Canon ZR830 Camcorder Reviewby John NeelyPublished on Mar 22, 2007 4:00 PM
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Automatic Control (4.0)
Apparently, Sony does not have a monopoly on Easy mode (though Sony HandyCams have an Easy button). The Canon ZR camcorders use a mode switch with options for Easy (auto) mode and P, or “Program Recording” mode. Many options available in P mode are disabled when this camcorder is set to Easy mode. To access the full complement of image adjustments, the switch must be set to P, and then P must be selected from the Program AE options. Other camcorders would call “P” within P mode “Manual,” so if Canon’s nomenclature confuses you, you’re not alone.
In Easy Recording Mode, image controls other than zoom default to auto, but a few options can be altered by pressing the Func. button below the LCD screen, then using the joystick to navigate to Menu > Camera Setup. The options available in Easy mode are: Auto Slow Shutter On/Off, Digital Zoom, Zoom Speed, Widescreen, and Self Timer. It's not much, but if you’re a point-and-shooter, the lack of options will keep things simple.
In Easy mode, the ZR830 (Review, Specs, $240) will not disappoint as long as the lighting conditions are favorable. The camcorder performs on par with other camcorders in the same price range. Key controls like exposure and white balance produce a good-looking image, but the camcorder hit a wall with mixed lighting. This comes as no surprise, since any camcorder will automatically favor the strongest lighting source when making auto white balance adjustments. Because different lighting sources have very different color temperatures (natural light is generally bluer than artificial light), this can wreak havoc with the overall color of your recorded image if lighting is mixed. Setting your white balance manually will always yield a better result than auto in mixed lighting.
The other automatic control the ZR830 had trouble with was focus in telephoto or in low contrast situations. Again, these focus issues are universal for camcorders set to auto mode. With optical zoom magnifications of 35x, the 2007 ZR series features the strongest optical zooms Canon has ever built into their camcorders. At the telephoto end of the zoom range, the depth of field becomes shallower, and the image processor has less latitude in which to operate. We found that the ZR830 and ZR850 (Review, Specs, Recent News, $265) both had difficulty finding and maintaining sharp focus at 35x, even in bright light. They also had trouble finding focus in low contrast situations (i.e. low light, monochrome backgrounds, etc.) You’ll encounter similar auto focus shortcomings in any consumer camcorder, and if anything, the Canon’s did a marginally better job than most.
Overall Manual Control (5.0)
Canon’s ZR camcorders have performed well in our tests, and they include a good set of manual controls. In addition, AE Modes offer a high degree of adjustability. This combination of manual controls and AE modes gives Canon ZR830 users a high degree of control over the image which rivals camcorders with better independent control over settings. Experienced videographers will need to spend some time familiarizing themselves with the Canon Function menu, but the most important features are close at hand, with manual focus and exposure accessed right from the joystick.
To adjust image settings manually, the Mode switch must be set to the “P” or Recording Programs position. The recording program that is analogous to Manual mode on many other camcorders is labeled “P” for Program AE, and this setting offers control over all camcorder parameters except for gain. The camcorder’s other Recording Programs are specialized recording modes that optimize automatic adjustments for specific situations. For example, the Fireworks Recording Program is intended for shooting fireworks against a dark sky, but it might be useful for scenes where similarly high contrast exists.
If you prefer to make image adjustments manually, remember that even though the AE Recording Program is treated as a Recording Programs submenu option, it is essentially the ZR830’s manual control mode. The other Recording Programs, including Sports, Spotlight, and Fireworks are what we generally refer to as AE modes, and limit manual image controls to focus and exposure.
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A detailed look at the AE (scene) Modes |
Zoom (6.5)
The Canon ZR830 has a rocking lever-style zoom controller that protrudes up from the top of the body, and it is positioned to allow for easy access during hand-held shooting. Short of a real zoom ring like the Cam Control dial on the HDR-SR1 (Review, Specs, Recent News, $1119.99), rocking levers are the most user-friendly zoom controllers commonly seen on consumer camcorders. They are easier to operate than sliders and allow for nuanced control over speed.
The zoom rocker traverses the ZR830’s zoom range quickly in variable speed mode but still allows for precise slow zooms. Three fixed zoom speeds can also be selected in the Camera Setup submenu. Speed 3 moves the zoom at a fixed medium speed, Speed 2 is a bit slower, and Speed 1 is a slow crawl. While a fixed speed which is faster than medium is not offered, the ZR830 does offer more zoom speed options than most competing camcorders.
Zoom Power Ratio (35.0)
The Canon ZR830 ships with a powerful 35x optical zoom. Last year, 35x would have been top of the optical zoom heap, but Sony has introduced 40x optical zooms on some of their entry-level consumer camcorders. The bottom line on zoom power is, anything over about 25x will get most shooters as close to the action as they need, and moving closer to your subject will generally get you a better shot anyway.
The ZR830 includes a digital zoom option that can be disabled, set to peak at 105x (three times optical zoom max) or set to peak out at the digital zoom max of 1000x. We advise against using digital zooms because they severely reduce the quality of the recorded image at more then 1.5x or 2x the strength of an optical zoom. This is because digital zoom magnifies the pixels available at peak optical zoom power which means that a 70x digital zoom on the ZR830 is really a 2x zoom of a 35x image, a 105x digital zoom is a 3x zoom of a 35x image, etc. If you can live with some pixelation, capping the digital zoom at 105x offers some quality control and is a good tweak offered by Canon.
