Canon ZR45MC MiniDV Digital Camcorder with 2.5" LCD, Digital Still Mode & MMC Card Slot

Improving on an original can be a daunting task. Canon has succeeded quite well, thank you. The ZR45MC is the successor to the ZR25MC. Canon increased the optical zoom to 18x--the digital now sits at 360x--and added an analog pass-through port. Although the ZR line featured analog-in for dubbing your movies to MiniDV, the new pass-through port allows you to go straight to the computer, eliminating a possibly cumbersome step.

The ZR45MC also has a lot of the same features that made the original a lot of fun. A 2.5-inch LCD is swivel-mounted, permitting the shooter to use the camera at odd angles. Various digital effects and autoexposure modes help ensure your footage turns out well. The digital still mode makes a return, letting you capture 640 x 480 stills onto an included 8 MB MMC.

Finally, Canon threw in a low-light color-shooting mode that makes the ZR45MC that much more attractive.