I had complained that the recorded picture was too pixelated--That anything with hard edges was represented by over-sized wobbly digital blocks. This temporary problem, I since learned, resides in my iMovie editing software.

iMovie cannot reveal the true quality of the digital footage. It simplifies the images to save processing power for editing. After reading "iMovie: The Missing Manual", I learned that the only way to see the true glory of a digital camcoders video is to hook it up to a real television using an S-Link connection. By the way, videos edited in iMovie WILL still look great, but only after you dump the project back to the camcoder and then play the resulting DV through a real television. Merely exporting to Quick Time doesnt do it justice.

Well, I finally tried the obvious and connected the ZR30 to my real television (duh?). It was a very pleasant surprise! Gone where the jagged pixels. The picture was very smooth--and I have a large screen to boot.

Probably the main difference between the look of my footage and pro footage is in the lighting. Dont forget, real TV shows are shot under perfectly manufactured lighting conditions. My stuff shot in my house looks like... well... my dark house.

I still find that the ZR30 requires more tweaking than my older Sony TRV did. The Sony was really idiot proof: Hit the red button to record. While the ZR30 does offer automatic modes, I dont feel that they work as well. On the other hand, you can manually adjust many of the parameters and get better results that way.

The image stabling is of the optical variety. Its great because it doesnt interfere with the picture quality. It doesnt respond to bumps quite as quickly as electronic types, though, so some jerking still gets through. Just leave it on and try to be careful.

Im feeling really happy with my ZR30 now. Sorry if I mislead anybody with the previous review

Great design, very small, still pics, digital, and all other features are great!

The only thing that is a "little bad" is the low light isnt that great. Just turn a light on and seemed to be fine.

Highly Recommended!

The specs are higher than they were for older analog models, but the actual resulting picture quality is only slightly better when conditions are perfect. Imperfect conditions can result in picture quality that is worse than that of analog camcorders.

The CanonZR30MC tries to digitally sharpen data-compressed images. The result can be frustrating. If you have ever seen TV shows where they mask faces with that pixel effect, you get the idea. Obviously, the ZR30MC doesnt do it as severly, but it is very noticable.

Because of this, you have to be very careful to shoot images without too much color contrast. Straight diagonal lines also present a problem.

The image stabilizer is subtle. Youll only notice an improvement when zoomed-in tight.

On the good side, the audio is very good. It can record loud live music without distortion. This camcorder also works well with iMovie software (connecting cable sold seperately $20).

Basically, if you can shoot under ideal conditions, the CanonZR30MC provides good picture quality and very good sound. Under less-than-ideal situations (which is often if you dont record in a Hollywood studio), the camcorder leaves too many annoying artifacts in the picture. The softer image of an analog camcorder can look more natural than the mosaic look this camcorder often gives.

Give this field a few more years and I think well see much better products coming out. It still has a way to go.

We purchased another Canon camcorder, the digital ZR30MC, which was delivered to us from Amazon in November, just in time before we departed for our trip to my husbands class reunion and to meet the relatives he had not seen for many many years. We shot the videos of events and faces and said into the camcorder the names. Sad to say that upon returning home, all the vidoes have no sounds. Needless to say we were disappointed and frustrated.

Amazon wrote to said that this should be taken care of by Canon. Canon told us to mail this ZR30MC camcorder to their repair shop. Will write again about the result.

Some cameras you buy and get home to find no microphone plug! Some no Firewire connection or RCA video jacks to archive all those old tapes you have. You wont have that problem with this Canon gem.

This is the second of the ZR series I have owned. I have also owned Sony among others, always going back to Canon.

General camcorder tips from someone who has been using video cameras for almost 20 years:
o always use a halogen light indoors: camcorder lights are white light; indoor lighting tends to be yellow. The dimmer the lighting, the more the iris opens up on the camera, allowing in even more yellow light. I ruined a friends wedding video this way, since it looked like the bride wore yellow.
o and always buy at least one extra battery and an external charger: this way when (not if) the battery dies, you can keep shooting while the other battery is recharging.

Boy am I glad I did, and I am especialy pleased with the result. The Canon is perfect and does everything I want. Its easy to use and the results have been extremely good, especially considering that I am really new to all this.

It seems from the reviews I have read that most camcorders with built still photography features lack the quality of purpose built digital cameras, and while this is also true of my Canon, its not really an issue as I have several still cameras in 35mm and digital formats that I like to use.

The quality of the video on the Canon is really very good. I do not have the needs of a serious hobbyist or professional but I still want something that gives good quality and I am very pleased.

I am also very happy with the overall ergonimics of the camera and its ease of use. One of my first outings was a car trip out of NY city and I shot a lot of city shots from the car. The results were very satisfying.

I have only used a few of the special features and have not done any editing yet but on first glance I found the instructions a little confusing but I put that down to my lackof experience.
I really have no negative comments, my only small niggle is the hinge on the little door that covers the DC power seems very flimsy and I sense it may snap one of these days but apart from that the camera is really sturdy

In terms of value, after much research I feel I got a very good product at a fair price. I compared it to Sony and JVC products and felt that I bought a lot of quality and flexibility and saved over 200 dollars over the Sony without losing any features that I needed.

So this has been a very gratifying experience and I look forward to using the camera for a very long time. I strongly recommend it.

In my first week of shooting, I tried various scenarios. I interviewed a friend in low light conditions. I was very impressed by the quality of the sound - both hers and mine as I was interviewing. The picture quality was good - better than I had been led to believe by reading other customer reviews.

I agree with others that the digital zoom is useless. I tried to film deer in a pasture that I could clearly see, but since it was out of range of the analog zoom, all I got was jitters and smeared video. Evidently the image stabilizer does not work above 10 power or with the digital zoom. Wish I had known this before I purchased the camera.

My other complaint was that I never got accurate readings on battery life. So I could never tell when to re-charge. The battery symbol was always empty, even though the camera was clearly full and worked. I assumed that this is a defect in the camera, called Canon Tech support who confirmed this, and am now getting a replacement.Question for other users...Do you remove the battery every time you stop shooting? It does say to do this in the manual. Just asking.

My final goal is to edit digital video and make a movie, saving it on a CD. This is because, as some of you may know, our video ( NTSC) is incompatable with European video standards (PAL). By editing the video and saving it to a CD it should be playable in Russia and elsewhere.

I love the versatility of this camcorder, you can switch from taking video to stills with just a click of a button.

I have used an analog Canon Hi8 camcorder in the past, and the ZR30MC picture quality and sound blows it away.

I am completely happy with this purchase, and would recommend the ZR30MC to anyone. For the money, this is the best video camera on the market.

As for design - Canon has a real Gem with this one. It is small and ergonomically designed. The quality of the Still photos leave something to be desired - But I have a regular Digital Camera for that purpose.

All in all Canon has made an excellent small Digital Camcorder with a nearly perfect design !!! Would definatley recommend the whole ZR20,25,30 series.