This camera is great and intuitive...tons of features,,if you reduce the shutter speed it works well in low light conditions. If you are a complete moron like the guy above YOU WILL have problems with this camera. The instructions are pretty clear how to connect to a PC, but you need some basic skills.

First, murphy's law #1 if you are going to transcribe your video to your PC never EVER use the software it came with. Use some good image capturing software that already has a reputation for good editing. I used NERO and it literally took me 3 minutes to shoot a 10 sec test video, connect the camera to my pc, record the video, and encode it into a high quality mpg on my desktop.

Second, murphy's law #2, go to your local frys or central computer and buy an $7.99 4-pin to 6-pin firewire cable. Oh yeah if you dont know what firewire is or you have a computer that doesnt have firewire ..you are a moron..why the hell did you get DV camera and not know that fastest and easiest way to transfer your video to your computer would be via firewire. The camera does not come with a firewire cable or a DV tape...no biggy..i bought a sony 4 pack for less than 8 dollars on sale. The only con i have is the battery,,,it sucks..if you sit there recording longer than an 45 minutes ..most people dont, but a nice solution: check the manual..because you have the option to upgrade to a better battery (diff model number battery)that lasts forever ..i got it on ebay new for half the price.

This camera will satisfy most folks that read Amazon reviews! DV-ing can be an uphill climb for newbies, but with the proper expectations, you can be happy with your purchase and your future use.
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br /I have used this camera for 4 months, and here are my observations:
br /
br /A few assumptions:
br /1. Firewire BABY! With almost ALL DV camcorders you will need a 1394 Firewire port on your computer, and a cable (about 10-20 dollars online)
br / Workaround: none, this is DV! USB is too slow. The SR600 has two ports...make sure you use the port labeled DV. If you want to shell out $200-300 more, go with DVDcamcorder.
br /
br /2. For Transfer or Editing, Look in your Windows! If you have Windows XP, use the FREE Windows Movie Maker program which copies your movie footage from camera to PC, and allows a little editing. Vista has even more you can do, like copy to a DVD!
br /
br /3. Don't expect long shoot times... My battery that the camera came with lasts only about 35 minutes, even when I'm not using the LCD screen.
br / Workaround: buy a $15 dollar 1700mWh battery(larger) on EBAY to have as your main battery, and use the stock one as a backup.
br /
br /4. Don't get left in the Dark. Reviews state that the camera shoots poorly in poorly lit rooms. This is common with DV cameras.
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br / Workaround: Move camera into P mode, from EASY on the switch near the zoom, and choose NIGHT as option on the LCD (using easy to use Joystick) when you are shooting in lowlight scenes.
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br /AS long as you know the 4 assumptions, this camera is perfect for newbies in DV, right on the money with price, and with good features, like 16:9 WS, Toggle button, and excellent OPTICAL zoom. Wish my sony digital camera had this zoom. IF they had a better battery and included the Firewire cable, I'd give it 5 stars.
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br /I would buy it again, but would opt for the ZR500 for price, or the ZR700 if I wanted to use it to bridge the copying from my VCR to the computer for moviemaker.
br /
br /OS: Windows XP sp2
br /PC: 4 yr old DELL Dimension, with Creative lab card with Firewire
br /Software:
br / Windows Movie Maker to pull clips from camera, and to Edit movies
br / DVDFlick (opensource and free) to copy my edited movies to DVD for playing on my home DVD player or computer (moviemaker only copies the .WMV file on a CD or DVD)
br /Panasonic AY-DVM63PQ Professional DV tapes
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Great camera but it is a bit grainy but to be expected from a lower end camera. Performs poorly in low light but once again is to be expected because of its small lens. I would recommend this camera to anybody looking for a good solid DV camera, but as for the picture quality it is not quite at the pro level but it is an mid level camera. If you want a camera to use around the house this is the one. This is also a great camera for entry level film classes because the color quality is good which is needed for green screen. Though if you want to start your own production studio I would recommend a more expensive camera like the Cannon GL1 or GL2.

Warning, this camcorder may not work with windows XP. I got this camcorder back in in November of 2006, I hooked it up to my PC, useing the firewire, my PC keeps saying it could not find any camcorder with 4 different programs that I tried. I got looking in the disk that came with it, and the disk is only for windows 2000, windows ME or a MAC. so I called Canon and they said they could not send me any other solution disk, there was nothing I could download for XP,they where of no help and with the disk, the programs keep poping up "OS?". other then that it takes great video, bad pictures, just don't hook it up to an old TV, you well get a really bad picture, you need a new TV or VCR that works with digital. the other bad thing is, if your camcorder breaks, and you have not found a way to download your tapes, then you have no way of watching them. so If yours work on XP your lucky.

Nice camcorder, a little hard to use. dont understand all the instructions. Probably my fault for not being able to read well. there is a lot to remember without looking at the instruction book. The book might be better organized. I like the camcorder.

a very good easy to use camera, only bad thing is that it has no headlight (need one model up for that) and it doesn't come with a firewire cable. great video quality on tapes.

