Editorial Review

The advanced Canon ZR70MC MiniDV camcorder brings together all the features of the ZR65MC, from its ease of use to still photo mode and digital effects. It also adds a 22x optical zoom, 440x digital zoom, motion JPEG movie mode, Super Night mode, and an advanced accessory shoe for powering a microphone or video light.

Lens
The ZR70MC features a high-performance 1/6-inch 680,000-pixel CCD to capture high-quality video and digital photos. The zoom technology found in the ZR65MC lens is the same as Canon uses in its broadcast TV lenses. The ZR70MC is fitted with a high-performance 22x optical zoom lens, which can easily handle all your shooting needs--from wide-angle shots of all the family at the reunion to close-up sports action at full telephoto. The ZR70MC's 440x digital zoom significantly expands the telephoto magnification of the subject.

Image Stabilization
Canon's image-stabilization system corrects camera shake caused by, for example, an unsteady hand. This image-stabilization system makes for smoother and steadier video even with hand-held shots, at full telephoto, and with shots taken from a moving car.

Digital Stills and Motion JPEG
In addition to high-quality video, the ZR70MC also captures crisp XGA (1,024 x 768 pixels) digital still images. The ZR70MC stores these images via the built-in slot for Secure Digital (SD) and MultiMediaCard memory cards. You can also choose to store still images on the MiniDV tape. The camcorder records the photos for approximately 6 seconds, as well as recording the sound for your verbal notes or narration.

Designed to help you make Web videos, motion JPEG mode produces compressed AVI files that are smaller and easier to run and send by e-mail than conventional video files. They're also stored on the memory card and transferred via the USB connection. Record a 10-second clip at 320 x 240 or a 30-second clip at 160 x 120.

You can search through the recorded tape for your photos using the supplied remote control. This photo search feature allows you to search for images recorded in photo mode. Search forward or backward through the images one at a time, or jump 10 pictures backward or forward from the current position.

More Features

• With Super Night mode, the assist lamp lights up to illuminate your subject
• Print photos directly to Canon bubble jet printers
• 2.5-inch fold-out color LCD screen and 0.33-inch color viewfinder
• The My Camera function is designed to let you customize a number of features, including start-up image and sound, shutter sound, start-stop sound, and the self-timer sound
• Shoot panoramic still photos, then edit them together on your PC with the PhotoStitch software
• The full-function wireless remote control works at distances up to 16 feet
• A wide selection of faders and special effects, including sepia, black and white, wave, mosaic, and more
• For low-light situations, the VCR playback controls can be illuminated in any one of six colors: turquoise, blue, green, yellow, violet, and orange

Inputs and Outputs
The ZR70MC comes with the standard DV IEEE 1394 port (also referred to as FireWire), which provides a lossless connection to a PC or other DV machines, as well as USB connectivity for transferring still photos. Additionally, the ZR70MC features two types of analog audio and video inputs and outputs: composite and S-video. The analog audio inputs of the ZR70MC let you dub or insert editing from CDs, cassettes, microphones, or the soundtracks of other videocassettes.

MiniDV Format
MiniDV is the new, preferred format for personal and broadcast-quality video, and it is highly regarded for its high audio and image quality. With up to 540 lines of horizontal resolution and minimum color noise, MiniDV delivers a 2 percent clearer picture than analog camcorder formats. This is all delivered on a cassette that's 1/12th the size of a standard VHS tape. A MiniDV tape offers digital recording time of 2 full hours--20 times the capacity of a CD.

Reviews (215)

Great Editor, not great authoring
This is a great editor.Then again, you must remember to check out pinnaclesys.com to get the patches to make it updated.I had few problems with it.In the 30+ editing hours I used to make a movie, it did crash twice, but those were 30 hours of intensive use.The features that I liked best were the simple drag and drop .I give it 4 stars on the basis of an editing software.

