Canon ZR850 1MP MiniDV Camcorder with 35x Optical Zoom
By: Canon Average Rating: 4.0 Total Reviews: 34
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 On: 2008-06-29
Capable camcorder/camera which performs very well. Easy to use and captures excellent rich video footage. Camera function works very good.
On: 2008-06-18
Great small convenient camera! Have not yet checked the recorded DVs for image & sound quality but so far I can say its a very good camera for domestic/ vacation use!
 On: 2008-06-17
This is an excellent little camera for the price. It was everything I expected. There is a little bit of motor noise when the zoom is used but nothing major unless you are looking for something super professional. I like the size - fits in a pocket or purse for travel. I would recommend it.
It also takes still photos on a card - nice extra.
On: 2008-06-11
great camera for the money. I suppose the image quality does leave a tiny bit to be desired, bit what can you expect for under 200!?
On: 2008-06-10
seems good for a camcorder.
Although the still camera has a higher Resolution CCD (1 Meg),
The snap button does not have the 2 step feature as seen
in the better Optura line (model 50/60). So when you snap the
picture, it does not snap right away since it has focus first.
There is no way to prefocus and then snap the picture. Therefore
you will miss the moment. The viewfinder is not adjustable.
Canon decided to stop manufacturing the better miniDV line models.
On: 2008-06-09
Shipped on time & arrived in new condition as advertised. I paid under $200 & it uses a miniDV tape. I prefer this format over mini discs because mini discs only hold "up to 30 minutes each"
On: 2008-05-20
Looking for the best of a digital camera and a camcorder in one at a great price? This camera offers the best of both worlds! Great for the novice or experienced user, this camera has fantastic features that are user-friendly. To the novice, please take a few minutes to review the users manual and familiarize yourself with all the buttons and then have some fun.
This camera comes with the USB cable for your computer and cables to hook up to your TV, a rechargeable battery pack with power supply cord, uses a standard memory card, and/or miniDV cassettes. I recommend buying an extra battery pack, tapes and a camera case (all available at [...] for less than most major discount stores) to complete your package.
The battery pack doesnt last as long as Id like, but having the extra battery pack helps if you dont have a place to plug in the charger. I absolutely love the quality and features of this camera and recommend it to anyone who is looking for quality, good price, and easy-to-use features.
 On: 2008-05-18
I had this Camcorder for about 5 days before I returned it. After recording one tape I decided to watch the footage to see what kind of quality it had. The video quality was outstanding but the audio was not. The motor in the camcorder puts off a quite hum which you dont pay any mind because its very faint. However, the internal microphone picks up this hum and records it. I love everything else about the camcorder. But in my opinion the motor noise is just not expectable for something of this price range.
On: 2008-05-07
I bought this camcorder to make some fundraising movies for my 3 day breast cancer walk. It has been SO easy to use, and to create some GREAT looking videos. I took it out of the box, and shot some video then plugged it into my VISTA laptop and downloaded the video in about 3 minutes... Great for a first or casual user. Has some nice options like widescreen and SD card for still photos. The light only works very close up but is a nice option if you are interviewing someone at night. All in all I couldnt be happier with this camera, and the price is AMAZING for the features you get... (lots of USEABLE features without all the useless bells and whistles that the $$$$$$ cameras have - that you never use anyhow) If something were to happen to this camera I would replace it with another zr850... The only thing I wish it had was a mic jack... but the built in mic does a fantastic job... see some video made with this camera at www.myspace/adels3day.com
On: 2008-04-27
I had a ZR200 Canon that I take everywhere. It was easy to use so after many hundreds of hours of filming sports events etc. it died. I didnt want to spend thousands of dollars so I purchased this for about the same price I would have had to fix my old camera. This is an excellent camera expecially for price. Excellent Buy! I recommend this without any reservation. You cant go wrong!!
On: 2008-04-27
I was quite apprehensive after seeing many reviews about this product.
Agreed that the picture quality is not as good as the 8 mm tape camcorders, and the manufacturing lacks sturdiness, but its an excellent value camcorder. I only paid 180 for it.
Its quite easy to use -- even the wheeltrack on the display screen.
Primary reason for me to get this was the combination of camera and camcorder plus its quite light compared to my old 8 mm Sony.
On: 2008-04-26
I bought this camera from amazon. The price was the best price. The shippment came before I was expecting. I bought it to give a gift to one of my family members for their 25th wedding anniversary. I have already have Canon ZR 300. I am very happy with that too. Canon makes great. product.
