Canon ZR50MC MiniDV Digital Camcorder with 2.5'' LCD, Digital Still Mode & MMC Card Slot
Canon ZR50MC MiniDV Digital Camcorder with 2.5'' LCD, Digital Still Mode & MMC Card Slot
Product Description
Amazon.com Review
The ZR50MC is on Canon's high-end of MiniDV camcorders, but still sells for a reasonable price. Its 22x optical zoom out focuses the ZR50MC's siblings and much of the competition, letting you get extremely close to a subject without any of the degradation associated with digital zoom.
Its bright 2.5-inch LCD can be swiveled around, letting you record from a variety of angles. And if you opt for using the viewfinder, you'll see in color instead of the black and white many other camcorders use.
You can enhance your ZR50MC via the advanced accessory shoe, which allows you to connect a directional microphone or video light. And the camera comes with an 8 MB Secure Digital card to capture still images, although the quality is only fair--typical of digital camcorders.
The quality of captured video, on the other hand, proved quite excellent. Our video was sharp and bright, even when viewed at high resolution on our PC. The camera's night mode, while not a true IR darkness mode, did record well in low-light situations. You can also take advantage of the ZR50MC's extended recording feature, which let us capture over four hours of video on a single tape.
We did sometimes hear a slight hum from the camera's motor when watching recorded video, but it wasn't obtrusive and often wasn't noticeable.
The ZR50MC also functions as an analog-to-digital converter, letting you take the analog contents of your VHS or 8mm tapes and convert them to digital, either recording them on the ZR50MC's tape or saving them to your PC.
For all the features that are packed into the compact, lightweight body of the ZR50MC, its price tag makes it a perfect fit for a digital video enthusiast looking for a powerful camera at a still reasonable price. --J. Curtis
Pros:
Analog-to-digital conversion
Extended recording function
High optical zoom
Cons:
No true night mode
Motor hum sometimes recorded
Average customer rating: 
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Canon ZR50MC MiniDV Digital Camcorder with 2.5" LCD, Digital Still Mode & MMC Card Slot
Manufacturer: Canon ProductGroup: Photography Binding: Electronics  All Digital Camcorders
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ASIN: B00005YX4Q |
Product Description
The ZR50 MC takes advantage of the latest digital video technology, yet is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. Sporting a sleek body design, and an extensive list of features, this camcorder provides exceptional results, and is remarkably easy to use. Canon's attention to detail guarantees a flawless shooting experience, seamless connectivity, and endless creativity.Amazon.com Review
The ZR50MC is on Canon's high-end of MiniDV camcorders, but still sells for a reasonable price. Its 22x optical zoom out focuses the ZR50MC's siblings and much of the competition, letting you get extremely close to a subject without any of the degradation associated with digital zoom.Its bright 2.5-inch LCD can be swiveled around, letting you record from a variety of angles. And if you opt for using the viewfinder, you'll see in color instead of the black and white many other camcorders use.
You can enhance your ZR50MC via the advanced accessory shoe, which allows you to connect a directional microphone or video light. And the camera comes with an 8 MB Secure Digital card to capture still images, although the quality is only fair--typical of digital camcorders.
The quality of captured video, on the other hand, proved quite excellent. Our video was sharp and bright, even when viewed at high resolution on our PC. The camera's night mode, while not a true IR darkness mode, did record well in low-light situations. You can also take advantage of the ZR50MC's extended recording feature, which let us capture over four hours of video on a single tape.
We did sometimes hear a slight hum from the camera's motor when watching recorded video, but it wasn't obtrusive and often wasn't noticeable.
The ZR50MC also functions as an analog-to-digital converter, letting you take the analog contents of your VHS or 8mm tapes and convert them to digital, either recording them on the ZR50MC's tape or saving them to your PC.