First off, I have ALWAYS loved Canon products and this camcorder is no exception. The documentation regarding transferring video to your computer is a little lacking but if you have a firewire card (or if you don't, you can get one from ebay for less than $20), it is Windows that does the actual transferring so it's pretty automatic. The camcorder is very intuative and it takes no time at all to start shooting like a pro (ok, maybe not a pro, but plenty good enough for the home user). Originally I was disappointed with the indoor shots but switching to night mode definitely cleaned up the image alot. I look forward to bringing this camcorder to Canada and Nigara Falls next month to record my honeymoon (well, not ALL of my honeymoon ;) )

Nice product but not available as new models have replaced it. New isn't always better!

I recieved this camera for christmas, and overall it's a very good camera. I really enjoy filming and editing, and this is the perfect camera for filming. I use it with iMovie, and when I import it [which happens with ease] iMovie makes the picture even better. GREAT PRODUCT!

This was a gift for my daughter and she loves it.
br /Service and quick shipping are super.

My almost 9-year-old was using my digital still camera to make little videos, and was forever wearing out the batteries and using up my smartcard space. So I wanted to get her a camcorder for Christmas, but I didn't want to get a "kid's" version that she would outgrow. I wanted a camcorder that would be the "family camcorder" to document special occasions, etc., but that was easy enough for my daughter to use, and not so expensive that I'd be afraid to have her touch it. This fills the bill to a T! And the quality is absolutely fine. I was more worried about low-light situations than I needed to be. It really does a pretty nice job. There are lots of features we haven't even explored yet. She's now a budding filmmaker with her friends, our pets, herself... It's great to watch her! I've ordered a camera case and tripod for her birthday.

My almost 9-year-old was using my digital still camera to make little videos, and was forever wearing out the batteries and using up my smartcard space. So I wanted to get her a camcorder for Christmas, but I didn't want to get a "kid's" version that she would outgrow. I wanted a camcorder that would be the "family camcorder" to document special occasions, etc., but that was easy enough for my daughter to use, and not so expensive that I'd be afraid to have her touch it. This fills the bill to a T! And the quality is absolutely fine. I was more worried about low-light situations than I needed to be. It really does a pretty nice job. There are lots of features we haven't even explored yet. She's now a budding filmmaker with her friends, our pets, herself... It's great to watch her! I've ordered a camera case and tripod for her birthday.

I LOVE THIS CAMERA! The picture and video is great and so clear! It's the best purchase I've ever made.

Thank you very much. My item was cheaper through you than I could find anywhere. I really appreciate it.

I had this video camera for a while and so far it has meet my expectations considering the price. I did not go for a DVD video camera because the price is still high considering the lower image quality. Also do not expect to record quality clips or pictures using the SD card. It is just a gimmick
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br / Canon at least had the common sense that most people who know something about video editing would go for an off the shelf video editing software. In addition these people might already have a firewire connector. Anyways, it doesn't cost that much either.

I purchased this camera recently, knowing nothing about minidv camcorders at all. I was happy to find it easy to use. The video quality is good but the still photo quality isn't so great. I don't use that feature much though so it isn't a big deal for me. I would certainly recommend this camcorder to others.

I bought this camcorder 2 months back. The quality is average (in the LCD it seems so. I never saw the video in my computer) In the low light areas, it gets a bit grainy.
br / There is simply no documentation with it that say how to copy the video in the DV tapes to my computer. I tried with the USB port connected to my computer, but it will detect only the memory card. The documentation which is full of description about downloading and sharing of video clips and still photos from memory card, keeps mum when it comes to DV tapes (which is one of the most important parts of this camcorder!!!) The video clips created in memory card is of low quality, I can create even better quality clips using my digital camera, why should I need to buy a camcorder for that!!!!
br / Atlast after quite a tedious search in the internet, I found out that I'll have use a fire wire (IEEE 1394) cable for downloading the video from the tapes. Now the problem is that the cable doesn't come with the camcorder, you will have to buy it seperate!!! Even if you have the cable, what about the fire wire port!!! My PC doesn't have one. I'll have to buy a firewire PCI card or I'm stuck. All the videos I took are stuck in my tapes. I can't download it, edit it, I can't do anything. Even the software to download the video from DV tapes doesn't come with the camcorder. You will have to buy it seperately. I should have taken those DVD camcorder instead of this stupid DV camcorder.

I bought thus camcorder last month and find it harder to figure out than I expected. The image quality is good when filming
br /outside but grainy when filming inside. My biggest disappointment is how difficult it has been for me to figure out how to transfer the video footage from the mini DV tape to DVDs
br /and VHS tapes. If I had it to do over, I would pay the extra money for a camcorder that records directly to DVD. I wish I
br /could exchange this ZR600.