I was upgrading from the ZR65MC. I was hoping the battery would be the same so I didn't have to purchase any more. I like to have a few on hand so that I'm not forced to stay connected to the wall when I am recording. Unfortunately, the battery on this model is different. The product is very user-friendly. I mainly use it for home use: ballet, gymnastics, outdoor play, life, etc. It works well for our family. Sound and picture quality are good. The digital images are what you should expect with low megapixel images. Overall, I'm satisfied with my purchase.

The zoom is very effective. I'm not sure the stabilization is as good as it could be, but not too bad.

Had the ZR300 for less than 3weeks when I received
the following error message "Remove the cassette".
The cassette will not eject, however, so the unit is now
at the canon repair center. Failed just before july 4
when I really wanted to use it. I will now see if I
can get an extended warranty for this puppy.

I saw a lot of reviews about the background audio noise. I thought people may be too picky, and then bought one myself. How stupid I am. Now I have to return it immediately and pay the shipping fee. I don't want to punish my ears when watching the playback.

There are many features on this camera that I have not used yet but I am happy with it. The quality is very good and the image quality looks sharp. ALso, the microphone voice quality is accurate.

I previously had a Sony High-8 Handicam, but with the arrival of our baby girl, I really wanted to upgrade to digital. I was looking mostly at Sony, but saw a great price drop on Canon on Amazon along with a $50 rebate and it was too good to pass up. I have been very pleased with the camera and it has been perfect for our purposes.

Pros:
-Size: Very compact and easy to take along, but not so small that Dad fingers can't easily work all the controls.

-Layout: Well designed controls. I am more of the tech geek and can easily find and use features, but my wife does not like gadgets as much and can easily pick up the camera and shoot great video.

-Picture: We have a Canon digital still camera and have come to expect great picture quality from Canon. We were not disappointed.

-Features: Love the Analog to Digital conversion feature. I am able to digitize my old High-8 tapes, or even continue to use that camera for situations when I want longer battery life (see cons)

Cons:
-Battery: The battery does not last long and you will need a backup. My old high-8 had the upgraded battery that shot for 18 hours so I will still use that on occasion. It seems though that most digital camcorders in this range have a similar battery life.

Summary:
We love this camera for shooting clips of our daughter. It is super easy to transfer footage to the computer and edit into short clips for the web so that far away family can see the baby. We did not need some of the higher end features like 3 chips that come on the more expensive cameras, so this was perfect. Know what you will be using the camera for--If you are looking for a family camcorder that is easy to take along to different events, easy to use, and shoots great quality video for family videos/vacations/little league/etc., then you will love this camera.

I bought this camera to take footage and pictures of my new little girl. I heard Canon was supposed to have the best picture quality. When I got the camera the image was terrible and choppy while the camera was panning across the room. Very grainy and unsmooth. It's supposed to have night vision, but it's still too dark. The sound quality was horrible, it records the sounds of the motor inside running, that's all you hear in a quiet room.

Will that take a long time? Is there any option to record the video directly to a small hard drive thing in the digital camrecorder

After reading other reviews and about the features I decided to purchase one of these, rather than a Sony brand. The big selling point is the widescreen recording. The night mode shooting on this model could use some improvement. Even with the built in light on, in darkness you can see no further than 10 feet away. For me this was the biggest downside. The only advantage is you still have full color. Auto focus doesn't work so well in low light either. The viewer gets jerky in night mode as well. Personally I prefer the green nightvision Sony camera's have, just put it in black & white mode and it's fine. Connecting this camera to a PC couldn't be easier. You just need to buy a IEEE 1394 cable (sold seperaltly) for about $30. If you don't have any special software you can use Windows Movie Maker to capture the video. I see people complaining about the batter life. Battery lasts about 50-80 minutes depending on what your doing, which seems pretty reasonable to me. Again, if you want super-long batter life, go with a Sony. Camera is small, takes sharp still photos, even for such low res (1024x768). Has some rather advanced features, like setting the shutter speed, auto/manual focus, image stabilization, etc. The image stabilization isn't so great, but effective. So overall, if widescreen is a must, and shooting in pitch blackness is not, this is a great camera. Otherwise check out a Sony, they have great image stabilizers, can shoot in the pitch blackness and long battery life, but no true widescreen or other handy features Canon's do.

