Canon ZR950 1.07MP MiniDV Camcorder with 48x Optical Zoom Camcorder Reviews

Canon ZR950 1.07MP MiniDV Camcorder with 48x Optical Zoom

GREAT Inexpensive item 2008-09-07

This is a great little camera!

My wife and I wanted to get something simple for the next few years-till we get a much more expensive HD camera.

This little Canon is exactly that!

We play hockey and it has no problem catching the moments: shooting, passing, and scoring- Ha Ha

The zoom has a pretty nice stabilizer and the lcd screen (although fairly small) is wonderfully bright and suprisingly great quality! The microphone has a built-in filter (meant to kill unwanted backgroud noise/high freq bursts like wind... it's "ok" but not enough to kill some of the reverb of slappers in the rink- or a windy tennis game (which of course is understandable.)

The interface on the lcd (such as changing manual features) is pretty user friendly and straight forward- However on the subject of manual settings such as night shooting, sports, or even shutter speeds... Not terribly impressed. Can't have your standards too high however for an in-expensive BASIC camera.

Seems like it will be a pretty durable little camera and over-all very satisfied!

Like I said, for a BASIC camera... It's one of the best for your buck! If you want higher standards- just pay more and get a camera with more features.

Returned it - image not vertical, bad pic. 2008-08-30

I had to return this product. Seems like the CCD was not properly aligned because vertical lines in the viewfinder and on the tape were slanted slightly to the right; in order to film images so that people appeared to be standing upright, I had to hold the camera titled to the left. Not a lot, but enough to be annoying.
Also, I thought the image quality was very poor: grainy, with colors beating (especially purples in low light). My old Hi8 camera takes way better pics. Heck, even the Flip Mino was better. Maybe this was just a lemon or it was damaged in transit (but the box looked perfect). - Disappointed.

picture not clear 2008-08-24

I bought this camera because of all the good reviews that I read about the camera. Its not a hard camera to work but all the video pictures are not clear. They are blurry and I know its not me doing something wrong, or at least I think its not me. I really don't know what to do.

Astonished. But If You are Looking for An actuall review then Read This. 2008-07-29

Film making is not just a hobby of mine. I plan on doing it as a profession so i needed a good low budget camcorder. This is just it. It has 1CCD and 1+megapixel. Also The camera has an amazing 48x advanced zoom that does NOT deteriate the quality at all. Another thing is that the camera is loaded with amazing effects, white balances, and features. Next it has a color view finder, and a nice big lcd screen. It is a very small camera and very light. It has a dv(firewire) output and usb output. Also the picture comes out great on tv, even on a 60 inch full HD tv. Finally the LCD screen converts into a bright white light to use as a small flash. Its not very effective in large areas but it does come handy.
Now a con would be that the camera does not operate to great with auto exposure in low light but then again very few cameras in the world do good in low light. A good thing is it has an accesory shoe to add a flash on the top. One thing i didnt like was that the view finder was non retractable. But thats okay i barely ever use it.
NOW THIS IS TO ANSWER TO ALL THOSE "IDIOTS" THAT GET ANGRY WHEN THE VIDEO WONT TRANSFER WITH A USB CABLE.. HELLO!! ALMOST NO MINI DV CAMCORDER TRANSFERS VIDEOS WITHOUGHT A FIREWIRE CABLE...GET OVER IT!!!!!!!!!

Okay back to buisness... This camera is overall a great buy! It is inexpensive and works great.

In the sunlight the video looks like full 1080i imagery. Its great.

Bad thing... Picture quality not so great but then again thats not what you should buy a camcorder for.

A No-Regrets Camera!!!! 2008-07-24

I purchased this a couple of weeks ago after reviewing just about every comment on the mini DV cameras. I picked mini DV because I expected a lot of learning and cost reduction to follow on the newer hard disk drives (and I didn't want to spend $600).

I used the camera on vacation (in Oregon and Indiana). Frankly, it was pleasantly easy to use, and very easy to integrate/transfer over to my iMac (I selected this camera partly because it has a firewire).

It's sound is great, it's zoom is amazing. I have no regrets over the purchase. I did need some help connecting it, and called their 800 number, and they were equally helpful (also a pleasant surprise).

I realize the markets are constantly changing in terms of technology. But for this camera, it will last me for years (assuming it lasts for years). But it's really nice, and I've already made several DVD's with it. Now I'd like to upgrade my Mac.....

Awesome camcorder -- gr eat value 2008-06-04

I love this camera and and hooke don Canon products. It's very easy to use, and the clarity of the footage is just incredible. For the price, it cannot be beat, in my opinion.

Great video camera 2008-06-04

Our family ordered the Canon ZR950 to record our son's stock car races. This is a true test of a camera (and operator), as you are recording varying conditions and light levels. The Canon is preforming beautifully! The images, whether bright sunlight or under the lights at night, are crisp and clear. The zoom is a breeze to use and the microphone captures all of the action we need to hear (and some we don't!) Since we've only had the camera a few weeks we have not been able to delve into all of the options the camera has to offer, but so far we love it! We would definitely recommend that anyone looking for a low to mid-level priced camera give this one a try.

