[CaseCom]

I'm looking at buying my first digital video camera. This would be for personal, not professional, use: filming vacations and the like.

I'm looking at a Canon ZR10. It seems like a good basic camera: It has FireWire, it's iMovie-compatible, it can import from VHS and export to VHS, and it's under $1,000.

Am I on the right track here? Does the ZR10 have any disadvantages I should be aware of? What else would you recommend?

Thanks!

P.S. I have an iMac DV grape with a 10GB hard drive (about 7.5 gigs free).

I have a Canon zr10 and I am super happy with it. It's simple, small, durable and most importantly cheap. I would recomend it for sure.

[amcrory]

Hey, I've got one, too... it's a great little camera, and the internal mics are really really good. Just make sure you turn on the 16-bit audio option. The low-light option is very nice, although it makes the images a bit jerky (you can use this as a cool effect in regular light, though... exploit weaknesses!!)

Sizewise, it's the bomb. It's actually smaller than my older 35mm point-and-shoot Pentax. I can get about an hour out of the battery (a little more if you don't use the LCD screen).

It's got a still photo feature, but I don't really like it. It basically shoots an image for 6 seconds (including audio). It's much easier just to scrub-and-grab stills from iMovie and export them as jpegs. The still quality is just OK -- 72 dpi (I think), and it definitely looks like a video still. Sony makes a comparable digital8 camcorder that uses Memory sticks, and I think the still quality is way better, but the camera itself is freaking huge.

Anyway, I think Canon quality is excellent, the camera is the best $900 deal out there, and the ability to import analog video is a deal-maker.

I edited this video the day I got the camera -- sorry it's so big (about 12 megs)... it's my jazz group performing live at a local club. My wife shot it and she's never used a videocamera in her life.
http://homepage.mac.com/amcrory/

-a

[jcroft]

I just got a Sony DCR-TRV720. It's a tad more expesive than the Canon you're looking at, but a TRV520 would be about the same.

I'm pretty impressed with it. It has all the features you want, plus it can play back Hi8 and/or 8mm tapes and send them as a DV stream to your Mac. I wanted that functionality.

The biggest disadvantage to the Digital8 cams like mine is size. They are defintly larger than the MiniDV cams. That, to me, didn't matter much. Especially considering the fact that along with my size comes a nice 4" LCD...was larger than the Canon.

In any case, eitgher camera will make you happy. If you have any old 8mm tapes and you don't mind a slighty bulkier cam (though it's still pretty small), i'd get a Sony Digital8. If not, or if size matters to get, get your Canon.

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