Canon ZR20 Digital Camcorder

by Canon

Product Details

Product Manual [3.20mb PDF]

• Item Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 5 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00005AUJD
• Item model number: ZR20
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #26,958 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: September 4, 1999

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

The picture quality of the Canon ZR20 digital video camcorder makes it an excellent personal camcorder for either the beginning video artist or the designated family photographer. In addition, it's light and small enough to carry with you in a large jacket pocket or purse. This combination of portability and recording quality make the ZR20 an excellent value.

Anyone who has used any type of camcorder will be instantly familiar with the ZR20's controls. All the normal recording tools are accessible with your right hand. Zoom, mode, and snapshot controls are placed within easy reach on the right side, and playback and special effects options are arrayed on the left side with the LCD monitor. Fade and digital effects are hidden in the LCD compartment, and a small jog dial on the camera's lower left side controls volume, menu selection, and manual focus. The LCD screen is 2.5 inches and provides a crisp picture, but a color viewfinder is also provided, which can be used to conserve battery power and provide a more compact package for recording in tight or crowded locations.

The ZR20's Easy Recording mode makes taping on the fly an easy undertaking, as it automatically optimizes recording settings for the best picture quality. Video quality is sharp with excellent color reproduction. However, dark scenes with low contrasts have a slightly grainy texture. For extra control, the focus, white balance, and exposure can be manually set. As for audio, the high tones are slightly tinny, but sound playback is surprisingly accurate from the small single speaker. The only complaint I have is about the snapshot feature. While the button is easy to reach, it records a still shot with an arbitrary length of six seconds. This is useful if you download single frames to your computer, but it would've been nice to have had the option to set the length of the still.

Several special effects are available, including art, monochrome, sepia, and mosaic modes, plus three fade/wipe settings. For even more options, the IEEE-1394 connection lets you simply transfer the video onto your home computer to let you edit your footage and add any effects that you want, provided you have the correct equipment. RCA and S-video input/outputs are provided for quick and easy transfers to VHS. Interestingly, the S-video and RCA outputs are in separate locations on the camera. This probably allows for more efficient use of available space on the ZR20, but it's somewhat awkward to have wires sprouting from multiple locations when you're ready for video transfer.

A fun little accessory with the ZR20 is its remote control. Aside from the obvious convenience of remote playback of your videos on your TV, remote recording is a fun way to make personal video journals, star in your own movies, or clandestinely record documentaries of your housemate's disturbing personal habits.

All in all, this Canon piece offers excellent recording quality in a convenient little package. With such an agreeable price, plus compact dimensions and a low weight, the ZR20 is perfect for family vacations. Add in the decent battery life and clear LCD screen playback, and you have a real winner. --Matt Deffer

Pros:

• Very easy to pick up and start recording
• Good recording quality
• Lightweight and small
• Convenient remote control

Cons:

• AV outputs are in multiple locations
• Grainy video in locations with minimal light

Amazon.com Product Description

Canon's sleek and compact ZR20 camcorder is small enough to fit in your pocket, and comes equipped with both a color LCD view screen and a color eyecup viewfinder, an image stabilization system to steady the jittery hand, and a digital zoom that magnifies up to 200 times.

To help ensure that you get the quality footage you want, Canon has included a number of preset shooting modes. These modes will automatically adjust the settings of your camcorder for a variety of shooting situations. There is also an additional set of special effects available during both recording and playback that will help add a little flavor to your movies. These effects include black-and-white, sepia, and mosaic, among others.

Also, using the ZR20's digital photo mode, you can take over 700 still photos with an 80-minute MiniDV tape. With the IEEE 1394 port you can connect the ZR20 to a DV-ready personal computer to edit video or e-mail photos. Included in the package are an A/V cable, power adapter, shoulder strap, and battery pack.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Bang for your Buck, November 6, 2001

By 

M. Lambert "Cardeo.ca" (North Vancouver, BC Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Canon ZR20 Digital Camcorder (Electronics)

This camera is a great value for your dollar. I have taken along time in shopping around and this one is the best value. Not to mention the quality is excellant. Someone in another review mentioned they had problems with this camera in low-light situations. I primarily use this camera to record live bands and I have had no such problems. The quality was great. As well, if you like there is a low-light filter that opens up the shutter wider. Unfortunatly, some blurring occurs with this filter on. However, it looks kinda cool. I would definitly recommend this camera if you are looking for a more affordable, quality camera.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Canon ZR20 MiniDV Digital Camcorder, December 25, 2001

By 

A Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Canon ZR20 Digital Camcorder (Electronics)

The Canon ZR20 is a Digital MiniDV camcorder with a 2.5" LCD and a color viewfinder.

Zoom And Image Stabilizer

The camcorder has 10x optical zoom and 200x digital zoom. The image is not shaky at high magnification levels, since the camera is equipped with a digital stabilizer.

Picture

The camcorder records video and still pictures. The still pictures can be recorded on a MiniDV tape and one tape can hold around 700 still pictures. The picture quality (the CCD has 460,000 pixels) in the video mode is very good with low noise level.

Sound

The camcorder has a stereo microphone and a built-in speaker. The microphone input allows you connect an external microphone. You can select between 12- and 16-bit recording.

Features

The camcorder comes with a Li-Ion battery, A/V cable, S-Video cable, power adapter, battery, remote and a shoulder strap. There are several AE modes, including fully automatic "Easy Recording".

But in addition to automatic settings (focus, white balance, etc.), you can manually adjust focus, white balance, shutter speed, exposure (AE Shift). The camcorder allows you apply faders and digital effects and has widescreen mode.

It also features FireWire (i.Link, IEEE1394) jack, so you can connect it to another digital camcorder, MiniDV VCR or a computer for editing or making a copy. The remote control allows you search for still pictures on the tape using Data Code recorded during the shooting.

The camcorder features both composite and an S-Video inputs/outs and LANC editing terminal. The timer allows to perform recordings at predefined time. There is a Low Light recording capability (low shutter speed and high exposure time).

Remote

Unlike entry-level digital camcorders from Panasonic, the wireless remote control is included here.

Bottom Line

The ZR20 is a nice camcorder with good feature set. But the menu system is unnecessary complicated and the Canon camcorders are not among the most reliable (unlike Panasonic ones).

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best quality for the price, September 27, 2001

By 

T. Wang (CA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Canon ZR20 Digital Camcorder (Electronics)

I've looked for a good DV camcorder to replace my old Hi8 camcorder. We need it to be compact to fit into one palm, and have image stablization. We also need it to have analog input to transfer old video. Some of the higher-end model have low-resolution digital camera capability, which is useless to us since we already had high-resolution digital camera. We tried to avoid spending extra money to pay features we don't need, and it leads us to Canon ZR20. Well, what a great buy! We spend less than our old Hi8 camcorder, and got a 3X better camcorder! The picture quality is super, the sound is great! ( I don't have the issue described by another reviewer.) Right after recording, we can also playback the video with sound on this tiny camcorder. All my families just enjoy playing with this new toy and have a wonderful time together. Highly recommended!