Worth it

My fiancee and I bought his camera recently and we really love it. We were looking for something small and inexpensive that still took good video. After searching through various reviews we decided on the ZR850.

We have taken several videos in various types of lighting and environments. The picture is great when you are filming in a well lit room or outside. However, when you're filming in low-light areas the picture quality goes down. Also while in a dark room you cannot move it as quickly or the picture quality will also go down. It is not terrible, it will be sufficient for us, but some people may see it as an issue. This model also contains a light on the front of it, however when we tried it out we did not really see an improvement in low-light picture quality.

The sound is near perfect. If you are really listening you can hear the hum of the tape, but if you are not listening for it, you will not hear it and if you are filming in a noisier environment you cannot hear it at all.

It is pretty easy to use. The buttons all have convenient placement on the camera and they are easy to use. Holding the camera is a little awkward, but I think it is just something the user will get used to.

Also, the tape loads at the bottom of the camera. Again, this is not a problem for me, but it may be an issue for someone who wants to use a tripod and be able to switch tapes without taking it off.

We have watched the video through our T.V. and it looks great. We have also loaded the video onto our computer. It was easy to do and the quality was great.

This camera is awesome for the money. Yes there are better out there, but they are also more expensive. I am convinced this is one of the best cameras you can get for under 250 dollars.