Canon ZR850

• Average user rating: 3.0 stars out of 18 reviews
• My rating: 0 stars

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• 8 stars

  Overall Good Camera

  by southpark_rocks on February 18, 2007

  Pros: Built in lens cap, no touch screen, wide screen mode, small and light weight, connectors easy to get to

  Cons: charge cord prongs don't fold, light on/off in menu system, no analog video in

  Summary: This is a very solid camera for the money, I think it is intended as most are in this price range to be an "autopilot" camera, where the user can ...

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  Summary: This is a very solid camera for the money, I think it is intended as most are in this price range to be an "autopilot" camera, where the user can just turn it on and it does everything for you. In this case I think it does a great job. The issue seems to be with low light, I am not sure how other cameras perform in low light, but I found I can set the P mode to night and get a solid image in very low light. The response time lags a bit, so I wouldn't swing it around real fast in night mode but if you hold it still it seems to work fine, you might have to try it out for yourself if you are shooting low light action sequences. The "light" is useless for anything far away and it adds its own led tint on the things it does illuminate close by. The 35x optical zoom is awesome, you can read a newspaper print from 15 feet away without having to go into digital zoom.
  I stuck with Mini DV after reading about the HDD cameras do MPEG compression on the fly which can lower the quality and I didn't want a DVD one. I am sure this camera will do the trick until the HDD cameras become more common and the price comes down.

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  13 out of 13 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 8 stars

  Very satisfied!

  by seagardan on February 13, 2007

  Pros: Above average video,lightweight, 35x zoom, decent still shots,

  Cons: Light is useless, tape loads from bottom

  Summary: I had purchased and returned a few cameras in this price range (JVC,Sony,Canon) due to lousy video quality. Was very pleased with the quality of this Canon. Like ...

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  Summary: I had purchased and returned a few cameras in this price range (JVC,Sony,Canon) due to lousy video quality. Was very pleased with the quality of this Canon. Like most cameras in this price range, the low light quality is not great. You need to take some time and work with the different settings. Compared to the other cameras though,this camera was the best.

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  6 out of 7 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 4 stars

  If you don't mind the noise

  by Beaglelady on April 8, 2007

  Pros: Great features, easy to use

  Cons: loud motor/tape noise that you hear while recording and on playback/grainy video

  Summary: I have always loved Canon. I purchased the ZR800 after reading all the reviews I could find on the Sony and Canon. The 800 has such a loud tape noise ...

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  Summary: I have always loved Canon. I purchased the ZR800 after reading all the reviews I could find on the Sony and Canon. The 800 has such a loud tape noise on playback it was very annoying and you couldn't hear people talking low over it. So I took it back and got a ZR850. The noise issue was "better" but still there and still annoying. I thought ok I can live with it. The saleseman told me all MiniDV camera's would have that and if I didnt' want it I should go up to the Hard drive models. Hubby wanted to try another MiniDV camera so we went and got a Sony DCR-HC38 to compare(reviews aren't as good) The Sony is SO much better than the canon! NO tape noise at all. Video quality was better too although the reviews say the opposite. the Sony was still easy to use(but still prefer cannon in that dept.) I will be returning the Canon. I love canon but they have really messed up with their ZR line!

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  5 out of 6 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 3 stars

  DV port broke

  by JarVander on April 28, 2007

  Pros: Produces stunningly vivid and fluid 1280x720 widescreen video in bright sunlight. Menus were easy to navigate and the feature set was good for the price.

  Cons: Grainy video under normal indoor lighting, I needed to set up extra lighting for indoor use. The microphone recorded a very loud tape drive drone. Digital image stabilizer was useless.

  Summary: I had to use on a tripod, palm held video was too jumpy. I was willing to live with the negatives until the fragile DV port broke, then I returned ...

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  Summary: I had to use on a tripod, palm held video was too jumpy. I was willing to live with the negatives until the fragile DV port broke, then I returned it. I have a Canon digital still camera and a Canon Hi8 camcorder, the ZR850 doesn't live up to Canon's prior consumer level products.

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  2 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 4 stars

  Poor normal and low light performance. Poor light. Ugly LCD viewscreen

  by TheUndertow on March 12, 2007

  Pros: Price relative to high end models

  Cons: Prive relative to entry line models. Poor image quality under normal and low light.

  Summary: We were looking to replace a 3CCD Panasonic camcorder that my daughter dropped ($500 to repair - no thanks). I mainly was looking for a reasonably priced camcorder that would ...

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  Summary: We were looking to replace a 3CCD Panasonic camcorder that my daughter dropped ($500 to repair - no thanks). I mainly was looking for a reasonably priced camcorder that would film "cleanly" - without a ton of features or advanced settings.
  
  I decided to try this model after waiting some weeks for the Sony HC48 to become widely available. I was hoping that the 1MP lens would lend itself to higher quality video and that was enough incentive to choose this over the 830 and 800.
  
  Video performance on this is mediocre to poor. I have a widescreen HD and the image looked pixelated with a lot of "noise" under low light and even normal conditions. I certainly wasn't looking for an HD like picture, but this left a LOT to be desired.
  
  The LCD viewfinder has very few pixels and the screen images looks grainy and washed out.
  
