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At just over a pound, the lightweight ZR40 from Canon makes an excellent camcorder for the beginning digital-video enthusiast. This compact and comfortable camcorder offers high-end features found on much more expensive cameras, yet is easy enough to use that a novice can begin filming right away.
The camera is sleekly designed, and pieces pop out of the ZR40 from all sides. On top, the adjustable lens viewer also slides in and out so you don't have to hold the camera too close when filming. You can also use the 2.5-inch LCD screen, which swings out of the left side of the ZR40. It also twists and can be flipped over, providing myriad filming angles.
While we were suitably impressed with the image of our capture video, the sound of the camera's motor could be heard during some of the playback. It's a minor annoyance, which can be overcome with an optional external microphone.
With an 18X optical zoom (as well as 360X digital) intuitively placed next to the right thumb, the ZR40 is able to get up close to the subjects you're filming. Canon's image stabilizer worked well at correcting the "shake" common to handheld cameras. And the camera functions as a digital camera as well, taking snapshots in addition to video.
The ZR40 offers a variety of connectivity options, including FireWire ports, composite AV, and S-video. You can input from an analog source such as a VCR, TV, or camcorder and convert the signal into digital video. It also ships with a handy remote control (with a range of 16 feet) that handles the record functions and can even zoom the lens in and out.
Various special effects modes are incorporated into the camera as well, in addition to a new low-light mode that allowed us to shoot footage in the evening. There are DV cameras out there that do more than this one, but for most users, the ZR40 does plenty and does it well. --J. Curtis
Pros:
- Compact and comfortable
- Easy to use
- Excellent zoom
Cons:
- Some motor noise
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Technical Details
- MiniDV camcorder- 18x optical, 360x digital, zoom with image stabilization
- 2.5 inch color LCD and color EVF
- Digital photo mode records onto MiniDV tapes
- Analog pass-through ports for direct connection to computer
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By Tom Willett (Tennessee)
Yes it does eat tapes. I have the camera and I have owned it for about 3 years. It did some fine work. I have no complaints except if you need a camera that will never eat tapes, be very wary.
I posted my movies on a couple of websites. I make short movies. I used the Canon ZR40 and made movies with the Sonic Foundry Vegas 4 editing system. It made fine movies in the wmv or rm or mov for Quicktime web formats. My short films are at hollywoodscreams and myhollywoodstar and those are dot com, of course. They are family friendly.
Recently I tried to rewind a tape. It got mangled. I figured it was just the tape. I tried a second tape and another. Each time I would record something OK but the tape would get jammed during rewind. On the movie Hollywood Screams I rewound each scene by hand. That is very hard to do. I had to use two toothpicks to hold the cassette lid open so I could pull the tape out and then wind the spool by hand. It was very time consuming.
The video looks good and I never noticed noise. I am sure each brand of camcorder has some problem. Canon has a mechanism that mangles tapes in rewind after several years of use if my camcorder is typical.
Tom Willett
By Jack Baker (Austin, TX)
Like many of the other reviewers, my ZR40 is now giving me the infamous "Remove cassette" message and is mangling tapes. I have used it to record maybe 7 hours worth of video over the last two years. Search the web for "canon zr users group" and "eating tapes" to hear similar horror stories. Stay away from Canon camcorders.
By Bryan C (Georgia)
Like many who have found this camcorder, I liked the canon name and bought based on Canon and value. It was a mistake because I don't feel I should have already used up the life of this camera yet. If you go to several discussion groups you will see it has several issues with the deck, i.e. "transport". Just google zr20/40 etc. and "eat tapes". Suggest you try Sony or Panasonic.
By George (Seattle, WA United States)
Well where do I begin? After a month of use, the battery stopped working. Contacted Canon via email. They replied battery is not under warranty. Would you like to buy another one? Please.
6 months later. I started transferring video to my computer only to find out this stupid camera eats tapes. I have lost two tapes so far. One of them was my son's birth!!!!
The eating tapes issue is a major problem with this unit. They have known about it and continue to ignore it. Do a search on "zr40 tape problems" to see what I am talking about. There are even more results on sister product, zr10. I will never buy a product from Canon again. They are idiots for doing this to their customers.
By Haiyan Wang (Cleveland OH USA)
I bought this model 18 months ago. Now it has big problem. I can't rewind the tape well. "remove the tape" mesasge always pop up. I sent it back to Canon for repair. They asked me $169 for repair. What can I say now? Too bad camcorder.
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Buy Canon ZR40 MiniDV Digital Camcorder with 2.5" LCD, & Digital Still Mode Now
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