Canon ZR500 First Impressions Camcorder Review

Automatic Control
Canon, like Sony, knows the allure of the Easy Mode to most consumers. They advertise the setting prominently on the upper-right side of the camcorder. In Easy Mode, users needn’t concern themselves with adjustments pertaining to focus, exposure, aperture, shutter speed, white balance, or other settings. Automatic controls on Canons are usually good. In fact, we recommend leaving a low-budget camcorder like this in auto mode most of the time. The manual controls are too limited.

There are some pre-set auto exposure modes to choose from on the ZR500, which can be selected from Recording Programs in the Function menu. They include: Portrait, Sports, Night, Snow, Beach, Sunset, Spotlight, and Fireworks.

Overall Manual Control
Bottom line: This is a the cheapest camcorder of the year from a manufacturer who withholds independent aperture and shutter speed control on all but their pro-cams. Don’t expect much, and you might be surprised with what you get. In terms of overall manual control, the ZR500 does manage to provide users with control options in Program Mode, although the control layout is less than stellar (a rear-mounted control is preferable). The ZR500 lets users manipulate zoom, exposure, focus, shutter speed, and white balance. There is no control over manual gain. There are also a handful of preset shooting modes (described above) which allow users who are less comfortable with manual controls to make some simple image adjustments.

Zoom
The ZR500, like all of the new ZRs, features 25x optical zoom. This model and the next up have 800x digital zoom. A step up to the ZR700 yields a 1000x digital zoom. Last year’s ZR100 only had a 20x optical zoom. Also, all the ZRs now feature a zoom control, accessed through the menu. This sets the zoom at a fixed speed regardless of how much pressure you put on the toggle. Speed 1 crawls quite slowly. Speed 2 is moderate. Speed 3 is quite fast. The Variable setting turns the speed limit control off.

Focus
You will find a manual focus setting on the ZR500, but we can’t recommend its use accept in extreme circumstances. The ZR500’s auto focus tends to struggle when forced to function in lower light conditions. Instead of settling on the correct subject, the camcorder will “breathe,” a term which refers to its fluctuating in-and-out of focus and the inability for the camera to settle on one subject and distance. Although the inclusion of a manual focus is welcome, the focus is digitally controlled through four-way controller. There is no numerical value attached to focal adjustments, and you have only your eyes and the LCD to gauge precision. Because of the control placement on the LCD panel, you can’t even use the viewfinder to make adjustments. Our advice: leave it in auto and stay in well-lit places.

Exposure (Aperture)
There is manual control for exposure compensation setting on the Canon ZR500. It allows users to select among +/-11 EV steps, giving you a total of +/-2.75 EV. This is a rather limited approach to exposure control, whereas independent aperture and shutter speed controls might be applied. In fact, the ZR500’s manual only mentions exposure adjustment as a means of correcting for backlighting problems.

Shutter Speed
This camcorder, like all those present in the ZR line, provide users with manual control over shutter speed. The manual shutter speed options on the ZR500 are: 1/60, 1/100, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000, and 1/2000 of a second. There is also a Slow Shutter speed setting for night shooting, accessed through the menu. It is fixed at 1/30 of a second.

White Balance
Manual white balance settings for the Canon ZR500 include Auto, Daylight, Tungsten, and Set (manual) . This isn’t exactly an extensive list and situations like indoor lighting or shade will call for either the Auto or Manual settings. It’s too bad; white balance is one simple adjustment that can make a dramatic difference in the quality of a shot, and users who rely on presets will think less of this cam for its lack of options.

Gain
There is no manual gain setting on any camcorders in the Canon ZR series.