  Also the built in light is more of a gimmick than a functional feature (and casts a weird blue glow).
  
  One other thing to note - the camera does not charge the battery when it is set to the "on" position and plugged in.
  
  In all I am going to opt for a different (probably more expensive) camera.

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  1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 8 stars

  pretty good, except for a few peeves

  by rodaou on February 27, 2007

  Pros: nice image, decent in low light

  Cons: caveats with photo captured to card while recording video

  Summary: I'm a pro videographer, and have owned more camcorders than I can remember over the years.
  
  While comparing camcorders, always remember that IT'S RELATIVE TO OTHER VIDEO CAMERAS
  
  ...

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  Summary: I'm a pro videographer, and have owned more camcorders than I can remember over the years.
  
  While comparing camcorders, always remember that IT'S RELATIVE TO OTHER VIDEO CAMERAS IN THE SAME PRICE RANGE.
  
  First of all it's a pretty decent camcorder. Super (35x) long zoom, good picture quality & and very decent colors.
  
  The low light recording works from well to good, AS LONG AS YOU DON'T USE canon's low light settings, which simply slow down the shutter speed so much all it shoots is choppy video.
  
  For good low light video, set the camera to
  P(rogram) mode and select PORTRAIT from the menu. Then hit the joystick toggle to adjust the exposure while watching the image in on the flip out screen. You'll be suprised how well this camera does in poor light, especially for a canon.
  
  And just a fyi, the built in light is absolutly useless.
  
  Canon advertises that this camcorder allows you to capture images to the sd card while shooting video to tape. Well, that's sort of true.
  
  If you want to capture pictures to card while shooting video to tape you MUST set the video to letterbox (4:3), and even then the camcorder will only save them at 640x480 max.
  
  Simultaneous stills CANNOT be captured larger than 640x480, and NOT AT ALL if your shooting video in 16:9 widescreen mode. Which is rather dissapointing. I had dreams of shooting half decent stills while recording video to tape... I guess I'll have to wait a while longer.
  
  ON the bright side though if you're shooting letterbox and are happy with 640x480 stills it does work flawlessly. While capture stills to card the video flows seamlessly although you can hear a little click on the audio when you press the photo button to take the still.
  
  Image quality is... well... what you would expect from a $300'ish dollar camcorder.
  
  All in all it's a pretty good camcorder and compares very favorably to my sony 26 & 42, and is honestly much better than JVC GR-D650 & Panasonic PV-GS39
  
  Hope this helps everybody out

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  1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 7 stars

  Good SD Camcorder for the money

  by nightowl4 on April 27, 2010

  Pros: Electronic stabilization is good even when zoomed out. Good Zoom range. Sensitive mic. Good bitrate. Clear sharp image for an SD camcorder when played back on a CRT TV.

  Cons: some motor noise in quite situations. Poor low light capability. uses DV tape so editing video takes more time than those with flash memory. I prefer a bit more contrast and and color to my video than this camera delivers.

  Summary: I got this camera as a present and it does perform pretty well. I can be in the shots using the remote and tripod. Picture quality is decent for a ...

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  Summary: I got this camera as a present and it does perform pretty well. I can be in the shots using the remote and tripod. Picture quality is decent for a standard definition camera but for those with large plasma and LCD TVs you may be disappointed.

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• 9 stars

  Greatest Camcorder You Can Get.

  by GoneWrongTV on December 16, 2009

  Pros: This camera is durable, catches medium to fast images, and is quite easy to operate. I believe the most convenient part about this product is that it enables you to edit the video on your camera! Just buy it , check it out.

  Cons: The only downside is that ..wait..there isnt one!

  Summary: I use this product for harsh weather, and rough terrain shooting. since i drop it ALOT and its so durable, it stays protected. I use it for YouTube.com/GoneWrongTV

  Summary: I use this product for harsh weather, and rough terrain shooting. since i drop it ALOT and its so durable, it stays protected. I use it for YouTube.com/GoneWrongTV

• 9 stars

  this is the best camera belive me its the best cheap camcorder!!!

  by isaacx3 on May 6, 2008

  Pros: high video, bulit in effects, led light in front,screen has a joystick

  Cons: bad in low light,

  Summary: over all its the best under $500 dollor camcorder

  Summary: over all its the best under $500 dollor camcorder

• 8 stars

  Great Bang for Buck!

  by sommer182 on February 4, 2008

  Pros: High Zoom, Great single sensor color and picture quality

  Cons: no mic input, poor low-light performance

  Summary: A lot of my opinion has already been said. I needed to replace an old JVC VHS-C camcorder that was on it's last legs. HDD was to pricey with ...

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  Summary: A lot of my opinion has already been said. I needed to replace an old JVC VHS-C camcorder that was on it's last legs. HDD was to pricey with to many format issues right now. And DVD-based stinks if you want to edit your films on iMac. So, I went with MiniDV. So far regular light videos have looked GREAT, far better than the VHS-C tapes I used. And it works GREAT with the iMac. The DV connections also allow me to connect directly to my Panasonic DVD recorder to create backups of raw footage, which is a nice plus. Overall, a GREAT buy for under $300.

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