Hi, my name is Steven Berk. I am an attorney in Washington, DC, who specializes in representing consumers who have purchased defective products from technology companies. I am currently working on cases of that kind against HP and JVC. I noticed your posting concerning ZR70. I have been investigating other complaints about Canon ZR, Optura, Elura, and GL series camcorders. In connection with that investigation, it would be very useful if I could interview you about your experience with the grainy CCD/mosaic noise problems. If you are interested, please email me at stevenb@cuneolaw.com or call me at 202-789-3960. Thanks for your consideration.

We bought this camera about 1 and 1/2 years ago when we were expecting our first child. Initially, we were pleased with it; however, we used it mostly indoors in moderate light. As our son has gotten older, we have needed to use it in varying conditions (low light, bright outdoors light, snow lit backgrounds) and have found it to be fairly worthless. In low light, it is very grainy and sometimes will not record an image at all. In very bright light, the picture is washed out almost completely. As a result, we have missed capturing some of our son's first moments on tape because of the poor, poor quality of the images. No first snowfall, no early morning birthday surprise, no first ride on a bike, etc. We have just had to send it in for repairs to the tune of nearly $200 dollars! We are extremely disappointed considering that we have only had the camera for a relatively short period of time, have used it sparingly until now, and have taken excellent care with it. Do not recommend this camera AT ALL!

Before buying this I did lot of research finally came down to canon zr70mc and sony dcr-hc30. (don't fall for other canon models like zr80-85. they lack features ) Both models are appealing for price. Sony has bigger lcd and better lowlight performance while Canon have better zoom (22x as compared to 10x of sony ) and lots and lots of features. Some people say canon is having better image stability So it can afford 22x zoom w/o problem.
in zr70mc you can download video from TV/VRC or other camcorder witout any additional accesories. So easily copy old analog tapes to this digital camcorder Or burn DVD's. Canon also provides wide angle lens (very useful ) Plus sony has only 3 months labor while canon gives 12 months labor warranty.

only tape loading in zr70 is little difficult if you use tripod.

Overall this is a good value. I tested indoor using 100w room light. Picture was little yellowish. But I got filter set from ebay for 17$ and all looks good now.
NOTE: protect lens and always use uv filters.

I picked this up new at a great close-out price as the 2004 models were moving in and am very impressed. Outdoor shots are great - just point and shoot. Indoor requires a little work to get decent results and the user manual isn't much help. Surf the web to find how to use Spotlight mode, AE tweaks, and setting shutter speed to get pretty good results. Don't expect indoor quality to beat a big lens Hi-8, but most DVs don't. Controls and connectivity are very good. Some bells and whistles are a little excessive (picking different colors for the illuminated buttons during record and during play), but the important stuff is all there too.

This camera is loaded with features and is cheap. Those are the only good things. The indoor quality is awful. I would shoot at 10AM in a well lit room and it was terribly grainy on a 32" TV. Our old Hi8 Sony and our digital camera shoot better video than this. You choose which one insults it more. AVOID THIS CAMERA. I have two exellent still cameras made by Canon, so I am not telling you to avoid Canon, I am telling you to avoid this camera. It is terrible. Do not even consider this camera. When the reviews say "low light", that refers to ANYTHING indoors. The room I shot about as bright as it can get, and the lights were on. TERRIBLE CAMERA AVOID THIS CAMERA AT ALL COSTS. Ignore the positive reviews, they either never shot indors or have never seen the picture quality yet. If they did they too would be with me giving it one star. I'd have given 5 stars but the picture quality is 9999999999999999% NOT ACCEPTIBLE. Avoid this camcorder like the plague.

Our camera is just over two years old, well maintained, not heavily used, and is now useless. As is my mother's which is right at a year old. Same problem, which other reviewers have described: the CCD (video capture) fails. The camera can perform every other function except for taking video which is a little important in a video recorder. We are sick at the idea of having to attempt an iffy and expensive repair or basically throw away a video camera that we purchased based on Canon's reputation for high quality. While I can't recommend an alternative brand at this point, I would not recommend Canon.