Authoring, on the other hand, is a different story.It takes hours to encode and output to a dvd.The menus are nice, if they fit your situation(which they usually do).I needed a program with complete control over the menu.

Pros:
User friendly for average user
Transitions are easily used
Automatic shift entire assets when you drop a scene into timeline
Cheaper than version 9
Scene detection (splits movie into scenes)
Titles look good
All work retained after a crash

Cons:
It is slow detecting scenes from video
Titles are a bit difficult to arrange
Crashes
DVD burning options


My suggestion:But Pinnacle 8 instead of 9 to save some money, they are practically identical(I have both and prefer 8).Edit with PS8 and output your movie as an MPG(which takes significantly less time).Then use a program like DVD-Lab (free 30 day trial), which is made to author dvd's, to burn.

Pinnacle Studio 8: Perfect programme
Review : Marijn Bouwhuis, 14 years old, (holland)
I think it's totally ridiculous how people think of pinnacle, they are just taking the piss. It just works well and probably their computers don't function well. The people who made this reviews are very negative about pinnacle. E.g. they say that it takes a long time to open Studio 8 (Same as Pinnacle), but when I open the programme it takes about 10 seconds to open. The effects are of very good quality, and you can do a lot of combinations.It's very easy to work with Pinnacle, and maybe the people who wrote this reviews want something more professional, but I don't know what I could use in this case, I already asked many people for a better programme, but they don't knowI think the people should not blame Pinnacle when they want something which is more professional. They should just instantly buy something more professional.
Now why do I think Pinnacle is a very good quality programme.
You can upload videos straight from your camera into pinnacle, it's carefully explained and very easy to perfrom. You can also upload music and put it all into your movie.
When your movie is finished it's very easy to burn it on a dvd disk, it's even possible to do this with pinnacle.
Now I made a screenshot (with the bottom PrtScSysRq) of pinnacle studio 8. As if you can see it looks easy to work with. You can select whatever you want; upload videos, music, photo's. It's even possible to make a menu on the beginning of the movie, so that you can select which chapter you would like to see. Isn't that cool?? There is also a possibility to put titles in it, or make something in slow-motion, which is super, because when you've done something humorous and it's on tape, you can show it in slow-motion so you may even laugh louder! All this makes Pinnacle Studio 8 fun to work with.
The review of Dean A is quite funny, but I think he's not really serious. He should become a writer, maybe he's already. It's funny because he blames Pinnacle al the time; the stages he describes are really not true. He really describes it as a very slow programme, but really it isn't, I'll take up the time now how long it takes to open: One, two, three, four, five... Just five seconds!! He just needs to buy a new computer, so Pinnacle can also open in five seconds.

Features

• 3 pack
• 60 minutes
• For use with digital video camcorders
• Ideal for recording to a computer
• Tape enclosed in a anti-static cassette shell

Reviews (14)

They're just mini DV tapes, buy em already!
Whattya wanna know?They're tapes, they're priced well and they work in your mini-dv camcorder.Stop reading all these posts and buy em already!

Great deal
You'll have to search pretty hard to find a better deal than this.I should know, cuz I did, and wound up picking up these bad boys.Basically, a great quality miniDV tape, at a heavily discounted price, and FREE SHIPPING......Can't go wrong with that combo!!!

Features

• 3-Way Pan Tilt Head
• Fluid Effect Head for smooth operation
• Professional features
• 3-Section legs and center mount extend up to 58 inches high for comfortable use
• Includes Two Quick-Release Camera Mounts

Reviews (4)

As good as it gets... for the money...
I bought one of these quite some time ago to use with my SLRs (Canon T90s) and it turned out it was totally useless for them. It was way to wobbly so I ended up buying a Bogen tripod and ball head for around [$$$]. This tripod went into the closet until lately when we bought a DV JVC camcorder and for it this tripod works very well. The camcorder is light enough for the tripod to hold it steady enough. The fluid head is a bit of a joke (not really fluid), but it works for what we use it for. And the bubble level is a nice detail. You cannot put many pounds on this and don't expect to take razor sharp pictures on long exposures. But it's an inexpensive alternative for smaller digital cameras and camcorders. It's lightweight and easy to carry.

