Your thoughts on the Canon ZR...

[mjs1973]

I’m in the market for a Digital Video camera. I have a budget of $600. The camera will
be used mainly for home videos such as kids sporting events, birthday parties, Christmas,
that sort of thing. Nothing much more than that. I have been looking at the Canons,
particularly the ZR90 witch I have found for $382 including shipping. I have checked the
review page on this site but there hasn’t been much posted about any of Canons in my
price range. Is that a bad sign? From what I have found on the ZR’s, it sounds like they
are a pretty good camera, but struggle in low light situations. Other than that, they sound
pretty good. I really like the 22x optical zoom that the ZR90 has, and I haven’t been able
to find anything else out there with that powerful of a zoom. The 440x digital zoom isn’t
as powerful as some of the other models, but I’m not sure what that even means. Can
anyone fill me in? It seems that the higher I go with the Canon models, the more still
camera features are being improved and upgraded. I’m not interested in using this as a
still camera so it seems that I would be wasting $ to get features that will almost never be
used. So what are your thought on this camera or any others in the $600 price range? As
of right now the Canons are the only brand I have looked at, but I am certainly open to
any others that you could recommend.

Here is a list of features that I am interested in:
size - must be pretty small, I don’t want anything too big
color LCD screen (pretty standard)
powerful zoom lens
image stabilizer is a must
a built in light would be very nice also, but not a must (not on the ZR )

If there are any other features that you would recommend, feel free to fill me in.

Please let me know what your thoughts and suggestions are.

Michael

[MJS]

You have a good deal going on a very nice camera/ I like the optical zoom range, pretty good for a standard lens. The ZR series uses a 1/6 inch chip, unlike the 1/4 inch on the Sony, The camera will do what you need it to do andn still keep you way under budget. Use the surplus for an external light or microphone. I hardly ever use the built in one on my Sony's.

Good Luck,
The other MJS/Michael

[mjs1973]

You have a good deal going on a very nice camera/ I like the optical zoom range, pretty good for a standard lens. The ZR series uses a 1/6 inch chip, unlike the 1/4 inch on the Sony, The camera will do what you need it to do andn still keep you way under budget. Use the surplus for an external light or microphone. I hardly ever use the built in one on my Sony's.

Good Luck,
The other MJS/Michael

Thanks for the andvice, but I decided to go with something else. I ordered a Panasonic PV-GS15 yesterday. I has the built in light, and a more powerful zoom than the ZR. After reading some user reviews on both, I decided to go with the Panasonic, and I still managed to stay just about $200 under budget. Hopefully it will be here by Friday for my nephews b-day party!!!

Thanks again.
Michael