My camera (ZR70) does not record in Camera mode. In the past month I have NOT been able to record in Camera mode as the display shows no image and just the sound is capture while recording. I would NOT recommend this camera or any other Canon product to anybody. They should have recalled this product or offered to fix it before the problem escalated. I believe that a company of such reputation should have better product support processes to address such issues.

We have also had our just over one year old ZR70 lose the ability to capture video. The screens display the text features on start up but where the video feed should appear it just stays black. It was also only very gently used with no traumatic events. This is a most frustrating development that it appears others are also experiencing and calls into question the manufacturers reliability and customer service.

I am a digital media graduate, have worked as a videographer for over a year, and I'm actually really embarassed to say I own this camera. However, it is used for the basic consumer who wants to capture their child's birthday party or send off some funny video to AFV. First off, this is a Single CCD camera, meaning the video quality is not going to be great - good at best. Adding a light to this camera will help with the graininess, as it is not intended to be used in low light situations. All of those extra "lighting" settings are "crap" and only make the resolution worse.
I recently experienced the loss of recording capability, what I found is that the tape heads were dirty. This may or may not work. But, if you've had your camcorder for a while, even if you haven't used it, there's a good chance the tape heads are just in need of a little cleaning. You get any MiniDV tape head cleaner and follow the instructions. Most of you will probably fix your problem. I even did that old school nintendo trick - blowing into the cassette slot.
Hopefully this trick will help - otherwise, hopefully you invested in the extended warranty.

As many others have reported, mine too has lost the ability to record. Its been used for maybe 50 hours of recording in the past 1 1/2 years and is now completely worthless. Don't buy it! It'll work great for a bit, then fail on you when you most want it to work :(

We have also had our Cannon for just over two years and it has lost the ability to capture video. Just black and will only record sound. We babied this thing and treated it very gingerly (NEVER dropped)

Gentlemen,
I recently found out that Canon has a worldwide recall for ZR70 and similiar models. I got my ZR70 repaired for FREE. Check out your nearest Canon Service Centers. I am based in Manila, Philippines, they did it here, for sure they'll do it there in the States.

Problem starts with the wiring that connects the CCD, it overheats and lossens. That's the reason why the recording just goes dead.

No questiona asked, even never bothered asking for warranties and where i got it. Just gave me a receipt and told me come back after 2 weeks.

Hope it works for you guys.

Bought this camcorder about 2 years ago when we had our first baby. It worked well until 6 month ago when the video capture had intermittent problem. Now, it won't capture anything (LCD is black( most of the time).

I went through other reviews and found out that Canon had service calls on this model. So I am going to call Canon service center tomorrow.

Avoid the product....

This camera quit just 2 years after put into service. It has not been used excessively. Camera shop advises it will have to returned to manufacturer and will cost about $250 to repair. Two years is not long enough life span it it is not worth spending that much to fix.

I bought this camera 2 years ago--used it minimally, babied it --never took it anywhere but home--used to tape my puppy when she was small. After almost no use it stopped rcording --just when i wanted it for the birth of my baby! Screen just records black. Sent it all the way to canada to fix--payed alot--and still 9 months after the birth of my baby it's not recording again!!! i do not live in a country with a canon center and to get it to canada (where it was bought) was a haasle. please so not buy this or any other canon camcorder. My cousin has one that is a slightly older model and has sent it for repairs twice. i dont know if what the reviewer for manila said will work but I will try it if i ever get this camera back to canada again!

Like the others, this camera just up and died on me one day. I hope to get Canon to repair it, as it was pretty decent while it worked!

