a real television using an S-Link connection. By the way, videos edited in iMovie WILL still look great, but only after you dump the project back to the camcoder and then play the resulting DV through a real television. Merely exporting to Quick Time doesn't do it justice.

Well, I finally tried the obvious and connected the ZR30 to my real television (duh?). It was a very pleasant surprise! Gone where the jagged pixels. The picture was very smooth--and I have a large screen to boot.

Probably the main difference between the look of my footage and pro footage is in the lighting. Don't forget, real TV shows are shot under perfectly manufactured lighting conditions. My stuff shot in my house looks like... well... my dark house.

I still find that the ZR30 requires more tweaking than my older Sony TRV did. The Sony was really idiot proof: Hit the red button to record. While the ZR30 does offer automatic modes, I don't feel that they work as well. On the other hand, you can manually adjust many of the parameters and get better results that way.

The image stabling is of the optical variety. It's great because it doesn't interfere with the picture quality. It doesn't respond to bumps quite as quickly as electronic types, though, so some jerking still gets through. Just leave it on and try to be careful.

I'm feeling really happy with my ZR30 now. Sorry if I mislead anybody with the previous review

I'm amazed how much stuff and features they were able to cram into this little camcorder and still have it ergonomical, compact and light. Unfortunately they left out one very important feature to any good still camera... the flash! Stills taken indoors by lamp light are grainy and dark. I'm going to try the optional light to see if that makes a difference. If it had a built-in flash, it would have rated 5 stars with me.

General camcorder tips from someone who has been using video cameras for almost 20 years:
o always use a halogen light indoors: camcorder lights are white light; indoor lighting tends to be yellow. The dimmer the lighting, the more the iris opens up on the camera, allowing in even more yellow light. I ruined a friend's wedding video this way, since it looked like the bride wore yellow.
o and always buy at least one extra battery and an external charger: this way when (not if) the battery dies, you can keep shooting while the other battery is recharging.

I got my camcorder two week ago. After reading some reviews I decided that the best review should be my own review on the field. The video quality is excellent, terrific, and the still picture feature is above a normal rate. It is small but fit pretty well on my hand. Very easy to use, good documentation and it design is beatiful. Do not loose time thinking ! You will love its performance !!!!

Read the specs, compare ALL the features, talk to those who own it, and you too will buy it! Simply the easiest to use and best quality digital video camera you can buy! And the price---what more is there to say?

Some cameras you buy and get home to find no microphone plug! Some no Firewire connection or RCA video jacks to archive all those old tapes you have. You won't have that problem with this Canon gem.

This is the second of the ZR series I have owned. I have also owned Sony among others, always going back to Canon.