Canon ZR500 First Impressions Camcorder Review

by James Murray
Published on Jan 20, 2006 4:00 PM

Intro
 Performance
Format Tour
Auto / Manual Controls Still Features
Handling and Use Audio / Playback / Connectivity
Other Features Comparisons / Conclusion


Matt Culler also contributed to this article.

At CES, Canon announced the release of three new ZR MiniDV camcorders. The budget-line series has received significant overhaul in the areas of zoom, reductions in size and weight, a 2.7” widescreen LCD, and some design changes – most notably a new menu navigation control. The prices have also been reduced. The ZR500 is perhaps the biggest beneficiary of these changes. Replacing the ZR100, the ZR500 has an MSRP only $299 – meaning that in a few months you might be able to pick this up for as little as $200.


With a 1/6” 340K (effective) pixel CCD, decent automatic control, an acceptable amount of manual control (for the price), and, get this… a microphone jack. In fact, the ZR500 is the only ZR cam with a mic jack. This is already shaping up to be the budget camcorder of the year. Have a look.



Performance >>