First of all thanks to everyone making the effort to report this problem. I found this as a result of searching. I was preparing to do some semi-professional shooting of Tai Chi training videos right now. We are in bluebell season and I had planned to shoot it now. Only a 6 week window. So I will try a canon centre and hopefully get it fixed for free.
For what it's worth, this model has been out for a few years and perhaps the fault is occuring now with great regularity as we have had the camera for a while now. the last thing I did was use the dv in on my dvd recorder to record the last thing I filmed.

yes, i've checked canon's website. if your digital camcorder or camera are having lcd display problems --blank or distorted--, canon will repair it free of charge, regardless of warranty status. just call thier customer support center @ 1-800-828-4040. they will cover shipping charges in connection with the repair. i have a zr60 digital camcorder & powershot a70 digital camera. both exhibit the same problem. if you go at their official website, go to support, type in your model and product and you can see a service notice for ccd image sensor.

As a lot of people mentioned, this product has several good features and drawbacks. The most attractive feature is 22x optical zoom. Video quality is not bad. However, it performs poorly when the light is low. I used it for three years and took a lot of videos. Frankly, I didn't use it with too much care. I was lucky that it didn't die for 3 years.

Then, my LCD went black when I was during a very happy journey last week. My camcorder was bought in China and had a different model name: MV650i, but it is exactlly the same as zr70mc here in US. Hopefully I can also repair it for free here.

Canon will repair no questions asked.
It take 2 weeks total.
That is great support.
Talk to anyone else about a 2-3 year old product.
The funny thing is the part giving the problems is Sony.

I love the camera. It will be around 10 years after the repairs.

I presume people had problems with this product (ZR70MC).I guess most of them are CCD related.I owned ZR70MC since 2004 and I noticied CCD problem recently (Camcorder LCD went blank even when lens cap is removed) and one year warranty on product had already expired.Canon customer service was efficient and they repaired it free of cost (they even provided shipping label).When I received camcorder I noticied that record button is not working. Canon customer service or repair center again came to my rescue and they repaired it free of cost (they even provided shipping label).
I rate their customer service as best.But as some one noted earleir this camcorder doesn't perform well in low light conditions.

I've had this camcorder for about 2 years now and have used it for everything from backyard footage to filming corporate events. My kit included the wide angle lens attachment, a standard life battery, software CD and an 8 MB SD card. It performs great. It has great sound through the regular microphone. I even recorded a fireworks display and the fireworks did not overdrive the sound. You could still hear nearby voices even while the fireworks were going off. It has a hot shoe for connecting accessories. Although I always intended to add a microphone to the hot shoe, I never did get around to it. I think the standard mic is sifficient for my needs.

When I recorded for corporate events, I ran the soundboard right into the A/V on the camera using a standard RCA to Headphone jack. This was a handy feature since we were in a warehouse environment and the sound system mixed all the audio. I could film from a long distance and still patch in the audio to make it sound great. The recorded video turned out really superb and my customers were quite pleased. I used the included Studio 8 to edit the video and record onto the DVD.

The still camera is around a megapixel. Not great as far as quality unless you're shooting in good outdoor light. Dark lighting definitely looks grainy on the stills, even with the night shot mode enabled.

The camera model, along with some other Canon DV cameras are affected by a recall. It will freak you out when you don't see any video on your viewfinder or LCD. It just goes black. In short, the cable that connects the CCD (which digitizes the video) gets disconnected. Canon will repair the defect (they will also pay shipping both ways) regardless of warranty status. The process was easy and did not take very long.

As others have mentioned, this camera, along with a slew of others from Canon have a CCD problem relating to heat. I just experienced this problem and called Canon per their website.

I made the mistake of referring to the "product recall" to which I was endlessly chastised by the customer service rep because it is really a "product advisory." (I originally bought the camera for over $700, now I'm being treated like trash because I used the wrong words... nice.)

In returning the camera for service, I was told not to use the original packaging and that I should bubble wrap it and place nothing around it in a large box. (so it can fly around inside) They pay for UPS shipping, which she said takes 7-10 days.

Once they receive it, they will determine if heat caused the problem or if the CCD is broken. If it's broken, then I have to pay. Considering that they want it to be flung around inside a large box during shipping, I can see where this is going.

I would not recommend this camera for this problem alone and would not recommend Canon products at all due to their customer service anymore.