On: 2008-04-24
I had trouble connecting to my computer. The problem turned out to be that I had external hard drives plugged into the fire wire ports. When I removed all other fire wire connections, it connected.
On: 2008-04-14
I received my Camcorder ZR850 quickly and found it to be just what I wanted, we will record all the items in our home and put into our safeydeposit Box at our Bank so if we are destroyed by a Hurricane or fire we have a record for insurance. Thanks again for the quick shipment.
 On: 2008-04-12
The price was nice but the buttons hard to use and the zoom difficult to use while holding the camera by the strap. Good time on battery. Just FYI, you have to have a firewire cable to transfer video to computer, get one online much cheaper. Also make sure you have a firewire connection to pc or you also will have to get a firewire card which you can also get online cheaply. Video good quality and sound good.
 On: 2008-04-05
I purchased a similar model 7 years ago that worked fine, but humidity on a beach trip killed it. I finally purchased another at a much cheaper price in December 07 and have sent it in once to be fixed for an eject problem with the tapes which cost me $100, and now am having issues with the same thing. Spend the extra bucks on something better. This is a waste of money. Apparently EXTREMELY fragile, in that it belongs in its box unopened and unused.
On: 2008-02-27
Video compression is such that the picture is somewhat grainy and the external light is pretty weak. One thing that may not affect many users, but was a big deal to me was the fact that it cannot record video and audio at the same time through the input jacks. The manual says that using the analog in jacks, only audio can be recorded, but full a/v can be played out. The way to record video is using the dv jack to record.
On: 2008-02-15
Huge miniDV bang for the buck. Very little compression using tape, very good image & optical quality for the size. Slight zoom noise. Very good low-light performance even though experts pan this cam. Stills are good enough if you cant carry another still cam. Two beefs: no external mic (biggy) and the included software is not worth the CD its burned on. Dont bother installing this garbage. Find WinDV for 1394 video downloads - its a great free app, so donate a buck to the author.
On: 2008-02-08
Except for zoom out (you wont be able to get a wide angle view if youre in a small closed space) and think about getting a second battery (if you rewind the tape the juice is almost gone)
Apart from those problems I am very satisfied.
On: 2008-01-22
The cartridges for Brother printers tend to dry out. When one cartridge drys out, the printer stops, even when the others are all that is needed.
On: 2008-01-16
I have done a lot with this camcorder. I am a roller coaster enthusiat, meaning i take this camera with me on rides, it gets bumped around, and it out side a lot of the time. I also fool around and make movies with it.
Pros:
1. I do NOT hear ANY motor noise at all. I dont know if i got a faulty camera (in a good way), but its excellent, no noise heard.
2. does great in all conditions, i take it skiing, have dropped it many times, i take it on rides with me, it gets jolted around, its really quite amazing.
3. Zoom is very nice and clear, image stabalizer works OK, you can definatly tell its there, but you also definatly tell you are zoomed in 35 Xs.
4. Crystal clear picture, colors are incredible. Sample video can be seen here if you would like... http://youtube.com/watch?v=Jb3LCzOl7Qs
By the way, the video looks incredible on my 42" westinghouse LCD TV. The video is compressed a lot for youtube purposes, but you can still see the great color involved.
5. light, compact, can fit in my pocket.
6. noise is actually very nice, wind noise is very low, a big thumbs up here, noise quality sounds good as well.
7. screen is nice
8. no need for a digital camera!
9. battery works for a while (bought from best buy not amazon) it was a lithium, lasted for about 2 1/2 hours.
Cons:
1. Colors look dull indoors, i have NOT played with the HUE or contrast or anything, so im sure that its fine with some tweaking.
2. Cant get that 3000Xs zoom it says.. never tried setting the camera still though, which may be the problem.
3. Photos are NOT that 12000 X 18000 pixels you are looking for. try 7 X 1200 or something.
4. LIGHT! what light? (you cant see it, useless)
On: 2008-01-15
I have done a lot with this camcorder. I am a roller coaster enthusiat, meaning i take this camera with me on rides, it gets bumped around, and it out side a lot of the time. I also fool around and make movies with it.
Pros:
1. I do NOT hear ANY motor noise at all. I dont know if i got a faulty camera (in a good way), but its excellent, no noise heard.
