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Best Camcorders Under $500 4

by Thomas Houston on September 8, 2008 at 06:01 AM



The Budget Old-School Camcorder: Canon ZR950

What Is It?

The Canon ZR950 is the only camcorder on our list that uses Mini-DV tapes. The Mini-DV tape format has been around for over a decade, so it's likely that your old tapes will be compatible with the ZR950, and new hour-long tapes are priced around $2-$3.The well-priced ZR950 is perfect for both the budding cinematographer who likes to obsessively tweak camera settings and also for the user who is looking for great performance on automatic mode.

What We Like

The built-in image stabilization on the ZR950 works well to stop the picture from bouncing around, and we're especially glad to see an optical viewfinder -- missing on most models today. Both keep the image steady when using the huge 37x optical zoom lens. We were also impressed with the camcorder's 2.7-inch LCD screen and easy-to-navigate interface. The intuitive menu system allows you to quickly access playback features and control everything from white balance to frame rate settings.

In general, Mini-DV based camcorders will give you the best video and sound quality, because there there isn't any video compression -- compressed footage often looks less crisp and clear than uncompressed footage.


What We Don't

The ZR950 is a little bulkier than its hard-drive and flash-based brethren, and the blocky grey casing definitely doesn't get any style points from us.

Unlike hard-disk and flash-based camcorders, Mini-DV footage is a bit more difficult to get onto your computer. What's involved? Briefly, you'll need to hook up the camcorder to your computer, rewind the tape to where you want to begin importing, and then hit record on your computer. Assuming everything is hooked up correctly, the computer will begin recording directly off the camcorder at the speed of playback -- an hour of footage will take one hour to capture.

Additionally, you won't be able to quickly jump from clip to clip while replaying your footage on the on-camera display or on your TV, because Mini-DV is tape-based.


Last Word

Although transferring Mini-DV footage onto your computer may take awhile, the format is compatible with all operating systems and video editing applications. You can use USB, Firewire, and regular video connections for easy footage display and transfer. Although prices on flash media are dropping, Mini-DV footage is still the better deal in terms of price per hours recorded.

Sure, it's not the sleekest looking camcorder out there, but you'll be hard-pressed to find another model at the same price offering the same level of performance and set of features. Are comparable HDD or Flash camcorders out there? Sure, but for now, you're going to be paying significantly more and you may not be getting the same level of video and picture quality.

Granted, moving Mini-DV footage around isn't simple or quick, but you can be sure you're getting the best video and sound quality.

For more, check out our video review of the Canon ZR950 here.

Price

~$280

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