For all the features that are packed into the compact, lightweight body of the ZR50MC, its price tag makes it a perfect fit for a digital video enthusiast looking for a powerful camera at a still reasonable price. --J. Curtis
Pros:
Cons:
Amazon.com Product Description
Improving on an original can be a daunting task. Canon has succeeded quite well, thank you. The ZR50MC is the successor to the ZR30MC. Canon increased the optical zoom to 22x--the digital now sits at 440x--and added an analog pass-through port. Although the ZR line featured analog-in for dubbing your movies to MiniDV, the new pass-through port allows you to go straight to the computer, eliminating a possibly cumbersome step.The ZR50MC also has a lot of the same features that made the original a lot of fun. A 2.5-inch LCD is swivel-mounted, permitting the shooter to use the camera at odd angles. Various digital effects and autoexposure modes help ensure your footage turns out well. The digital still mode makes a return, letting you capture 640 x 480 stills onto an included 8 MB MMC.
Finally, there are a couple of new features that Canon threw in to make the ZR50MC just a little bit more appealing: an accessory shoe that fits a light or zoom mic (both sold separately), an extended recording function that increases recording time by 2x to 3x, and a low-light color-shooting mode.
Customer Reviews:
great camcorder... affordable cost... can't go wrong.......2003-03-01
Great Camcorder At Great Price!.......2003-02-04
I am an amateur filmmaker and I was previously using my father's Canon GL1, which is a great camcorder, but I needed something for myself. I was skeptical of a high quality camcorder at a low price. So I did all the research and liked the ZR50.
The still quality isn't that good, but that is not why I bought it. If you are looking for a nice digital video and still camera, this is not for you. It is a nice bonus, though, to take low quality photos and share them with people over the Internet.
If you have read that the motor noise is a problem, well, the same noise is on my father?s Canon GL1 which is $... So, you make the decision to associate the noise with this particular camcorder or not.
If you want a small digital camcorder that takes great video at a good price, this is one for you.
Great Deal!.......2003-01-15
And I had a real good deal having a free carring bag and free software from Cannon and even a rebate. So, before you pay your credit card, go to check whether there is a rebate or discount offer from Manufacture. Sometimes, you have to browse some where else to find it, I don't trust other retailers, although they do seem to offer better price (they have very high shipping fee!!!).
Ideal Camcorder for me.......2002-12-31
I ordered it together with the external mic DM-50. (You have to order some tape with it, too. Why doesn't Canon include a tape?) I also have a Mac PowerBook G4. Here are my findings:
1. The video quality outdoors is just great. When you play back on a TV, it looks like any professional TV program. Crisp, colors are great.
2. Optics are excellent. 22x zoom lets you fill the screen with an orange 15 ft away. Shake is no problem. Digital zoom only marginally beneficial.
3. The stills are nothing special. But even a megapixel (like other brands) is nothing special. (My first digi camera was a Kodak 1.3 Megapixel. Nice but only good enough for very small printouts. I have a 4 Megapixel Olympus for hi-res printouts today.) Quality is OK if you want to send 640x480 web images.
4. Sound: The built-in mics are better than expected. They are sensitive and omnidirectional. There is some hum from the motor. Not a lot. But the real kicker is the DM-50. It's not totally cheap but it's worth it (in my eyes). The mic is very sensitive and audio is CRYSTAL clear. I taped my wife singing about 25 ft away. She is an opera singer, soprano. Her voice in the high range is a challenge to any mic. It's sensitive enough that I could hear her muttering with the organist, her pageturns. And yet her singing did not distort. The quality exceeds my 2 semi-pro mics. People only 10ft off to the side definitely sounded off mic. And even people right behind me were softer on tape than people in front 20ft away.
The DM-50 has also 2 stereo settings that are more omnidirectional. I haven't explored them yet.
5. Connection to the Mac is absolutely a breeze. Just plug in the firewire and load iMovie and you have the camera image on the computer monitor. You can record/import the camera image directly to hard drive w/o hitting record on the camera. iMovie also controls the camera to load the edited movie back onto the camera tape.
6. After the first 15min of taping I got a message that the heads would be dirty?? I ignored it and kept going. No problem. Maybe there was some residue on the heads from the factory? (The handbook says to clean the heads every 20 h.) 3 h of taping later, the message still hasn't come back.
