| Canon ZR100 MiniDV Camcorder w/20x Optical Zoom (Pearl Silver) | 
 enlarge | Brand: Canon
Category: Photography
List Price: $399.99
Buy New: $268.00
You Save: $131.99 (33%)
Avg. Customer Rating:   (15 reviews)
Sales Rank: 27613
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: Yes
Floppy Disk Drive: None
Optical Zoom: 20
Display Size: 2.4
Maximum Focal Length: 56
Minimum Focal Length: 2.8
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2
Dimensions (in): 8 x 8 x 5
MPN: ZR100
Model: ZR100
UPC: 013803047738
EAN: 0074470020325
ASIN: B0007D9A06
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | Sleek, compact MiniDV camcorder and digital still camera | | • | 20x optical zoom lens (digital zoom to 360x) with image stabilization | | • | High-resolution 16:9 widescreen recording mode for true widescreen playback | | • | 2.4-inch LCD screen with option of letterbox-style display and brightness adjustment for viewing on sunny days | | • | Low-light recording settings |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The vibrant color of a summer sunset, the exhilarating action of a championship goal, and the tender moment of a newlywed kiss are all preserved in spectacular color, clarity and detail by the ZR100. Canon's most affordable, yet exceptionally powerful, digital camcorder brings together a variety of advanced features in one stylish package. Inside the streamlined body of the ZR100 is Canon's DIGIC DV system, which delivers outstanding image quality videos. With the 20x Optical Zoom/400x Digital Zoom lens, you'll also quickly appreciate why the name Canon is synonymous with professional image quality in photography and broadcast television. Another highlight of the ZR100 is its high-resolution 16:9 widescreen recording mode, which lets you capture true widescreen videos. With the ZR100 in hand, all of life's most precious moments are yours for the taking.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
 Good, but has a fatal flaw... December 6, 2007
I bought this camera for my husband for Christmas two years ago (2005). He used it and loved it...however, just after the 1 year warranty ran out, the camera malfunctioned. It will not turn on properly (you hear it, but cannot see anything on the screen) and will not eject the tape that's inside (with our precious memories on it!). We called Canon and apparently this is a COMMON and KNOWN problem with this model camera. They informed us that it would cost a minimum of $150 to just take a look at the camera and probably more for repairs and shipping. For that much money, we're just going to invest in a new camera with a company that STANDS BEHIND their products when there is a KNOWN DEFECT. I loved Canon products before, but will not be purchasing them from here on out.
 BIG disappointment! August 12, 2007
I was given this as a gift. What a disappointment. We have had it in for repairs and replacement parts. And still multiple problems. It malfunctions and will not allow tapes in it or worse it just turns off and won't respond.Oh yeah now it has a noise like the motor is reving and it won't playback or tape anything. Canon only fixed it once under warrenty now again I have to pay. If you don't mind that you miss all the special moments or that the odds are good it won't work then this camera is for you! Also, don't expect the company to stand behind their product because they really don't care.
 Great deal! August 8, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I thought I had only ordered the camcorder, which was a great price since shipping is free and no tax! It was overall cheaper and easier to get than going to the store. Circuit City had this open-box for the same retail price.
Imagine my surprise when my delivery included 3 DV-casettes, a tripod, and a carry bag.
(And it's also the cheapest but also best quality camcorder you can get with AV-input.)
 Incredible color and widescreen performance for the money May 10, 2006
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
Operative phrase: "for the money." Honestly, I am really surprised at how well this camera has performed over the last 8 months since I bought it. I have had excellent performance in color, the widescreen is SO much cleaner and crisper than the older Sony unit I was using previously. Even when exporting to Pinnacle Studio, and rendering to DVD - the resolution and saturation were wonderful. Is it HD? no. Will it record in 24 FPS? no. Did it beat the hell out of my expectations for a 300 bones camcorder? Absolutely!
I almost forgot to mention: the windscreen on the mic works really well; I'm from Oklahoma, and we know wind out here. This last Easter had winds of over 40 MPH, and even though you could tell there was wind noise, you could hear conversations from over 15 feet away.
