Canon ZR300 Mini DV Camcorder

Pros: Easy to use, quick to learn. Good price. Great zoom, numerous features.
Cons: Not great for still pics. Editing software is easy to use, but not detailed enough.

Great video camera for the average person. In a matter of minutes, somebody with 0 expierience (such as myself)can be filming. Then, with a little practice the camera really is impressive. The first feature that stands out is the zoom. It's one of ...

Pros: Great point and shoot camera for the lazy. Can do widescreen recording. USB & Firewire.
Cons: Weak for low light, SD support is good, but not well integrated to menu system.

Over the past few years, I've become spoiled by various technologies. My cell phone surfs internet, has a digital and video camera (which holds only about 20 second clips) and is smaller than a pack of cigarettes (used for size comparison only, I don't ...

Pros: Silver
Cons: Takes lousy videos

so... My old Panasonic broke and I needed a new vid camera. The guy at B&H talked me into this deal, "the Canon optics are better!"
I'm a "read the manual last" kinda guy, with good tech intuition, but the Canon had me flummoxed from the start.
The Menu is hard to navigate and non-intuitive: you need to push a tiny wheelie thing around, then back out of any submenu to go elsewhere.
It didn't come with a battery charging cradle--you can only charge the battery while it's in the camera. (My ancient Pana had one)
Auto-focus is miserable in low light, even under normal indoor lamp light. (my Pana was fine)
The "night" setting produces an awful jumpy, cell-phone cam quality picture, unwatchable.
The LED spotlight in front is laughable, unless you're filming close-up.
Shake-stabilizer doesn't do anything (my 8 yr old Pana did better)
The "easy" setting seems to guarantee only a bad shot. I don't understand what it's for.
But maybe I should go back and read the manual.

Pros: tbd
Cons: tbd

Excellent! Not only did Price Rite Photo have the best price with the most accessories, but it was so easy to order and our Cannon ZR300 arrived in just 5 days!

Pros: IT has many features, decently priced, and easy to start filming or taking photos
Cons: Could have better detail in the photos

We bought this camera before the birth of our child and ended up giving away our old digital camera, because the camera on this one works great. Of course it isn't the greatest of detail in every picture, but the pictures are clear enough to look good. Another great feature about this camera is the SUPER NIGHT option. You can take decent pictures in the dead of night.
The video camera works well from what I have used of it, we do not have a fire wire hook up on our computer yet so therefore I have not been able to edit like I would want to. I say that this is a good starter camera because it has so many features that it will take me a year before I understand how to use them all, but it's easy enough for me to start taking footage and pictures right away.
The price of the batteries and tapes are decent, and we bought a card that holds over 300 pictures for the camera.
This camera has been invaluable to our new family.