2. does great in all conditions, i take it skiing, have dropped it many times, i take it on rides with me, it gets jolted around, its really quite amazing.
3. Zoom is very nice and clear, image stabalizer works OK, you can definatly tell its there, but you also definatly tell you are zoomed in 35 Xs.
4. Crystal clear picture, colors are incredible. Sample video can be seen here if you would like... http://youtube.com/watch?v=Jb3LCzOl7Qs
By the way, the video looks incredible on my 42" westinghouse LCD TV. The video is compressed a lot for youtube purposes, but you can still see the great color involved.
5. light, compact, can fit in my pocket.
6. noise is actually very nice, wind noise is very low, a big thumbs up here, noise quality sounds good as well.
7. screen is nice
8. no need for a digital camera!
9. battery works for a while (bought from best buy not amazon) it was a lithium, lasted for about 2 1/2 hours.
Cons:
1. Colors look dull indoors, i have NOT played with the HUE or contrast or anything, so im sure that its fine with some tweaking.
2. Cant get that 3000Xs zoom it says.. never tried setting the camera still though, which may be the problem.
3. Photos are NOT that 12000 X 18000 pixels you are looking for. try 7 X 1200 or something.
4. LIGHT! what light? (you cant see it, useless)
On: 2008-01-12
The camcorder came in perfect condition and timely. My daughter received it for Christmas and she loves it.
On: 2007-12-17
really neat product.
CONS:
* It does not come with a Firewire cable which youd need if you want to download videos to your PC/MAC.
* Battery last only one hour
On: 2007-10-28
There are a few drawbacks. The motor noise mentioned in other reviews is a real problem - its a loud whine and hiss, really annoying. I almost sent the camera back because of this alone so be warned. There is no Firewire cable included, you have to get one before you can transfer video to the computer. No video software is included but since I am using Kino in Ubuntu Linux, it wasnt an issue. In Linux, its extremely easy to transfer to Kino, edit, and burn to DVD using K3b. (dont forget in Ubuntu you have to run it as root - gksudo kino). Kino controls the camera through the DV interface, playback, edit, export to DVD. Havent tried anything more complicated than that yet. Controls are nice and picture and sound quality quite good.
On: 2007-07-01
This camcorder is great. I had an earlier version of it and like this one better. Picture quality is good and easy to use. glad i bought it.Canon ZR850 1MP MiniDV Camcorder with 35x Optical Zoom
On: 2007-06-01
I am a first time camcorder owner and decided to get this camcorder based on reviews on another website. Then, right after I ordered the camera, I began reading the reviews on Amazon and got worried--I should have checked here first. After further research, I decided to also order the Panasonic PV-GS80 to compare the devices.
What I found is that the Canon is just as loud as everyone has reported. When I played back the tape on my TV, you could hear the humming noise it makes while filming plus a clicking noise each time you zoom in or out. My other complaints are that it doesnt fit in the hand as well as the panasonic, it has a bottom tape loader, and the power adapter is only a couple of feet long
In comparison, the Panasonic was quite as a mouse. Images are also more crisp on the 2.7 inch screen and the power adapter is at least 5 feet long which is very helpful.
I am returning the Canon ASAP.
On: 2007-05-16
I did a lot of research before I settled on this camera. I was prepared to spend a fair amount of money on a better model, but I came to the conclusion that it was a better idea to spend less money and wait a couple of years for the HD technology to come down in price and the hard drive storage format to become more established. So this was, in my opinion, the best mixture of quality and price. There are certainly cheaper models out there but beware. There are three major bugaboos camcorders have to face: internal noise, image stabalization, and low lighting conditions. You can expect cheaper machines not to excell in these and to pay dearly for those that do. Canons real selling point is its optics, but like most lower-end models, they dont "shine" in low light. They put external mike jacks only on their chapest models so they can sell to schools (the education market likes low prices and external mikes). Personally, I have a pocket digital recorder with a lavalier mike and I edit in a separate digital soundtrack to get around the noise problem, but not everyone wants to do that. Canons image stabalization seems improved from the previous model that Ive had, although while 35X zoom seems impressive, Ive not yet tested it to see what the vibration reduction is like at the etxreme end. My biggest problem is the low lighting, so I bought a portable utility light at a home improvement store for ten bucks to help with that.
