Hi All - I am thinking of picking up a smaller mini-DV cam for better portability and odd jobs. Since I own a GL1 and will soon upgrade to a GL2, I guess I'm a Canon fan - the extra long optical zoom is too thrilling to let go of easily. Anyway, if anyone has experience with the ZR-70, I would appreciate feedback.

Two particular areas of interest:

a) Will the camera pass a video signal to the analog outs if there is no tape in the drive? (And can the camera be kept ON continuously?)

b) Does the ZR-70 have full pass-thru like the GL1? For example, w/ 1394 IN, the GL1 outputs composite and Y/C video simultaneously, and for any analog IN, the GL1 passes a digital stream to the 1394 port.

Also, if anyone knows of a similarly equipped and priced unit, I would love to know about it!


Sincerely,
Ron J.

The answers to your questions are a.) yes and yes; b.) yes. The less expensive Canon ZR65MC and ZR60 do the same as well. Hope this helps.

I just picked up the ZR-60 today and haven't spent much time with it. I thought I had researched it very well, but it doesn't have true exposure control as I was led to believe, just shutter and exposure compensation for the AE.

Thanks for the replies, esp. Chris - your answers were perfect.

Ron J.

I'm not sure if this would be usefull or not.
but they are selling a zr-60e pal model here in the US.

That is only 1 frame away from Sundance!

Ron, i have no prob passing video thru the cam out to analog, but i have not gotten my GL1 to pass analog in thru firewire. If i have analog i usually record in the cam and then capture off 1394. Any tips on passing straight thru?

Trey - Y

You are correct, I had gotten my modes confused. I can only get firewire output when the camera is in Play or Camera mode.

Sorry for any confusion.

Ron J.