I paid less than 300 smackers for this, and it has performed (in my estimation) at the level of a 600-smackers camera!
Great picture quality, no noise, best bang for the buck January 31, 2006
34 out of 34 found this review helpful
There may be "better" camcorders out there. Better in terms of more features. But it is unlikely the video or sound quality is much better than this one (in some cases actually worse). A 720X480 video frame (Mini DV standard resolution) can only accomodate approx 340 K pixels - therefore a mega or multi mega pixel camcorder will not improve your video performance one bit. And they cost least twice as much.
I was looking for something really basic. I go for features (and use them) in a Camera - not a Camcorder. When was the last time you used the fancy video functions? Do you even know where they reside on the menu? This camcorder has all the functions you will use and some that you probably won't. Its sufficiently loaded in that regard.
Performance - I faced NO noise issues. In a very quiet room, there is faint noise (when the auto gain circuit increases the mic sensitivity). However, under all my shooting conditions (when the auto-gain ramps down the mic sensitivity), this has not been a problem. My unit was "Made in Japan" - I don't know if this has anything to do with the "noiselessness" of the unit. The sound clarity is awesome - the mic is quite high quality - much better than my old sony 8mm.
Video - WoW - very impressed. Clear and colorful - very close to what my eye sees. Very sharp as well. One can easily read text, see the veins on the leaves, the hair on the eyebrow - on closeups. No problem regarding sharpness and overall color fidelity. Reds tended slightly towards pinkish sometimes (minor). On a dark overcast day - video came out looking just fantastic. It wowed me/wife/dad - everybody.
Low Light performance - On par with other camcorders out there. If you keep the lights in the room on (reasonably well lit), you can capture excellent video (great white balance) with little to no noise. None of the blue tinge that I observed with another brand under the same conditions. In a dim room, the video is noisy, but still quite viewable. It is important to note - that this camcorder has no worse performance than the others in its price range when it comes to low light performance.
Ergonomics - easily fits in your jacket/pant pocket and the controls are well placed. I have no problem with the location of the menu button - as a matter of fact - that is where I think it needs to be! Very easy to manual focus but haven't done so - yet. Autofocus is snappy - no hunting. I don't care how tapes are loaded - from the top or bottom. How many of you shoot using a Tripod and need to change tapes halfway?
The zoom speed depends on how far you press the zoom button - simply great feature. Not just one or two steps. You can go from very slow to very fast zooms.
The unit can work as an analog to digital converter - something I plan to use - to convert my 8mm tapes to digital.
The eyepiece viewfinder is color, does not flip, but very good otherwise. I use it a lot. The flip out display is apparently not the best out there, but I find it to be adequate - if not downright good.
Batteries are charged "in camera". You don't have to take the battery in and out for charging purposes. On the other hand, charging a spare battery ties up the camera (unless you purchase an external charger). The supplied battery seems to last for an hours worth of shooting - works for me.
One last thing - I have not seen mentioned in other reviews and I don't know how other brands perform in this regard. The image stabilization was just too good. While shooting video going through Golden Gate Bridge in a car(no zoom), the shots were almost professional in their stability. The exact same shots taken with an earlier camcorder without image stabilization are unwatchable. Note added later - Compared to a PV-GS150, the image stabilization on the Canon was definitely better. I'll cross compare other aspects with my friends PV-GS150 and report back!
BTW - I don't miss it not having photo taking abilities. All camcorder still pics are horrible when compared to my digicam. Why bother?
It does record hi-res 16:9 images (instead of the cropped ones). Maybe that'll be good for the future.
One purchase that exceeded my expectations.
Capturing - Using a cheap firewire card and included cable (together less than ten dollars), video capture using Ulead software and Win Xp was a breeze. Other software (Pinnacle 9) worked equally well at capturing. Camera could be controlled from the software interface. The file size was approx 12 Gig (DV compression) for 45 min worth of shooting. Video looks very good on computer monitor and on TV. Now to MPEG 2 compress and author a DVD..
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