Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Camcorder
Review: Pros:
1) 18x Optical zoom. I can clearly see the faces of people sitting across an indoor stadium. Don't settle with 10x on many similar models! 2) Size. Very comfortable and easy to hold for an hour, but heavy enough to prevent 'shaky hand', and not too small for big hand. 3) Image stablization. It actually works, especially if the objects don't move a lot. Very important if you go near full optical zoom. 4) Shooting modes. I tested both low light and spot light modes in a very low light indoor stadium. Spot light works like a charm, if you don't want to see the audience at all. Low light let you record everything, and the video is grainy yet acceptable. Overall, shooting modes work as advertised. Cons: 1) Motor noise. The microphone picks up a LOT of motor noise, and this can become VERY annoying if you are recording in a quiet environment without a lot of background noise. Taping a sleeping baby in a quiet bedroom? forget about it. 2) Color. The color often looks 'untrue', especially outdoor under stronger sunlight. On the video, trees and grass often are not nearly as green as they actually are. 3) Battery life. The battery only last 50 min with LCD on half of the time. Replacement battery cost quite a bit.
Rating: 
Summary: Neat package but very grainy indoor quality
Review: Things I like... - price
- size Thing I didn't like and made me return - performance under regular indoor house lighting very grainy and considerably worse than my 8mm analog. Doing further research it appears this is likely not unique to Canon but common to DV camcorders. I am going to stick with my 8mm for a couple of years until DV tech improves since much of my use is indoors filming kids, etc.
Rating: 
Summary: Works great!
Review: This is a great first digital camcorder. I bought it to upgrade from a Hi8 camcorder, and to use it to convert my Hi8 film to digital. I have had no problems using this camcorder to convert my Hi8 film to digital, and burning it onto DVDs. Send in for the Showbiz software for exceptionally easy movie making. Con: The motor noise is there, but is easily overcome with a camcorder microphone. There are many inexpensive microphones out there to choose from.
Rating:
Summary: This Little Camcorder Rocks
Review: This is a great first digital camcorder. I bought it to upgrade from a Hi8 camcorder, and to use it to convert my Hi8 film to digital. I have had no problems using this camcorder to convert my Hi8 film to digital, and burning it onto DVDs. Send in for the Showbiz software for exceptionally easy movie making. Con: The motor noise is there, but is easily overcome with a camcorder microphone. There are many inexpensive microphones out there to choose from.
Rating:
Summary: All you need...
Review: This is an excellent camera, and if you're going to be using this camera with a computer for edited purposes, you don't need the still shot feature that the more expensive cameras have, because you can just pull any still shot you want out of the footage once you have it uploaded. The picture quality is great, it's lightweight, and I was very pleasantly surprised by the audio quality, even out of the built-in microphone. It's one of the best deals in video cameras I think. I would recommend a spare rechargable battery though. It doesn't last very long.
Rating:
Summary: A great cheap DV camcorder, except for the audio
Review: This is really the ideal entry-level camcorder for someone just getting into digital video editing. The optical image stabilization is far better than the electronic kind, and the picture quality is pretty good. It has a tendency to overexpose in bright sunlight, but you can easily adjust the exposure down half an f-stop. It's small and light, the viewfinder and flip-out screen are both color, battery life is pretty good with an add-on high capacity battery. Best of all, you can connect your old analog camcorder to it and import all your old videos to DV! Works great with Apple iMovie. The one downside to this camcorder is the audio. It's a problem with most tiny cameras, and this is no exception: motor whine. DV requires a high speed rotating head, which means fast motors--and because of the small body, they're too close to the built-in microphones. My solution was to spend an extra $99 on a Sony WCS-999 Wireless Microphone kit. It's a clip-on belt pack with a "tie clip" style mic, operating via 900MHz wireless. Just like professional TV presenters use, but at a fraction of the price. After that investment, I got great sound.
Rating:
Summary: Horrible motor noise
Review: Unfortunately I had a very bad consumer experience buying this camera. I had borrowed a ZR20 from a friend the year before and liked it, so when the ZR40 came out I wanted to buy it. I read online that some people were complaining about motor noise with this camera, but I figured I try it anyways. I bought it at Best Buy (should be called Worst Buy), and when trying it out found that it does have super bad motor noise. You can't hear it while recording - it's when you are watching a tape you recorded playback on your TV etc that you hear it. The motor noise is recorded in with your audio, so you hear a loud hummmm in the background. It was too loud for me to live with. If I was recording something with no background noise (like my baby playing), then it was as loud as his voice! ... I have now ordered the Panasonic PVDC152 which is supposed to have good sound. We'll see...
Rating:
Summary: Very nifty, durable yet lightweight camera
Review: Up until tonight, the ZR-40 seemed average to me. It's pretty small, has high video quality etcetera, but doesn't have many effects or features. Tonight, however, our family puppy knocked it off of the TV (about 4 feet above the hardwood floor) and dragged it around after him by the power cord as he ran away panicking. After a thorough inspection and runthrough, I found NO damage to the camera, and only a slight bend in the TV interface plug where he'd ripped it sideways out of the camera. If you're not sure you can protect your camera from all harm, I'd suggest this camera - it takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'!
Rating: 
Summary: Lights, lights, lights
Review: Video gets grainy indoor. Other than that, i think everything is fine for the price i paid. 8/
Rating:
Summary: sound issues
Review: We have had the camera a week and did some taping indoors in a quiet room. When we did the playback through our television the sound was awful. The noise of the motor on the tape is very loud and distracting. We have heard better sound on older VHS camcorders. Is it because the camera is so small? Is there a fix for it? This has yet to be determined as we plan on calling Canon about it. We have read other reviews of other Canon models and also similar Sony camcorders with the same complaint. Sorry, but for this much money the sound is totally unacceptable. If you buy it we recommend taping a short bit and hooking up to your TV to see how it sounds before it is too late to return.
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