The reality is that even though you dont care to spend a couple hundred bucks every year on new ccamcorders, you should consider this a disposable camera. It costs almost as much to buy a new model as to fix them. I bought this to replace a ZR85. Which leads me to another point- if you have the option, you might consider an extended warantee. The earlier generations of camcorders seem to have had a habit of blowing out.
You will want to buy an extended life battery as well- the battery that this model came with was good for only a short while.
I wouldnt bother much with still photography- camcorders dont have great snapshot capabilities just as cameras dont generally have good video capabilities. Its tempting to try to kill two birds with one stone, but none of the models Ive seen do both eaqually well. Even my cheapo point and shoot digital camera takes better pictures (but not nearly as good video). Also, copying video to the SDram card is a quick and easy way to slap a short video clip on your website or email it to friends, but you will get a compressed file with significantly poorer quality than the miniDV tape. On a PC you can use Windows Movie Maker (free download if you dont already have it) but it only saves in WMV format. To burn in DVD format you will need authoring software (thats another review, but I use Adobe premiere elements).
MiniDV is on its way out, but will probably still be around for a while. It has great quality- much better than a DVD, although you can certainly create DVDs from a miniDV tape. As far as storage goes, the tapes are pretty cheap- 13 gigs or so for a couple of bucks is pretty good. In the future though I think the hard drives are going to be the next big thing.
Copying your tapes to a DVD via a Mac is a breeze with imovie and iDVD (no, I dont work for Mac) although I generally do my editing on a PC. It is a bit of a pain (less so when you finally get the hang of it) but I dont have regular access to a Mac.
This is a really great starter camera if you are just getting into digital video and a real easy, convient, point and shoot workhorse. That being said, it is sophistocated enough that you can grow into it. My guess is that by the time you grow out of it the prices for more advanced technology will have come down and this camera will have reached the end of its lifespan anyway. I found mine brand new online for 260 bucks, and I got what I paid for and then some.
On: 2007-05-15
I did a lot of research before I settled on this camera. I was prepared to spend a fair amount of money on a better model, but I came to the conclusion that it was a better idea to spend less money and wait a couple of years for the HD technology to come down in price and the hard drive storage format to become more established. So this was, in my opinion, the best mixture of quality and price. There are certainly cheaper models out there but beware. There are three major bugaboos camcorders have to face: internal noise, image stabalization, and low lighting conditions. You can expect cheaper machines not to excell in these and to pay dearly for those that do. Canons real selling point is its optics, but like most lower-end models, they dont "shine" in low light. They put external mike jacks only on their chapest models so they can sell to schools (the education market likes low prices and external mikes). Personally, I have a pocket digital recorder with a lavalier mike and I edit in a separate digital soundtrack to get around the noise problem, but not everyone wants to do that. Canons image stabalization seems improved from the previous model that Ive had, although while 35X zoom seems impressive, Ive not yet tested it to see what the vibration reduction is like at the etxreme end. My biggest problem is the low lighting, so I bought a portable utility light at a home improvement store for ten bucks to help with that.
The reality is that even though you dont care to spend a couple hundred bucks every year on new ccamcorders, you should consider this a disposable camera. It costs almost as much to buy a new model as to fix them. I bought this to replace a ZR85. Which leads me to another point- if you have the option, you might consider an extended warantee. The earlier generations of camcorders seem to have had a habit of blowing out.
You will want to buy an extended life battery as well- the battery that this model came with was good for only a short while.
I wouldnt bother much with still photography- camcorders dont have great snapshot capabilities just as cameras dont generally have good video capabilities. Its tempting to try to kill two birds with one stone, but none of the models Ive seen do both eaqually well. Even my cheapo point and shoot digital camera takes better pictures (but not nearly as good video). Also, copying video to the SDram card is a quick and easy way to slap a short video clip on your website or email it to friends, but you will get a compressed file with significantly poorer quality than the miniDV tape. On a PC you can use Windows Movie Maker (free download if you dont already have it) but it only saves in WMV format. To burn in DVD format you will need authoring software (thats another review, but I use Adobe premiere elements).
MiniDV is on its way out, but will probably still be around for a while. It has great quality- much better than a DVD, although you can certainly create DVDs from a miniDV tape. As far as storage goes, the tapes are pretty cheap- 13 gigs or so for a couple of bucks is pretty good. In the future though I think the hard drives are going to be the next big thing.
Copying your tapes to a DVD via a Mac is a breeze with imovie and iDVD (no, I dont work for Mac) although I generally do my editing on a PC. It is a bit of a pain (less so when you finally get the hang of it) but I dont have regular access to a Mac.
