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

Basically a nice unit. Loaded with all the features you could ever want: plenty of optical zoom, digital stabilizer, very compact size, reasonable warranty, and good looks too.

BUT...this camera has a VERY annoying buzzing/humming sound to it. I called Canon and they said it's "normal for that unit." Excuse me?

Maybe for some people, the buzz is not annoying. But compared to my cheap, old 8mm, this is much, much noisier. I would recommend you try it before you buy it. Don't get wooed by the display models.

I'm completely happy with every function of this great little gizmo. Performs seamlessly with iMovie. Great image quality, easy to use.
If it came in a left-handed model, I'd give it 6 stars.

We decided on the zr45 because of the value period. We purchased the Sony DVR18 and were not impressed by the color the first couple of times we played back the taped movie. We even tried a different tape in the Sony to no avail. We took the Sony back to the store and even the salesman was surprised that the Sony's performance was subpar. After looking around the store my wife really like the smaller size and ergonomics of the Cannon. It is also much easier to operate in my opinion. The Sony is feature laden, but sometimes that just make the operation that more difficult. The honest salesman said that we would never use some of the options on the Sony that we were paying extra for. We chose the Cannon and have not been happier. Not to mention the $$$ cheaper price.

It was a pretty good camera until it stopped working. One day I turned it on and it started beeping and flasshing an eject tape message. But you couldn't eject the tape and the camera would not respond to anything. I had the camera just over two years when this happened. Luckily I purchased an extended warranty at Best Buy. Best Buy sent the camera to Canon for repair. Canon would not repair it because it would be too expensive so, Best Buy gave me a new camera. And I was allowed to get a different brand, so I went with a Sony Handycam.

Canon did it's homework with this camera. There are endless perks to spicing up your video recordings. Everything is very easily accessible. The buttons are no problem for my fat fingers. Any buyer would be very impressed with this setup and completely satisfied with the video quality.

However if you are buying the ZR45MC for the option of digital picture taking, forget it. The photo quality is very low even on the "fine" setting. I couldn't believe how granulated a 4 X 6 inch photo gets. I'm still stuck with carrying both a video and photo camera.