Home > Consumer Reviews > Canon ZR45MC MiniDV Digital Camcorder with 2.5" LCD, Digital Still Mode & MMC Card Slot

Its a very nice camera don't get me wrong. However due to its compact design, the speaker is too close to the tape motor. During quiet and not so quiet areas, you will hear a high pitched humm coming from your camera as well as on what you record. Canon confirmed this as a design flaw. The ZR45, 40 and 50 all do this. I was really disappointed, I returned mine.. I wish there was a way to fix it.

Let me preface this review by saying that I really, really wanted to like this camcorder. I did a lot of research before buying this camcorder, including reading a lot of on-line reviews. Many reviews mentioned that the motor noise was picked up by the microphone and was audible on recordings. Some reviewers said it wasn't noticable. Well, against my better judgment I purchased this camcorder. Within the first 10 seconds of recording I could tell the motor noise was going to be a problem. Sure enough - it was quite annoying for me. I don't want to discount the other reviewers who said they didn't have a problem with the motor noise, but for me it was untolerable. I'm thinking that maybe some of the Canons might be louder than others, but the one I had was LOUD! I went out and payed the extra money for a Sony DCR-TRV18 (there is/was a ... rebate going so it wasn't too much more than the Canon) and it is MUCH quieter. It also seems a little better built, too. For me it was totally worth the extra money.

Here's the skinny on the Canon ZR45MC:

Pros:
* Relatively inexpensive.
* Fantastic optics and optical zoom.

Cons:
* Motor noise - it's audible while recording and on the recording.

This is my first digital camcorder. As a first timer its very easy to use which I liked most. without the tape i hooked to my Sony VIAO PC and within 10 minutes I made a small movie. the setup is so easy. to transfer the video I used IEEE port which comes in Sony VIAO and the Movie Shaker software.the quality is awesome but the quality of the digital still pictures are not excellent, but its ok. for starters and home movie makers its more than enough in a single camcorder

All these complaints about hum . We have recorded hours of video and have yet to hear any noise that wasn't on our old sony camcorder. The video quality is super crisp, sound is great and still photo is great providing that you don't increase the size of your pictures. But we use a olympus 460 for stills so we don't use the still shot mode. Overall this camera is a great choice for digital vdeo and will be with us for some time to come. Don't think twice about getting one, you won't be sorry.

I have had this camera for 18 months and about 2 months ago, it started beeping at me to eject the tape almost every time I used it. I went on-line and found that this is common with this camera for some reason. I was able to prevent major problems by removing the tape after each use, but that no longer works. Now I cannot record or watch any tape without it forcing me to remove the cassette. I was very fond of this camera until it stopped working. I am very disappointed that I will now have to buy a new camcorder (a local repairman estimated over $200 to fix it). I have a friend who has the exact same camera and he has yet to have a problem, but it isn't worth the risk.