This is a really great starter camera if you are just getting into digital video and a real easy, convient, point and shoot workhorse. That being said, it is sophistocated enough that you can grow into it. My guess is that by the time you grow out of it the prices for more advanced technology will have come down and this camera will have reached the end of its lifespan anyway. I found mine brand new online for 260 bucks, and I got what I paid for and then some.
On: 2007-05-06
We purchased a Canon Elura 70 2-years ago but unfortunately the zoom, still photo and tape loader broke recently. We wanted to stick with Canon for our next camera because it is a good brand so we got the Canon ZR850. Instantly the motor noise stood out. It wasnt subtle it was a high pitch whining noise that gets recorded when video tapping. At first I thought I could live with it but when I compared the recorded video from both the Elura70 and the ZR850 there was a big difference. Think about filming on vacation and wanting to capture the crash of the waves and chirping birds - not with the ZR850. Dont go there. We are returning the ZR850 and probably going to get the Panasonic Palmcorder MiniDV 3.1MP.
On: 2007-05-05
We purchased a Canon Elura 70 2-years ago but unfortunately the zoom, still photo and tape loader broke recently. We wanted to stick with Canon for our next camera because it is a good brand so we got the Canon ZR850. Instantly the motor noise stood out. It wasnt subtle it was a high pitch whining noise that gets recorded when video tapping. At first I thought I could live with it but when I compared the recorded video from both the Elura70 and the ZR850 there was a big difference. Think about filming on vacation and wanting to capture the crash of the waves and chirping birds - not with the ZR850. Dont go there. We are returning the ZR850 and probably going to get the Panasonic Palmcorder MiniDV 3.1MP.
On: 2007-04-11
The professional reviews sold me on this camera, the experience of buying it through Amazon exceeded my expectations. The camera arrived ahead of schedule and the camera performs great - even after I dropped it once.
On: 2007-03-18
I used to have an Canon Elura 70, which was an excellent camcorder but the firewire transfer didnt work so I decided to replace it with the Elura 100 only to find that Canon had discontinued the Elura line. I really wanted an Elura for the improved video quality over the low-end zr models. So as a compromise I purchased the ZR 850 which has a 1MP CCD, not a good as the Elura (1.3MP) but better than the other ZRs (.640MP). The video quality wasnt bad but the motor noise was so loud I couldnt believe it. I returned the first one but the replacement was just as bad. This isnt a minor hum in the background Im talking about, its a full-on whine! I also found the ZR camera to be difficult to handle with my small-ish hands and the video stabilisation was a bit disappointing. Luckily I could return both cameras without incurring a restocking fee and found a reconditioned Elura 100 that is much more satisfactory. Its a mystery to me how Canon can produce two markedly different cameras (quality wise) in the same price range and opt to phase out the better one.
On: 2007-03-14
I really like the size and weight of the camera. It is very easy to use and the picture quality is pretty good. I had to return the cam because the motor noise is unacceptable. I recorded some scenes while skiing and the whiny noise is very noticeable, even outdoors. All the other reviewers claiming the cam records motor noise are dead on. I will spend a bit more money and get the Sony HCR-DC96 instead.
On: 2007-03-13
I really like the size and weight of the camera. It is very easy to use and the picture quality is pretty good. I had to return the cam because the motor noise is unacceptable. I recorded some scenes while skiing and the whiny noise is very noticeable, even outdoors. All the other reviewers claiming the cam records motor noise are dead on. I will spend a bit more money and get the Sony HCR-DC96 instead.
On: 2007-03-12
The camera is decent. The fact that it doesnt come with the correct cable nor software to transfer video to a computer is unacceptable. What do they expect 90% of consumers are going to do with it?
On: 2007-03-11
The camera is decent. The fact that it doesnt come with the correct cable nor software to transfer video to a computer is unacceptable. What do they expect 90% of consumers are going to do with it?
On: 2007-03-09
I did a lot of research on camcorders, and I mean A LOT!! I spent weeks reading all of the professional and user reviews, which left me even more undecided then when I started the search. I finally narrowed it down to the Canon Elura 100 and the ZR 850. The Elura was being discontinued and was therefore difficult to find as a reasonable price, so I chose this one!
