My Black Friday split second purchase: Canon zr60

[U.S.Amateurfilmaker]

Alright here's what happened. For all of the non US people out there, black friday is a nick name for the day after thanksgiving, when most stores have insane sales, and car accidents increase significantly

I went to the electronics store, and saw this MiniDv cam on sale for $299, and I didn't have any time to think about it because the sale only lasted for 2 more hours. Considering the camera is usually over $400, I got it.

It has true 16:9 mode (it's squished vertically when you put it on a TV, not just the black bars), manual shutter speed adjustment, and a load of features.

The cons: I found out within two seconds of using it that it has crappy indoor picture quality, and a 1/6" CCD as opposed to a 1/4".

Its a canon, but still, should I keep it, or take it back?

[foxwood]

if you already have a cam, then by all means keep it, because you can then have quiker multi angle shooting, if you don't have a cam, then you might want to take it back and get a sony.

[U.S.Amateurfilmaker]

I do have another one, but it's digital 8, which has less horizantal res, so thats why I bought it

[padawanNick]

My Canon ZR25 is now a good 2 years old (maybe more) and it has never let me down. The ZR's are great cameras for their price.

The one issue that I've heard about the newer ones is that the camera mic actually pics up the motor sound if your scene is too quite. Good idea to use the money you saved to get an external mic.

Have funl

[U.S.Amateurfilmaker]

I will, thanks!

I've herad about that issue as well though, but it can't be any worse than my current cam, you can hear the tape motor even when people are talking. Plus, even if a scene is totally quiet, you can still just mute the volume in post.