Canon ZR700 Camcorder Review

Audio (4.0)
Audio for the Canon ZR700 is somewhat limited with users having to rely solely upon the in-camera stereo microphone located on the front of the camcorder body along the bottom edge. The Canon ZR500 the lower priced sibling to the ZR700 does offer an external mic jack which cannot be found on any other camcorder within the ZR series this year. A mic jack can greatly improve audio quality depending on the external mic being used by the user and the lack of the mic input on the ZR700 is a disappointment that can be overcome by purchasing either the ZR500 or a camcorder produced by another manufacturer.

The Canon ZR700 does allow for audio dubbing, analog to digital pass-through, and control over audio mode. While audio dubbing without a mic jack seems futile, you could use the analog inputs for an audio feed. It just might take more doing. Control over audio mode allows for the camcorder to switch between the higher quality 16 bit sample rate to a lower quality 12 bit rate that is able to record two channels of audio while leaving two channels free for audio dubbing during playback review. Audio playback can be monitored through the speaker located on the left side of the camcorder directly above the back edge of the LCD screen. The speaker volume can be adjusted by entering the playback menu and opening the Function menu.

VCR Mode (9.0)
The VCR mode for the Canon ZR700 is entered by switching the mode dial on the right side of the camcorder to the Play setting. When switched to VCR mode the LCD screen immediately displays a diagram for the joystick in the lower right corner of the monitor. When viewing video footage the up arrow controls play/pause, the right arrow controls fast forward, the down arrow controls stop, and the left arrow controls rewind. As mentioned throughout this review, navigating these features would be a far simpler process if Canon had a better joystick design that was larger so that fewer control mistakes are made.

When in playback mode the menu options for the Function menu change and will instead allow access to speaker volume, rec. pause, end search, digital effects, card movie size, still image quality, and administrative menu. The digital effects for video footage are black and white, sepia, art, mosaic, ball, cube, wave, color m., and mirror. These features are simple to select and use although they are a bit cheese in their straight up 1989 kitsch aesthetic.

Switching into still image playback will allow for the user to view images with both playback zoom and multi-up thumbnail viewing in addition to the standard one image format slideshow most often found with hybrid camcorders. Changes to image viewing is made through the zoom lever. When playback zoom is engaged the user will be able to navigate the enlarged image through the joystick control on the frame of the LCD screen. The Function menu when viewing images in a multi-up thumbnail format provide access to these options; protect, print order, transfer order, as well as display, system, and date/time setup. When viewing single images the Function menu will allow access to speaker volume as well as the other options found with the list menu structure of the multi-up format. Deleting individual images is possible by pressing the down arrow on the joystick while scanning single images is accomplished by pressing the left and right arrows on the joystick.

Ports (5.5)
There are three locations for ports when examining the body of the Canon ZR700 with two being located on the right side of the camcorder body. Located towards the front of the camcorder on the right side is a horizontal port cover which forms the edge between the top and side of the ZR700. The port cover didn’t fit and never closed completely and had a tendency to open and jam up fingers of the right hand in a rather annoying manner which could be easily avoided with better construction. When open this port cover reveals three ports that evenly spaced so that accidental unplugging is unlikely when switching cables. The ports will allow connection to AV composite in/out, USB, and FireWire which will allow for analog to digital pass through in addition to using this camcorder as a webcam if wanted. Directly behind these ports and designed with greater success is the port and cover for the SD/MMC memory card. The cover opens from a tab on the top and flips easily out of the way so that memory cards can be switched.

The third location for ports is directly beneath the battery pack on the back of the camcorder body. This port allows the user to switch between the battery pack and wall power without having to turn the camera off, a distinct advantage over camcorders which place the DC IN port within the cavity of the battery pack.