When the ZR830’s digital zoom is set to 105x, the onscreen zoom indicator bar is divided into a white segment for optical zoom territory and a blue segment to indicate digital zoom territory. By watching the zoom scale while zooming, you can remain aware of when your image is magnified optically and when digital magnification kicks in. There is also a pause during zooming at the optical/digital zoom boundary. This pause serves as a warning that magnification is about to go digital and allows you to either stop your zoom there or break on through to the other side. When the zoom is set to 1000x, a dark blue segment is added to show 105x-plus territory.
Focus (4.0)
Manually focusing a camcorder without a ring control is challenging, but it is not impossible. The Canon ZR830’s joystick is used to make focus adjustments and for a non-ring focus control. It does work pretty well. Engaging manual focus is thankfully quick. In any Program Recording mode, depressing the joystick reveals the manual focus/exposure display, which appears at the lower right corner of the screen. Pressing down selects manual focus and brings up a couple of handy dandy icons: a person on the left, mountain peaks on the right. These icons represent near objects at left and distant objects at right. Pressing the joystick in the person direction moves your focal point closer, and pressing in the mountain direction moves it further away. Pressing up on the joystick returns to the top level of the onscreen display, allowing you to select either manual focus or exposure.
Actually pinpointing the precise focal depth of a given shot using the joystick is not easy, due to the ergonomics of the control and the tiny size of the screen relative to the television you’ll watch the footage on. Other camcorders make manually focusing even more challenging. Most Sony HandyCams demand a lengthy detour from your shoot into the menu to turn manual focus on. A manual focus overlay then appears on the LCD screen, blocking the very image you’re attempting to bring into focus. Even worse, the focus controls are virtual onscreen buttons! Compared to Sony’s touch screen manual focus interface that is buried in the menu and displayed over most of the screen, Canon’s joystick works like a dream.
Exposure & Aperture (5.5)
The Canon ZR830’s manual exposure control is operated just like manual focus, and it can be engaged just as quickly. After pressing in on the joystick when any Program Recording mode is active, pressing up enters manual exposure control. The exposure control is by default an exposure compensation adjustment with steps represented on a -11 to +11 scale.
It is possible to lock the shutter speed in AE mode, which does provide for iris-only exposure adjustments, but the display is still shown in an enigmatic EV scale EV steps of unknown intervals rather than actual EV stops, like you'd find on a digital camera. Panasonics do display f-stops when making iris adjustments, but the ZR830 still offers more exposure control than most consumer camcorders.
Shutter Speed (5.4)
Shutter speed on the Canon ZR830 can be independently adjusted only in AE mode, but a number of other Program Recording modes make automatic changes to shutter speed auto adjustment parameters.
Unlike focus and exposure which are accessed by pressing the center of the joystick, shutter speed control must be engaged from the Function menu. This requires a lengthier detour but navigating with the joystick makes the process relatively painless and fast. The manual shutter speed settings available are limited to 1/60th, 1/100th, 1/250th, 1/500th, 1/1000th, and 1/2000th of a second. If the camcorder’s image processor senses that the manual shutter speed setting is “inappropriate” to ambient light levels, the shutter speed indicator flashes. This is a helpful feature, but it seemed to allow what we would consider an over- or underexposed image to pass muster. It is not possible to manually select shutter speeds lower than 1/60, althought when Auto Slow Shutter is set to on, the ZR830 automatically drops the shutter speed below 1/60 in low light.
White Balance (5.5)
Unlike the other major image controls, manual white balance is reached by first pressing the Func. Button below the LCD screen and then navigating to the White Balance option at the left edge of the screen. White balance is just below the Program Recording mode icon at the upper left corner of the screen, so getting there is about as quick as focus or exposure. After selecting the white balance option, the four white balance settings appear across the bottom of the LCD, from left to right: auto (AWB), outdoor, indoor, and manual. When you have navigated to the manual white balance icon, pressing in once more on the joystick sets white balance.
Gain (0.0)
Gain cannot be adjusted manually on the ZR830, or its ZR siblings. Panasonic consumer camcorders do offer full independent control over gain, while most other manufacturers offer either no manual gain control, like Canon, or very limited control in the case of JVC.
Other Manual Controls (2.0)
Guide Markers - Onscreen markers are a useful shot framing aid. To turn markers on, navigate to Func. > Display Setup > Markers. The options available are white or grey Level marker, which superimposes a horizontal line across the middle of the screen with a cross hatch at the center point. White or gray Grid markers, which superimposes a nine-box grid on the screen. These markers are a nice inclusion on low-end camcorders, and you won’t often find them at this price point.
Image Effects - The Image Effects on Canon’s ZR830 are below the white balance option on the left edge of the Func. display, and the options available are: Vivid (increases color saturation and contrast); Neutral (tones down color saturation and contrast); and Soft Skin Detail (softens details in “skin toned” areas. Take note that soft skin modes on consumer camcorders detect only a limited range of skin tones, so if your subjects hail from the global south, they may be left out of this control).