Canon ZR70MC MiniDV Digital Camcorder with 2.5" LCD, 22x Optical Zoom, Digital Still Mode, MMC Slot, Image Stabilization and Wide Angle Attachment

I bought this as an upgrade for a Sony Hi-8 camcorder. This upgrade was a big leap considering their diffrence in size. Once I got hold of this, I was smitten right away. It fits in my hand like it was custom-made. The controls were easy to reach and the menu functions were not hard to get used to. What really blew me away with this camcorder was the 22x optical zoom. During the time I bought this (2004), no other Mini-DV camcorder brand in the same category possessed Canon's far ranging 22x optical zoom. A lot of the major big name brands had less than 15x optical although their digital zoom would go as far as 900x. The ZR70's digital zoom only goes to 440x max. But digital zoom didnt really bother me that much because as a lot of people know, digital zooms degrade the picture quality. Once you get past the maximum optical zoom, noise starts to appear on your image or video. This is true with this camcorder but with the far reaching optical zoom, I have little need to activate the digital zoom. You can use this with a regular Mini-DV tape or an SD card, although the resolution with the SD is not that great, only less than 1MP resoultion. That fact didnt also bother me because this is a camcorder--meant to capture images in motion. If I wanted to take sharp pictures, a digital camera can handle that. The 2.5" color LCD is sharp although not as sharp as today's standard. The color EVF is comfortable. Another attraction that drew me is the Image Stabilization, it functioned perfectly especially for those close focusing, totally reduced or eliminated the jitter. The main camcorder play/record/function buttons are illuminated in different colors that you can customize in your own preference. It also has a wide angle attachment lens to capture those breath-taking panoramic scenes. It connects to you PC via Firewire port so you can transfer motion images to your pc. I am still using it until now. Except for the product advisory from Canon which they fixed for free, I have not encountered any problems with this camcorder. It suits my particular need very well, in fact, it exceeded my expectations.

As others have mentioned, this camera, along with a slew of others from Canon have a CCD problem relating to heat. I just experienced this problem and called Canon per their website.

I made the mistake of referring to the "product recall" to which I was endlessly chastised by the customer service rep because it is really a "product advisory." (I originally bought the camera for over $700, now I'm being treated like trash because I used the wrong words... nice.)

In returning the camera for service, I was told not to use the original packaging and that I should bubble wrap it and place nothing around it in a large box. (so it can fly around inside) They pay for UPS shipping, which she said takes 7-10 days.

Once they receive it, they will determine if heat caused the problem or if the CCD is broken. If it's broken, then I have to pay. Considering that they want it to be flung around inside a large box during shipping, I can see where this is going.

I would not recommend this camera for this problem alone and would not recommend Canon products at all due to their customer service anymore.

I've had this camcorder for about 2 years now and have used it for everything from backyard footage to filming corporate events. My kit included the wide angle lens attachment, a standard life battery, software CD and an 8 MB SD card. It performs great. It has great sound through the regular microphone. I even recorded a fireworks display and the fireworks did not overdrive the sound. You could still hear nearby voices even while the fireworks were going off. It has a hot shoe for connecting accessories. Although I always intended to add a microphone to the hot shoe, I never did get around to it. I think the standard mic is sifficient for my needs.

When I recorded for corporate events, I ran the soundboard right into the A/V on the camera using a standard RCA to Headphone jack. This was a handy feature since we were in a warehouse environment and the sound system mixed all the audio. I could film from a long distance and still patch in the audio to make it sound great. The recorded video turned out really superb and my customers were quite pleased. I used the included Studio 8 to edit the video and record onto the DVD.

The still camera is around a megapixel. Not great as far as quality unless you're shooting in good outdoor light. Dark lighting definitely looks grainy on the stills, even with the night shot mode enabled.

The camera model, along with some other Canon DV cameras are affected by a recall. It will freak you out when you don't see any video on your viewfinder or LCD. It just goes black. In short, the cable that connects the CCD (which digitizes the video) gets disconnected. Canon will repair the defect (they will also pay shipping both ways) regardless of warranty status. The process was easy and did not take very long.

I presume people had problems with this product (ZR70MC).I guess most of them are CCD related.I owned ZR70MC since 2004 and I noticied CCD problem recently (Camcorder LCD went blank even when lens cap is removed) and one year warranty on product had already expired.Canon customer service was efficient and they repaired it free of cost (they even provided shipping label).When I received camcorder I noticied that record button is not working. Canon customer service or repair center again came to my rescue and they repaired it free of cost (they even provided shipping label).
I rate their customer service as best.But as some one noted earleir this camcorder doesn't perform well in low light conditions.

Canon will repair no questions asked.
It take 2 weeks total.
That is great support.
Talk to anyone else about a 2-3 year old product.
The funny thing is the part giving the problems is Sony.

I love the camera. It will be around 10 years after the repairs.