Canon ZR500
Camcorder | February 16th, 2008
Retail Price : $249.00
Affordable pocket-sized performance
For budget-conscious consumers, the ZR family of cameras is a perfect balance between style, performance and affordability. ZR digital camcorders give you a variety of features, including Widescreen HR recording, pre-programmed auto exposure settings, a Firewire/DV Terminal and Canon’s advanced image stabilization system. Along with its stylish Blue Mist finish, the ZR500 boasts Canon’s longest zoom ever. It also comes with features found on more expensive camcorders, such as its external microphone input. An easy-to-read menu system makes it a breeze to operate. The joystick lets you easily operate playback, focus, exposure and menu options with a single controller. And a big 2.7″ LCD lets you lets you see exactly what your camcorder is recording.
The ZR500 is virtually identical to those two models, right down to the 1/6-inch CCD, the simplistic joystick-driven menus, and the palm-friendly design. You can find out more about the camcorder’s capabilities, performance, and image quality by reading our review of the ZR700..
The optical setup of this DV camcorder remains the same as the ZR100, with a 1/6-inch CCD that delivers 340,000 effective pixels in standard 4:3 mode. The resolution is boosted in 16:9 mode, in which the ZR500 provides 450,000 effective pixels for video (400,000 when the digital image stabilization is engaged). For such an inexpensive DV camcorder, the ZR500 captures impressive video in normal to favorable lighting conditions. Images are sharp and bright with well-saturated colors. Since most DV camcorders perform disappointingly as digital stills cameras, Canon chose not to make stills a major feature on the ZR500. There is no SD card slot, but you can capture stills to MiniDV tape.
Canon seems to finally be turning a corner on low light performance. In the past, this was always the point at which we felt incapable of a whole-hearted recommendation. No more! The ZR500 had great low light for such a small CCD. Though noise (graininess) became evident, it was a fine-grained noise rather than larger, more distracting splotchy noise. Also, the strong color saturation became a boon here, pushing through the darkness to make color recognition possible even at very low light levels. Low light performance is a major feature to look for in camcorders, so keep a bookmark on this model.
Features
- Widescreen HR Recording
- Optical Performance You Can See
- Brilliant Video
- Perfect Exposures
- Share Your Video
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