I'm so glad I got the ZR50. 22x zoom and DM-50 are worth it!
Inferior Picture Quality.......2002-12-17
The packaging of the camera was very nice (especially when compared to the TRV27), with 4 color printing on the outside, and a little molded plastic tray inside to hold all the wires, battery, remote, and other accessories. Although I wouldn't ever make an electronics purchasing decision based on packaging, this was a nice touch that is getting lost by other brands. When you consider that many camcorders are given as gifts, presentation does count for something.
Inserting the battery and plugging in the power supply is quick and intuitive...no surprises here. Inserting a Mini-DV cassette is also fairly simple and loads from the bottom. Compared to the Sony, the loading mechanism is almost the same. Both have the counterintuitive feature of half-closing the tape compartment to trigger the mechanical tape insertion. Although this seems to be the "standard" tape insertion protocol for Mini-DV cameras, it might be easy for an untrained friend or family member to injure your camera if they change the tape.
The Canon ZR50 body feels great in your hands. It is very balanced, appropriately light, and the on/off and record toggle buttons fall naturally under your thumb. The on/off/record buttons are big enough to easily manipulate which is a BIG advantage over the tiny, cramped Sony buttons. If you want very simple controls, or are giving this to a novice camcorder operator, the Canon ZR50 might be a great choice. The play/rewind/forward/stop buttons that you can see in all the photos of the camera are also very big and intuitive. You can even change the backlight colors of the p/r/f/s buttons for an extra cool factor. There is also added perk that the p/r/f/s buttons can glow different colors when the camera is in Player mode vs. Camera mode; when my friend couldn't get the camera to record, I could tell from across the room by the colors of the buttons that he was in the wrong mode.
The construction of the camera is really solid, and feels much tighter than the Sony. The swing out LCD screen and the viewfinder are adequate. Some people who held it made a comment that it had an overall "PlaySkool" quality to it, as if the camera was a rugged little toy. For some reason, this comparison does seem somewhat appropriate.
Recording quality is where the camera falls short. I lined up the Canon next to an older Sony DCR-PC10 (since I didn't have the TRV27 yet, this was the closest test I could do). Holding the cameras side by side, my friend and I shot indoors images, outdoors images, and zoomed in/out with the optical zooms. Comparisons were made based on video quality, color accuracy, brightness and sharpness.
The Canon was consistently off in terms of color accuracy: whites tended to have a red cast and purples were blue. The Sony was very accurate and even its LCD was close to what our eyes saw. Light/bright colors were blown out when outdoors on the Canon, but the Sony captured more color detail in these situations.
The Canon was roughly 20% darker than the Sony in low light. Using the Canon's Low Light and Night modes did not sufficiently compensate for brightness. Image was very grainy and dark in situations such as normal office lighting. Grain became excessive on the Canon at moderate to high zoom levels, but was always present nonetheless. Sony was superior to the Canon in all these situations. Furthermore, the Sony image was approximately 50% sharper and retained better detail on subjects like the folds of a shirt or leaves on a tree. Manipulating the manual settings such as shutter speed, or the various AE modes did not significantly improve quality on the Canon.
Quality comparisons between cameras held true when viewing on LCD screen, NTSC monitor direct from camera, or NTSC monitor after transferring DV files to Final Cut Pro.
Finally, there is the issue of the tape whine that is commonly reported. The wine was clearly present. Since the human ear can hear any DV camera's motor whine, I can't completely fault Canon for recording ambient room noise - including its own motor! However, it is more aesthetically pleasing to have a camera that doesn't pick up its own hum. Again, the Sony Mini DV did not pick up its motor noise.
In summary, this camera would be a great pick if Canon could improve the quality of the picture with a special emphasis on indoor lighting conditions. Unless you are not concerned with getting the best video quality you can for a similar price, I would not purchase this camera. The Sony DCR TRV18, 25, 27 and 50 all have the same Mini DV mechanism (i.e. Mini DV quality), so you should be able to find a price point to fit your budget.
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