Home > Consumer Reviews > Canon ZR40 MiniDV Digital Camcorder with 2.5" LCD, & Digital Still Mode

I'm always been fond of the Canon line of consumer DV cams. They always have great optics, electronics, and durability. But what really sets them apart is thier menu systems! It's totally disgusting that on most any other brand, including ones as prestegious as Sony, that they lump all the menu options into a hoard of small, finger nail sized, buttons for most of thier consumer models. For Canon's you simply press the menu button then scoll and press a togele wheel. This way, once you get the hang of the wheel, you now understand how to use the whole menu system for any function. This is a great improvement over those that require the manual to find that "secret button combination". This is a consumer camera but I use it for many large applications. It has been sized down from it's Optura and Ultura ancestors but pretty well all the functionality and then some. It has other sister cams such as the ZR45MC and ZR50MC. These pack the all-in-one memory card digital camera and mini Dv. I have friends who love these models dearly. Personally I go for a seperate camera with larger resolution. Whatever your needs are ...

I've noticed a large number of reviews that say something to the affect of "I pulled it out of the box, plugged it up, and the image was grainy" or "I turned on steady shot and nothing happend".

This might be old news for most but to explain for those of you that might be concerned by this ...

Video cameras these days still thrive on ample lighting! This and other cameras have a sort of slow motion low light mode (accessible from the menu) that works by slowing down the frame rate and sucking every bit of image data off the CCD. THis is ok for an emergancey but if you want good image, turn on an extra light or two. Human eyes are so adaptable that you might not even notice if the lighting is more subdued than usal but it will make a mile of diffence for the camera. Secondly, get to know the manual menu and exposure system. The auto functions can't always guess what your trying to do.

About steady shot... this only takes of the headache inducing shock that occurs when you jar the camera. It's extremely useful in it's own right but it won't keep you from waving the camera around.

This is a great cam that I fully recommend. THere is one issue that doesn't dampen my five star rating but is noteworthy. To size this camera down to an even more portable size, the engineers made it with the DV cassette loading from the bottom instead of the top. THis is fine except that if you are a true believer in tripods, as I am, then you have to take the camera off the tipod or tripod plate every time you need to swap tapes. Just a minor concern...

Expecting a baby, I did research for about three weeks before I ended up with this Canon ZR40. Couple of features that I wanted to have were external mic input, analog input, no still images since I already own a nice digital camera, and most of all, affordable price tag. Amazingly, ZR40 had this all! 18x zoom is nice and its compact size is pretty neat. Still, I have minor complaints after extensive tests.

1. As pointed out by many people previously, the picture is somewhat grainy specially indoors. Because this is my first digital camcorder, I don't know if this happens for other high-end models, but I suspect it may stand out somewhat more for ZR40 with only 480K CCD pixels.
2. What has also been noted was the motor noise, which is my primary concern for now. Maybe, I would not been able to tell if I had not read those reviews, but I could certainly hear the noise when recorded in a quiet environment. I tried to use an external microphone to remove the noise, in which case the noise is gone, but the external microphone does not match the internal microphone in sensitivity. (I used a low-end microphone for the test with the sensitivity of -75 dBm, though.)
3. This is a really minor point, but the camcorder automatically shuts down if I don't start recording within 5 minutes.

Overall, I think ZR40 has great features at such a price and is certainly worth owning if you are looking for one in the price range.

Pros:
1) 18x Optical zoom. I can clearly see the faces of people sitting across an indoor stadium. Don't settle with 10x on many similar models!

2) Size. Very comfortable and easy to hold for an hour, but heavy enough to prevent 'shaky hand', and not too small for big hand.

3) Image stablization. It actually works, especially if the objects don't move a lot. Very important if you go near full optical zoom.

4) Shooting modes. I tested both low light and spot light modes in a very low light indoor stadium. Spot light works like a charm, if you don't want to see the audience at all. Low light let you record everything, and the video is grainy yet acceptable. Overall, shooting modes work as advertised.

Cons:

1) Motor noise. The microphone picks up a LOT of motor noise, and this can become VERY annoying if you are recording in a quiet environment without a lot of background noise. Taping a sleeping baby in a quiet bedroom? forget about it.

2) Color. The color often looks 'untrue', especially outdoor under stronger sunlight. On the video, trees and grass often are not nearly as green as they actually are.

3) Battery life. The battery only last 50 min with LCD on half of the time. Replacement battery cost quite a bit.

I have had my ZR40 for a week now, and it has exceeded my high expectations.
The 18x optical zoom is phenominal. I can read the headlines on a newspaper two blocks away, or a number in a phone book 20 feet away.
I was impressed by the camera's ability to perform in low light conditions. In my poorly-lit living room, I exerienced no graininess or loss of quality.
I took the camera outside 30 minutes after sunset and was still able to record satisfactory video.
Hooking the camera up to my TV for playback was very simple. Recording off my VCR was also very straight forward.
The remote control (which wasn't mentioned in Amazon.com's review, BTW) is handy for recording our nephew who gets shy when he knows he's being filmed.
I recorded in some quiet settings, but was not able to hear the electric motor turning the tape or adjusting the lense when zooming. If that's a problem, it's easy enough to hook up an external microphone to the ZR40.
If you get this camcorder, don't forget to claim Canon's free ShowBiz video editing software (see their web site) with proof of purchase. (I haven't gotten it yet, so I can't rate it now.)

This is really the ideal entry-level camcorder for someone just getting into digital video editing. The optical image stabilization is far better than the electronic kind, and the picture quality is pretty good. It has a tendency to overexpose in bright sunlight, but you can easily adjust the exposure down half an f-stop. It's small and light, the viewfinder and flip-out screen are both color, battery life is pretty good with an add-on high capacity battery. Best of all, you can connect your old analog camcorder to it and import all your old videos to DV! Works great with Apple iMovie.

The one downside to this camcorder is the audio. It's a problem with most tiny cameras, and this is no exception: motor whine. DV requires a high speed rotating head, which means fast motors--and because of the small body, they're too close to the built-in microphones.

My solution was to spend an extra $99 on a Sony WCS-999 Wireless Microphone kit. It's a clip-on belt pack with a "tie clip" style mic, operating via 900MHz wireless. Just like professional TV presenters use, but at a fraction of the price. After that investment, I got great sound.