Canon ZR500 Camcorder Review

The Front (6.25)
The ZR500 is small by most standards. Even though it might not qualify for the “ultra compact” category, it’s hardly wider than the depth of your palm. Rounding off the top of the front is a small lens, benefiting from a built-in lens cap that opens and closes via a switch on the left. The lens, f/1.8 – 4.4, has a focal range of 2.6 – 65mm, and a 25x zoom. Last year’s ZR100 had a 20x zoom.

The rest of the front is relatively bare. The company logo is followed by a thin silver line that runs down the center, terminating with the built-in stereo microphone at the bottom. This is good location for the mic, as it is less likely to pick up hand and finger movement than mics placed at the top of the body.

The Right Side (9.75)
The left and right sides show the results of Canon’s slimming technique – Canon made the ZR500 slim, but it had to push the entire body upwards in order to fit everything in. The result is a very tall side to grip. Along the top is a long, thin rubber port cover, veiling three ports – composite A/V-out, audio-in, and FireWire. At the middle rear, positioned perfectly for the thumb, is the mode dial to switch from Camera (video record) to Off to Play (playback). The ZR500 does not record stills, but strangely, it is the only ZR model this year to offer a mic jack (there is more information about this in the Audio section below). Last year’s ZR100 did not have a Mic-input, nor did any of the ZR models.

Along the bottom of the right side is the hand strap, a thin piece of fabric and suede which seems inadequate even for a camcorder this light. Worse, however, is the placement of the strap. The ZR500 is a bottom-loading camcorder, and the loading bay door opens from the right. We don’t like bottom-loaders anyway, but that’s a separate issue. Our problem here is that hand strap has been secured to the edge of the loading bay door, surely one of the weakest parts of the whole camcorder. The door is held closed internally by two severely thin metal hooks and tiny metal buttons. You can see by the picture here that a simple pull at the strap is already straining at the door’s stability. Even at a low price point of $300, a manufacturer should be able to avoid bad design decisions like this.

The Back (6.75)
The back of the ZR500 is as stripped-down as you’ll find on a camcorder. Starting from the top, you’ll find a pitifully small viewfinder, with a window barely 10mm (0.39 inches) diagonal. This viewfinder does not extend or pivot, and is so close to the body that you’ll likely never use it, except in battery emergencies. The viewfinder’s diopter switch is directed beneath the eyecup. Last year’s ZR100 had an extendable viewfinder with a larger eyecup.

Below the viewfinder is the battery, which takes up most of the real estate on the back end. The battery release button is above the battery cavity, and inside the cavity is the port cover and port for the backup battery. To the right of the battery is the mode dial and record on/off button.

The Left Side (9.25)
The left side illustrates the biggest difference between last year’s ZR models and this year’s updates. On previous designs, the interface controls were composed of a jog dial and button to navigate through the menu. This year, Canon has adopted the four-way joystick that’s found success on JVC and Panasonic camcorders. Located on the lower edge of the LCD panel’s frame, the joystick is accompanied by three buttons along the bottom: FUNC (which brings up the manual control menu), D.EFFECTS (for the typical array of corny digital effects), and WIDE SCR. / DATA CODE (which toggles between 4:3 and 16:9 in video mode, and displays or removes the data code during playback).

 
Left side of the ZR500, and close-up of the new joystick located on the LCD panel

The LCD screen itself is a widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio, measuring 2.7 inches across. On the outside left edge of the LCD panel is a button to turn the LCD backlight on and off. The LCD cavity has, thankfully, been left empty of manual controls.

Last year’s VCR controls were located on the left side of the body, above the LCD cavity. This year, the joystick controls playback, making dedicated buttons unnecessary.

The Top (8.0)
The top of the ZR500 has precious few features. At the rear is the zoom toggle, well proportioned and placed, but a little loose to the touch. In front of that is the P/EASY switch, which allows you to access or block manual controls. A main feature that all camcorders should have on the top is conspicuously missing – a surface that’s easy to grip. The camcorder is tall enough that getting a good grip may be hard for some people anyway. Without a ridged surface or something to aid the grasp, some users may be turned off very quickly to the whole ZR series.