Warning PC users - Deceptive Features 2008-05-31

If you are a PC owner be very careful before purchasing this product. Canon wants you to think this is an easy product to synch to your computer, when in fact it is anything but. For instance, it comes with a firewire and USB connection making one think that if you don't have a firewire connection you'll be all set when it comes to transfering videos through the USB connection. This is not the case. The USB connection is only for transfering images. Fine, so pretend for a sec that you do have a firewire connection (which more often than not, is not the case for PC users), once you install the software you think you'll be downloading videos in no time. Well, you would be wrong again. The camera does not come with video editing software despite the fact that Canon labels the CD that comes with the camera as "DIGITAL VIDEO SOLUTION DISK" when all it does is EDIT PHOTOGRAPHS!!! You have to wonder who thought it would be a good idea to label softare that only downloads images as a video solution disk. Probably not the sharpest knife in the drawer over at Canon...

Anyway, that's my too cents. As a video camera it seems ok so far, but it really falls short for PC users who want to purchase a camera that is easy and quick to synch up with their PC. I hope someone finds this useful and avoids making the same mistake I did which was to trust the kid at BestBuy who assured me this synched up easily.

PS. I apologize for the use of all caps, but really thought it appropriate in this case.

Awesome 2008-05-16

For the money with all the options this camera has, ease of use, you can't touch it. I highly recommend it.

Good for price - No Xtras 2008-05-13

I bought this for recording family stuff. It records good with good sound. I am very unimpressed with the still pictures, especially in low light. It doesn't come with any software for capturing or editing your videos. Windows comes with one. There is no firewire cable to transfer your video to your computer either. I picked one up for cheap. It doesn't come with a sd card for still pictures. Overall I am happy with the camcorder, the zoom is great and the video is sharp. If you plan on taking a lot of still pictures you probably wont be happy. My phone takes better photos than this.

Great Camera & Service 2008-05-05

I ordered this camera, not expecting it to arrive early. It came two days early and is a great value for a beginners camera. It would be a great gift for a grad or father.

This one ruined Cannon's Reputation 2008-05-03

The product I received was a defect. The camcorder could not get normal images for outdoor recording. It had red and green dots all over the LCD and viewfinder with indoor recording. I had to return it. It ruined my daughter's birthday party.

Additional Information 2008-04-30

In the product description Amazon.com lists as a feature that the ZR950 has a microphone input: "The microphone terminal on the ZR950 makes it especially useful for educators and trainers to carefully capture the audio they need to make most effective use of the video they shoot. It's also handy when you want to easily record a live narration for your footage."

However, having hands-on experience with this camera and from reading over the manual it does not have any audio-in jacks. This is a fine camcorder, but if you're buying it to record lectures and want to record from a microphone source you're buying the wrong tool. The Canon ZR930 and the ZR900 both do state that they have microphone input on the canon website. Also, among the older models, the Canon ZR800 has audio-in as well, however the ZR830 & ZR850 do not. This is not made clear initially from Canon's website and required a good deal of research. I wish they listed that spec in their comparison page.

At any rate, these are good cameras, at a good price. Just be certain to get the 930, 900 or 800 if you need audio-in. I'm not sure why they removed that feature from their higher-end camcorders, it seems counterintuitive to me.

Canon ZR950 2008-04-03

This is a solid camera for a great price. Has options for SD cards for still photos. Native wide screen support and decent battery life. Works great with iMovie. Still photos could be higher resolution, but this isn't meant to be a digital camera replacement.

"One great minidv camera!" 2008-03-05

Pros: Great video, great 48x advanced zoom, looks great, ease of use and Vista ready.
Cons: None found.

This is one of the best camera's on the market currently in this price range. Great video resolution and the ability to take photo's as well. The ability to zoom in on objects from far off and lots of extra's that most camera's do not offer. 1+ megapixel as well. Good luck finding a better camera with all these features at a price slightly under $300.

Love it! 2008-02-26

The first guy who reviewed this camcorder is an idiot. Before you buy, I would encourage you to check out all the brands and compare the features. Much like cell phones everyone has something just a little different that might grab you. If your looking for special features...test it out at the store and then buy it on Amazon.

As for this camcorder...the performance is as expected...excellent! Canon put out a quality 800 series last year (which was their mid-priced cameras) and now they have dropped their top-of-the-line series this year to concentrate on the more popular mid-priced camcorders. The 800 series from last year has been updated and tweaked to become the 900 series this year. The camcorder has some great features and it is really easy to use. It's very compact and simply gives me everything I want in a camcorder plus a little extra.

The cons for this one: the 1.07 MP camera that you are able to use with this (assuming you place a picture memory card in it) is a cool feature but not very practical. Realistically, your cell phone will have just as good of a picture..so I would suggest getting a camcorder bag and remember to bring a digital camera if you want to take pictures. It would be nice if you had a microphone hook-up...but you lose that with the picture taking capability (the other 900 series models have the microphone hook-up instead of the picture card).

Anyway...great camcorder at a great price!

Worthless Firewire Connection 2008-02-17

What a shock to find out that this camcorder can be the only device connected to my MacBook Pro via the 1394 (Firewire) port. That means video cannot be captured to another FirwWire drive. Bummer.

The manual states it, so this is not just a Mac problem.

Video can only be captured to the computer's hard drive or to an external USB drive. When I tried the latter with Final Cut Pro, there were breaks in the timecode and dropped frames. Do not buy this camcorder if your intention is to capture a lot of footage.