Buy it Used if You can get a Gool Deal on a Clean One

I bought this camera in the Summer of 1999 and have used it often. I have had 2 other video recorders before this one (Hi8 and VHS) and got tired of each of them after the newness wore off as they were just too big to carry around in social situations.

Not so this ZR. In addition to being small and light, it looks like a film camera, and I have taken it to many places that video cameras were not allowed but cameras were, and anyone who noticed must have assumed that I had a regular camera around my neck. It is fun in social situations to walk around and videotape friends without them being self conscious - fun little movies always result.

The quality of the picture is excellent, better than most television sets can display, except high end and hdtv models and the sound quality is also good. Canon makes good lenses, even in a small unit such as this and the camera is easy to use without a lot of extraneous features that you will never want to use or learn about. If I sound like a novice, think again. For the record, a large part of my job in "real life" involves digital photography - I take photos and edit them for the web, and attended film school as well. What I am getting to in saying all of this is that I have found that there are DV models on the market that have a few more features, maybe a bigger viewer, more of a zoom lens, they might double as a still digital camera (which this one does, but I have not bothered to use it that way as the resolution for a still photo is not as good as a good digital still camera, just as the digital still cameras which allow you to make short video clips do not do that all that well in my experience either) but the size and ease of use of this camera is wonderful, and can't be beat - if you can find one in 2002, I guarantee you will love it and take it everywhere and anywhere.

I am a gadget freak and still enjoy this camera after 3 years! So many times I have paid extra to get the most complicated top of the line model when I bought things like this, and it usually turns out that I seldom use the "extra" features that I paid a premium for. I have used friend's DV cameras, and am so glad that I did not spend the upwards of $2000 at the time that I bought this on some other camera.

This said, the one thing that I am perpetually disappointed by is battery life. I purchased 3 batteries for it, and am lucky to get 15 minutes out of a battery when charged. At least the batteries are about the size of a pack of gum and light weight so it is easy to carry spares.

There has been no other video camera designed quite like this and it is still one of the smallest models ever sold. Its portability and picture quality are the main reasons you will like it if you can find one.