Get What You Pay For
It's been a long time since I used a tripod but I managed to get it set up without reading the instructions. There are no instructions so save the box for helpful hints. Tripod is fit for my purpose: mostly indoor use planned. It is hard to get it truely static when pressing shutter release on Minolta Dimage X. I was also horizontally challenged - the base has a little level that is below (BELOW) the camera pad.I would not take this on a rugged outdoor adventure with many uneven surfaces (They will need to make a titaniium one to get it this light but durable; start saving now.) I would not use it around kids, old folks, crowds,or any combination of these because your expensive electonic gizmo is going to going to fly thru the air with the greatest of ease.A nylon or tyvek travel case would be a helpful item.

Not a bad tripod, but....
This is a pretty decent tripod, for the price. However, don't be misled by the "fluid effect head." That's why I happened to buy this particular tripod, and it turns out that I already owned one!

I had purchased a tripod made by Ambico which was almost identical about 14 months prior to this purchase. At the place where I bought it, it cost me around 20 bucks. I had decided to get a different tripod because the fluid effect head wasn't nearly fluid enough for me. When this one finally came, I compared the two, and my old one worked just as good as this one.

Features

• Fully gusseted pockets allow easy access without spilling contents
• Designer, pewter zipper pulls
• Memory stick storage for Sony camcorders and digital cameras
• Inward expandable pockets to maximize storage
• Single gusseted rear compartment

Reviews (3)

A great bag
It fits my Panasonic Camcorder, it has lots of pockets, it has a shoulder-strap (which is inside the bag when it's shipped), and it has 2 sections of padding going across the the main compartment (which are velcro so you can take them off and use them for extra padding). The borders between the outside pockets and the main compartment are flexible incase you have a large camcorder (only when the outer pockets are empty, though.) Best of all, it has a life-time warrenty!
The only problem with it was that the indentity tag where you can put your adress, etc (shown in picture hanging from handle) fell off and was lost because the leather got worn and ripped after only 8 months. Anyhow, overall I would recommend buying it this bag.

Not just for camcorders.......digicams to
I have a digital camera that has a large zoom lens. This bag accomodates it and other accessories, memory and gadgets quite well. The outboard zippered pockets allow for other personal effects to be stowed away and safe. Perfect for travel or a photo shoot. Not to big or small. The leather like surface can receive rough handling without falling apart. At approx [price] it is was very good deal.

Nice size bag with lots of pockets
I bought this bag the day I bought my Panasonic camcorder. The camcorder fits nicely inside without a lot of room for it to jiggle around, which is good. There are enough pockets to hold practically all of the accessories I have as well.

In the main compartment, where you will store your camcorder, there is a little zippered pouch under the top flap that can be used to store extra batteries or a light. On the inside of the main compartment you will find two padded dividers with velcro. One has a deep U shape which easily accomodates the viewfinder's eyepiece. The other is a square shape. You use these to pad both ends of your camcorder. If your camcorder is small enough, you will get extra storage space between the dividers and the inside of the end pockets. I store my camcorder's remote in one of these areas.

There are five zippered pockets on the outside of this bag. A flat on on the back with one gussetted end, one on either end of the bag and a large one in front with a small zippered pocket. The end pockets are large enough to hold the ac adapter/battery charger for my camcorder, the A/V cable and the cord and cable for the charger. The pocket I like the most is the front one. When you open it, you will see a small mesh zippered pocket and four elastic holders. You can store extra tapes, a pen/pencil, a small notebook, etc. in there. When I know I'm going out with the camcoder, I don't need to take a purse with me. This bag has enough space to hold my camcorder, the accessories, extra tapes and batteries and my wallet and keys.