Canon ZR200 rocks

Author's Rating:

Pros: controls, zoom, size and weight

Cons: viewfinder

The Bottom Line: 
Unless you are a budding Spielberg, get this camera!!

Author's Review
I bought this mini dv video camera for our vacation to Mexico, and to replace our old vhs-c that was okay but wanted an easy format to put on dvds. i spent some time at epinions looking at different videocams, and other sites, and decided that a mini dv would be the best choice until the mini-dvd cams got better and cheaper. then further research and talk came down to the canon zr 200 as a final decision. i paid $320 for it at circuit city. i also got 2 extra batteries and a mess of those cute l'il tapes it uses. turns out i only really needed one extra battery even on the days the cam got used a lot. there is no extended use battery for a canon. the battery charges on-camera and the camera can function at the same time. i got a uv filter for the bright beach stuff and it was very useful also. the cam is ultra light, a little more than a pound. it has a very nifty progressive zoom toggle. all the controls are handily placed. the tape has a funny method to eject the tape, so don't rush it. it ejects out the bottom, which doesn't matter to me. it does also lack an oem sholder strap, but i made one myself. my family used a belly pack to keep it in on walking trips. the tapes transfer super easy to a burner on my pc. the resolution and sound are fine, seems to handle wind noise very well. the lcd panel is nice and does work fairly well in all but the brightest of sunlight. that is good since the viewfinder is such a drag. too small and too awkward for easy use. there is also a digital camera function that isn't so bad, but not all that good either. it's okay for when the real digicam isn't there, but will never replace a dedicated use digital camera. so after 2 weeks of heavy use in mexico, i give the l'il camera a well done stamp of approval. we've owned it for several months and use it constantly. my 11 yo daughter picked up the controls without reading the manual, which is a very good one. it's been dropped, gotten rained on and more i am not aware of i am sure, but contines to function marvelously. a good buy in my epinion!