overall i think this camera is very nice. I like the wide lens attatchment becaus i skate and like to get close and have everything in the shot. i also like this product because it has high quality picture and awsome sound. some people said after filming, during the playback you could hear the sound of the motor. those people are idiots. the only reason for that is becasue they were filming videos on to the memory card witch has a purpose of still images. when you are recording video on to a mini dv tape, that noise will not show up at all. the battery life could be better but you can just pick up an extra at walmart for 20 bucks which isnt bad. the night vision isnt that high quality, i mean it works fine and all its just that it is a light and i would prefer an infared system such as in the sony hc21 for about the same price. but i think this camera is a better choice. my only other complaint is that the whole purpose i bought this product was to get my skate footy on to my computer to make a video but this camera only comes with a usb cable that is only good for putting pictures on to your computer. the usb isnt fast enough for transfering video content so you need to go out and buy a 1EEE 1394 firewire cable for around 25 bucks and if your computer dosent have a firewire cable than you will either have to buy a firewire hub or a pci card for your computer. the pci card goes for about 30 bucks and the hub is around 50. so to sum it all up the canon zr300 is most deffinatly worth the buy pretty much everything that the manufactuer description is accurate and its is a very high quality camera. if you buy it you will not be dissapointed. don't listen to the people who say it records the sound of the motor because it dosent unless you are recording with the memory card witch is just plain stupid. also dont listent to people who say it doesnt work good indoors because they are also wrong.

Just bought this camcorder today. I want it mainly to film my family. I have 3 boys who play sports. Haven't really used it that much yet, but it has GREAT features. It takes great still pictures too. The instructions are really easy to follow in the manual. I bought mine at Sam's Club. It came with a case, all of the hook-up cables for the TV, computer, etc. I was going to buy a DVD camcorder, but decided if I wanted to take my tapes and burn them onto a DVD later, I can. Plus, when I do burn them to a DVD, it will be to a full-size DVD and won't be on the 30 minute mini DVD that those camcorders record on. Oh! And this camcorder came with software for my computer. I've read the manual, and now I can't wait to be able to use the camera. I hope this review helps someone. I know I really enjoyed reading reviews before I purchased a camcorder because they helped in the determining factor of my purchase.

A key feature of this camera is its high optical zoom, which is necessary for filming events where you are trying to key
in on a particular person or thing but are relegated to filming at a distance - e.g., graduation ceremonies, sports events, stage recitals. The Canon MiniDV camcorder starter kit with a case and extra battery is a good additional purchase. As other reviewers have noted, it is necessary to buy a firewire cable for transferring video from the camera to the computer. I have not noticed the excess noise that some other reviewers have mentioned. I have found this to be a fine product for its price.

No problems so far. Nice quality, small, but not to small. I recomend this product.

We have had a family camcorder from Sony and it will not even work anymore. I recieved this as a gift for my birthday and this camera has been everywhere to Georgia to Arizonia To Tennesse and is about togo to Cacun Mexico. My besy friend recieved one for Christmas she loves hers to.

I had this for a good 11 months despite the fact that it had audio noise while playback, that was a good entry level camcorder. I had to return this because it started giving me mild electric shock, while charging the unit in the countries that have 220v spec. I used adapters and convertors that take me from US system to international systems. I took this camcorder with me and travelled outside of the United States. And interestingly it was not giving any electric shock while charging in US after my return. So if you are a world traveller then please consider this.

This really is a great camcorder that I have been using for more than a year now. I have not seen any problems so far. I has excellent video quality. It is quite handy and easy to carry. Also, unlike some, I do not hear a playback noise. I also used to have Canon ZR500 and ZR600, but I can say that this one is better than those. I totaly recommend Canon ZR300.

I bought this camera more than a year ago, but I was updating some reviews when I realized I never wrote one for this product. Well, I just have to say that it's a wonderful camera that shoots high quality film. I do some video editing as a hobby, and I am happy to have the Mini-DV's available for transfer to my PC. If you are going to do any editing, always get Mini-DV, it'll make your life much easier. The only complaint I have is shooting under low light situations where the picture becomes pixelated and could use improvement. All in all, a great camera at a great price!

I have had little problems with this product at all.
only complaints:
-poor battery life (even with upgraded)
-no frame record mode on camera ( if there is can someone please reply on this)
thanks

Nice picture quality, nice zoom. It would also be nice if this camcorder functioned half of the time. Does "remove cassette" mean anything to you?
My advice: Never buy Canon. I've used GL1's and GL2's that have also had this problem.

If you want to know how good this POS from CaNOT is, just do a google on Canon ZR-300 "remove the cassette". This message will appear after very light use and the tape will constantly eject. Lots of other people have had the same issue. Have missed 2 very important occasions because of this problem. My last digital camera which was also a Canon stunk too, I will never again support the Canon team as they try to pedal worthless overengineered under QC'd pieces of junk to the American market. They also have a proprietary software system in their copiers that you have to pay 5k and be a dealer to do anything with. Here's hoping Canon's sales drop and they go bankrupt.