First of all, the zoom works well on this camcorder. It is very powerful, and the image stays fairly clear until you reach about 80% of the zoom. The motor noise is not that bad, and it not noticable at all if there is other background noise. The image quality is good, just steer clear of low light situations. The image gets very grainy in low light.
The size of this camera is very nice. The available features suit me very well. Overall, this is a good camera for the money.
On: 2007-03-08
I did a lot of research on camcorders, and I mean A LOT!! I spent weeks reading all of the professional and user reviews, which left me even more undecided then when I started the search. I finally narrowed it down to the Canon Elura 100 and the ZR 850. The Elura was being discontinued and was therefore difficult to find as a reasonable price, so I chose this one!
First of all, the zoom works well on this camcorder. It is very powerful, and the image stays fairly clear until you reach about 80% of the zoom. The motor noise is not that bad, and it not noticable at all if there is other background noise. The image quality is good, just steer clear of low light situations. The image gets very grainy in low light.
The size of this camera is very nice. The available features suit me very well. Overall, this is a good camera for the money.
Update***
I have had this camera for a while, and still love it. It serves its purpose well and I have not had any problems with it at all.
On: 2007-02-11
By reading Canons description of this new line of miniDV cameras, you would think you were getting a lot more than you actually are. Motor noise is once again an issue with this Canon. Not a problem in noisy situations, but definitely noticeable at home in quieter scenes.
I find the camera a bit awkward to hold and operate, due to the placement of some of the controls. My hand tends to cramp up because of it. The strap is on an angle, and is very thin, making the camera seem unstable in ones hand.
Before using, I charged the battery overnight. It lasted a big 25 minutes on the first use - only half of what Canon claims for typical use.
The absence of necessary accessories is also a problem. So far, I have had to purchase a firewire card for my computer (which was my problem), a firewire cable for the computer, a separate one for the DVD recorder, and an extra battery. Suddenly my lower-priced camera seems more expensive.
Its not all bad news, though. The video and audio quality (minus the motor whine)are fair enough. The menu and features are nice, and easy to use. It will do for basic home movies, but dont expect much more than that.
On: 2007-02-10
The following camcorder is the first camcorder I have ever owned. I purchase it because I am interested in taking home movies as keepsake. For that purpose, this digital camera will work perfect for anyone, However, if you keep your expectations too high, you will probably be disappointed.
Many people have complaned about motor noise on cameras along this line, if you purchase the zr 800, you can use an external mike of as high quality as possible, and avoid this background noise. If you are like me, and wanted the higher offered pixel ratio, then you can get the zr 850, which lacks the external mike and the possibility of preventing that noise. The noise, I might add, appears to me little more than a suddle white noise in the background, which can easily be filtered out with most video editing software.
When recording to the sd card (the plus of the 850), the movies shot are rather low resolution and appear a bit blurry for me. Part of this could be the videos I have shot this way consisted of a lot of close ups. This camera does not seem designed for doing much in the lines of close ups. The night vision does a very good job in pitch black. A small led on the front of the camera adds extra light. Unfortunately this is the only light you get, since any high powered light isnt available to attach to this camcoder. The led doesnt add very much light, and with any low light area, the picture resolution is severly hindered, but still seeable considering how dark it is.
The still pictures look decent, but obvious static that you would easily not see on any modern digital camera are very evident, so definately dont purchase this as a digital camera replacement. The battery lasts about 45 minutes, the guide suggestions you can buy larger batteries that will increase the life.
Since I kept my expectations so high, I expected the resolution to be a little better on the camcorder in general. It is decent enough, and so is the sound. I just expected more than I should have with a small handheld camera. The camera feels great though, it is easy to carry, easy to use. You run pretty much no risk of getting your fingers in the way of the view finder. It is very comfortable and easy to use. Very little instruction is needed to figure out just about everything you can do with it.
My biggest beef with this product, which really has nothing to do with the product itself, is that it didnt come with a firewire cable or capturing software. This means you cant transfer stuff to your compuer out of the box. Rather, you need to get a firewire cable (presuming you have a firewire port) for up to $35 as the price at best buy. You probably should order a cable with the camera. The capturing software is available from the canon website, just requiring you to register your product. After trying several programs, roxio seemed to work the best for me trying to capture video. At that capturing video is a breeze, although that has more to do with software than the camcorder itself.
Besides that, its a good product, it comes with a remote control if you happen to be filming yourself, and av cables so you can put the image on the television. Not the best on the market, but a pretty decent camcorder, especially at the discounted price.
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