Canon ZR MiniDV Series Lives On, Elura Says Farewell

Canon ZR800 Photo Gallery

Canon ZR830 Photo Gallery

Canon ZR850 Photo Gallery

 

 

January 5, 2007 – Days before CES is set to begin in Las Vegas, Canon announced today that they will scale back their MiniDV line for 2007, mirroring an industry-wide trend. The ZR series will be renewed with three models, the same number as in 2006 – the ZR800 ($279 MSRP), ZR830 ($299 MSRP), and ZR850 ($329 MSRP). The much loved Elura 100 – the only remaining Elura from their lineup – will not be replaced, nor will it be carried into the new year. The Elura 100 was named Camcorder of the Year by CamcorderInfo.com.

 

The trend may be regrettable for some, but not unpredictable. “There is a shift [in the market] from tape to alternative media, from standard definition to high definition,” said Mitchell Glick, Assistant Manager Product Marketing, Consumer Division for Canon USA. “We’re going to introduce products that reflect those changes.” Last August, Canon released their first consumer HD camcorder, the HV10. CES announcements did not include an update to that camcorder.

 

The entry-level ZR800 is equipped with a 1/6” 680K gross pixel CCD and the original Digic DV processor. This is the same imager found on last year’s entry-level camcorders, and we found it to yield good performance relative to its entry-level MiniDV peers. The optical zoom has been boosted to an impressive 35x, the longest zoom of any Canon camcorder to date. Every ZR camcorder includes a widescreen 2.7” LCD with a modest 112K resolution, and a widescreen electronic color viewfinder (EVF). The three new camcorders are difficult to distinguish, save for their coloring. The ZR800 sports a grey and silver body with blue highlights.

 

As with last year’s ZR line, only the entry level model, the ZR800, will offer a mic jack. Again, Canon explains that the entry-level models are popular with educators, and the inclusion of a mic input is a concession to their needs.

 

Canon ZR800	Canon ZR830

 

The ZR830 features the same 1/6” imager and 35x zoom, but adds a still photo capability and an SDHC-compatible card slot. Standard SD cards have a maximum capacity of 2GB, while the SDHC specification allows for up to 32GB capacity, though current manufacturing is limited to about 4GB. The ZR830 also adds a Quick Start feature, which allows the camcorder to power-up from sleep mode in 0.9 seconds. Sleep mode uses 50% less power than normal standby mode. The ZR830 has a silver and dark grey body.

 

The top-of-the-line Canon ZR850 features a higher-resolution 1.07 MP CCD, but retains the 35x optical zoom of its less expensive siblings. Aside from this bump in video performance, the camcorder is identical to the other ZR830. The ZR850 sports a silver and black body.

 

All three new ZR camcorders feature Smooth Zoom, which allows you to fix the zoom speed to three settings or a standard variable settings. Manual shutter speed on the camcorders ranges from 1/60 to 1/2000. All offer Level Lines and Grid Markers, which can be set to appear white or light grey. Most other core specs remain unchanged from the 2006. Menu navigation has changed slightly. Whereas last year’s models had separate Menu and Function buttons to access their respective menus, they have now been consolidated into the Function menu, through which you can then access the administrative menu. All camcorders once again feature a bottom-loading tape mechanism.

 

The Canon ZR800 will retail for $279 (MSRP), the ZR830 for $299 (MSRP), and the ZR850 for $329 (MSRP). All are expected to hit stores in late January.