Canon ZR800
© 2007 Canon USA, Inc.
Looking for a serious, durable classroom movie camera, with good features? Canon camcorders, or digital movie cameras, have earned a solid reputation over the years with many parents and teachers. The 2007 versions—the called the 800 series—use small tape cassettes (DVs) to record movies. Tape cameras are about $50 cheaper than the mini-DVD (or disk) cameras, and the tapes cost between $3 and $5 each. There are three cameras in this year's lineup. The 800 is the base level version, with only the basic movie shooting ability. Missing is the ability to shoot still photos. The ZR830 costs $20 more, and lets you save still photos on a memory card. The ZR850 includes a small LED light (like a cell phone) and a higher resolution (1 Megapixel) still camera. Both the 830 and 850 have USB ports. All the camcorders have a 35x optical zoom, image stabilization and a color widescreen preview screen.
$280, Windows, Mac OSX
Teaches: creativity, photography