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

I purchased a ZR-25 which is basically the same camera.
My satisfaction with the camera is overwhelming. I mainly bought it for our trip to Disney, boy did it work great! It fit in my fanny pack! Let's face camcorder facts, if it is to cumbersome to carry, ya just won't use it! This thing is tiny and the video is DVD quality! I cut 2 DVD's so far, and the video is superb! One complaint people have had with this camera is the poor indoor/low light capability. True, it is probably not as good indoors as the lower lux sony's, but I found that if you set the shutter speed to 1/60, the indoor video quality improved noticibly from poor, to acceptable. In the automatic GREEN mode, the shutter speed must be at 1/100 or 1/250 which doesn't allow in enough light in when indoors. The outdoor video is so crisp, I cannot believe it. I'm satisfied with image stabilization also. Some cameras have noticibly more, but this always ends up sacrificing total recorded screen resolution, and I think Cannon made the right choice. BUY IT, LOVE IT, USE IT!
Kev out.

I bought the canon zr30mc from a friend who was rushing for the canon xls and its the best thing i ever purchased in my entire life.
I filmed a documentary both indoor and outdoor and the quality is superb.
All you have to do is to make sure you set the auto exposure correctly and its the best.
If you want superb quality for a outdoor shot make sure you purchase a filter for the lens so that the sky doesn't look washed out.

I've had my ZR30MC for a week. The video image quality is truly excellent, the unit has more features than I'll ever use and the size of the camera makes it easily go anywhere. Even the Video magazines are giving this a must see. Best of all, it is an excellent value! As you can tell, I love mine.

Despite advances in the consumer home-video field, it seems one area where we are still in the Commodore64 age.

The specs are higher than they were for older analog models, but the actual resulting picture quality is only slightly better when conditions are perfect. Imperfect conditions can result in picture quality that is worse than that of analog camcorders.

The CanonZR30MC tries to digitally sharpen data-compressed images. The result can be frustrating. If you have ever seen TV shows where they mask faces with that pixel effect, you get the idea. Obviously, the ZR30MC doesn't do it as severly, but it is very noticable.

Because of this, you have to be very careful to shoot images without too much color contrast. Straight diagonal lines also present a problem.

The image stabilizer is subtle. You'll only notice an improvement when zoomed-in tight.

On the good side, the audio is very good. It can record loud live music without distortion. This camcorder also works well with iMovie software (connecting cable sold seperately $20).

Basically, if you can shoot under ideal conditions, the CanonZR30MC provides good picture quality and very good sound. Under less-than-ideal situations (which is often if you don't record in a Hollywood studio), the camcorder leaves too many annoying artifacts in the picture. The softer image of an analog camcorder can look more natural than the mosaic look this camcorder often gives.

Give this field a few more years and I think we'll see much better products coming out. It still has a way to go.

I did a lot of research and finally decided to get the ZR30 camcaorder. I've been VERY happy with the results.

Great design, very small, still pics, digital, and all other features are great!

The only thing that is a "little bad" is the low light isn't that great. Just turn a light on and seemed to be fine.

Highly Recommended!