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Amazon.com Review
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:
Amazon.com Product Description
Improving on an original can be a daunting task. Canon has succeeded quite well, thank you. The ZR40 is the successor to the ZR20. Canon increased the optical zoom to 18x--the digital now sits at 360x--and added an analog pass-through port. Although the ZR line featured analog-in for dubbing your movies to MiniDV, the new pass-through port allows you to go straight to the computer, eliminating a possibly cumbersome step.
The ZR40 also has a lot of the same features that made the original a lot of fun. A 2.5-inch LCD is swivel-mounted, permitting the shooter to use the camera at odd angles. Various digital effects and autoexposure modes help ensure your footage turns out well. Finally, Canon threw in a low-light color-shooting mode that makes the ZR40 that much more attractive.
Customer Reviews:
OK for several years...then it got hungry........2006-10-07
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
Fine until it started eating tapes.......2006-07-14
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.
Worked Great - eats tapes after some use.......2005-10-24
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.
Awful Company. Awful Product. Run! Run! Run!.......2005-01-05
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.
always "remove the tape" message.......2004-10-26
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.
Product Description
Gladiator Zoom series offers the added advantage of enjoying multiple magnifications in a single binocular. With variable zoom, you can capture a panoramic view at low power, target in on your object and then zoom in to a higher power to capture the finer details. The zoom mechanism on the binocular is smooth and easy to operate with a flick of the lever. It's like having many binoculars in one! Versatility, convenience and tenacity put Gladiator in an arena by themselves.
Customer Reviews:
what a view.......2007-11-15
great view the zoom feature is very easy to use.i had a problem with the focus when it was delivered.i fixed the unit i had to push up on the eye pieces once that was done the unit worked great.the view that you get is amazing.the focus is very good the field of view is very large.i would highly recomend this product.
Defective out of the Box.......2007-02-09
On paper these seem like a great deal. The ones I received were cross-eyed when delivered rendering them unusable. Amazingly, the Barska warranty does not cover this kind of condition; you have to pay to get them fixed. I simply returned them.
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