Editorial Review
Along with its stylish Blue Mist finish, the ZR500 boasts Canon's longest zoom ever. It also comes with features found on more expensive camcorders. An easy-to-read menu system makes it a breeze to operate. The joystick lets you easily operate playback, focus, exposure and menu options with a single controller. And a big 2.7" LCD lets you lets you see exactly what your camcorder is recording.
You want your memories to last forever -- that's why you've taken the time to capture them. And you want to shoot in widescreen format to get everything you can out of your new widescreen TV or home theater system. So, why is the way you record widescreen images so important? Because you want an image made for widescreen, not adapted for widescreen. Because every HD television is widescreen -- widescreen is the future. The story of how it is done may be a bit technical, but the result is clear to see. Canon camcorders use the entire width of the image sensor to capture video in true 16:9 format. What difference does this make? It's simple. With more pixels captured, you get better image quality. Some competitors' camcorders force the wider picture into a smaller spaceon the sensor -- giving you a less true image, with fewer pixels and lower quality. With a Canon camcorder, your videos of your travels will let you relive great memories.
With the ZR500's AE Mode, you select from a variety of exposure or scene modes for the best results under difficult lighting conditions, including: EASY, P, Portrait, Sports, Night, Snow, Beach, Sunset, Spotlight, Fireworks. For example, the Sports setting automatically selects a faster shutter speed, ensuring sharp images of your child's hockey game; and Sand and Snow settings compensate when shooting a subject against a bright background. Minimum Illumination 2 lux (Night Mode); More than 100 lux advised Unit Dimensions - 1.9 x 3.6 x 4.5 in. (49 x 92 x 115 mm) (excluding protrusions
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Customer Reviews
Not suitable for indoor use 
2007-03-14
The look and feel of this camcorder is very good. Unfortunately my camcorder use is limited to low light indoor activities. For example, evening party, indoor school activities, kid drama and orchestra. This camcorder is not at all suitable for these activities. Earlier I had a Sony DCR TRV140, which was way better than this camcorder.
This camcorder has a very small sensor and hence such a low price. One easy guide to evaluate the sensor size is to look at the optical zoom. Most of the camcorders with more than 10x optical zoom has small sensors. These large optical zoom camcorders will perform poorly in low light.
If you are planning to use this camcorder in low indoor light, I do not recommend it.
CanonZR500Mini Camcoder 
2007-03-08
Camera is light in the hand, sometimes too light for security feel of the camera. Camera when charged or used for length of time tends to over heat and feel hot to the hand. Toggle switch for play, stop, rewind, fastforward is difficult to use and flimsy. Down side - no hot shoe for external flash or level which is "so so" for a camcorder not essential; battery included with camera has about a 20 minute life cycle depending on video conditions.
Optics are not as good in night shooting as anticipated.
Postives are that one can video @ 720x480 with minidv tape, allowing for in computer editing in the most common video-editing programs possible - has 12 and 16 bit audio and is not just video destined for the web only! Also has external mic input. This was the main reason I went with this camera and not the ZR600, 700 or 800 (new) series.
4 stars! Motor noise not a problem. 
2007-03-05
After a week of using this I find the motor noise that others talk about is nothing. Mine is a refurbished model from tigerdirect, so maybe the motor was already fixed :-) My mother in law has a camcorder that sounds like a blender. The ZR 500 is OK in low light, but you CAN adjust the exposure manually to correct if it isn't to your liking. You can also adjust the focus too!
My friend who is a mini DV guru said that in this end of the consumer spectrum this camera is on par.
I've made two practice DVD's (with firewire, no problem at all) with this camera and like what I see.
For those of you that have bad motornoise: try your video software to edit the noise out. Power Director has that feature.
I am happy with this product, but I would rather have a higher end model now that I have a bit more in my budget for a camcorder.
A great camcorder for beginners!
Fire Wire has issues 2007-02-25
This won't matter to anyone that is not planning to transfer movies from the camera to their computer, but I have not had any success hooking the camera up to my computer. The guy at canon tech support says that their cameras don't work on combo cards that have both USB and Firewire ports on them, which sounds silly to me.
When i did have brief success transferring movies over there was a lot of motor noise, which to me is a huge distraction. But got it as a gift more than a month after it was purchased and are stuck with it.
Have a look also at the RCA "Small Wonder" 
2007-02-21
The ZR500 and other low-end Canon camcorders appear to be very fine products, well worth their price -- but if what you want is the simplest and easiest way to make perfectly acceptable amateur-level home videos, have a look at the RCA Small Wonder.
Simple, rugged, totally easy to learn and operate, no frills but still some very neat features, takes perfectly adequate videos of your children, your dog, whatever -- and about half the price. Bought one; totally satisfied.
don't buy 2007-11-06
camera works fine, up to a point. Controls are marginal and you'd best have the manual handy to figure them out. However, I recommend you don't bother buying it, it is NOT moisture proof, or even moisture resistant, and the electronic control board will corrode with the slightest dampness such as filming in foggy weather or light rain. And you cannot dry it out inside.
compact with good picture 
2007-10-27
I have a full featured Camcorder but needed an inexpensive small camcorder that I could slip into my pocket for a trip to Europe. This had more features than I needed, was cheap and fit easily into my pocket. I didn't want to carry a camcorder over my shoulder while touring. It worked perfectly.
Memories forever dull & lost 2007-10-22
Purchased this item at Best Buy in Florida during my vacation but the outcome was so dissapointing. Colors are very washed out, video to a 32 inch LCD TV is so blurry due to low resolution and low light b-day recording is sad as the TV turns dark and you can hear only voices. I highly recommend that anyone who wants to truely cherish their memories to get a higher grade camera. I really dont know what to do with this now... Too light for a door stop... Amazingly i have better results with a Sony Handycam I got as a gift in 1987. If you only have $250 to spend I suggest getting a used 2000-2002 High end model Sony with Night Shot.
Fantastic camera! 2007-05-16
I have nothing but good things to say about this camera. It works perfectly and does everything I could ever ask for and more for the price.
Great buy, I'd recommend it to anyone!
Great Value 2007-03-26
If you are looking for an entry level MiniDV camcorder, the Canon ZR500 offers excellent value for money.
Pros
1. Very intuitive interface
2. High Optical Zoom
3. Use of joystick reduces number of buttons to just 3
Cons
1. Motor noise
It also lacks a still camera mode, though I don't consider that to be a drawback.
