New Canon MiniDV camcorders: ZR900, ZR930 and ZR950

In less than a week Canon will start shipping new ZR-series camcorders. The ZR900, ZR930 and ZR960 will be the only MiniDV cameras produced by Canon for consumer market in 2008. Obviously, the industry is moving to high definition tapeless solutions, leaving tape in the dust. As such, the ZR series did not receive major updates this year, compared to 2007 models.

Most changes are stylistic and ergonomic: the battery has been moved from LCD cavity to the back, the joystick along with Func button have been moved from the back to the LCD panel. The camera body has been freshened up, a big improvement in my opinion, but it retains the same slanted threadless lens barrel as the last year models, so attaching lens filters or converters is not possible.

The differences between models are minor, but cumbersome. The ZR950 has SD/SDHC card slot for still pictures, and USB port for dowloading pictures onto a computer. It comes with matching USB cable and with Digital Solutions disk, which contains rudimentary software for organizing and editing images.

But the ZR950 is not all-encompassing model, it lacks external microphone input, while the cheaper models, the ZR900 and the ZR930, have it. A notable improvement this year is that two out of three models have external microphone input, last year only the most basic model out of three, the ZR800, was blessed with it. In any case, there is no shoe to attach an external mic to, so you will need an L-bracket.

If you want to control your camera with a remote controller, then skip the cheapest model, it does not come with the remote. Canon did its best to confuse customers. What happened to the good old concept that a more expensive model has all the features of cheaper models PLUS some more? Definitely, Canon has its own vision.