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I agree with the 12 year old. I have used this camera for three weeks and think it is just great. I have been to two birthday parties indoors and the lighting was great,I used video and still pictures. I love that it is so quick and easy to go back and forth between the two.I have also used it in a Butterfly Museum and the pictures were so true to color that my friends want copies sent to thier computers.When I first bought this I was just looking for a plan digital camera and I'm so pleased that I chose this instead.When I bought it my children and I (ages 12 and 15)took a tape and the book and learned how to use it and tried every feature indoors and out and had such a good time and now we know how to use it.I suggest to the people who didn't read the book to go and open it and learn something.We think it great and will let our friends that are looking to buy a camera to give it a try. Also a great price for the features.

Why is everybody so upset that it doesnt make indoors look like outside???
It doesnt make anything darker on the video filmed inside, it just gives an accurate depiction of what the lighting is really like. Its not going to make the scene look like you have 1000 watt bulbs everywhere, but that is realistic. Those people claiming that having the the video resembling the actual envirenent that is was shot in is bad, is a bunch of crap. Film in a dark area and the footage will dark. Shouldnt that be obvious??

I was looking to upgrade from my VHS-C to the Mini DV format since it is supposed to be much better, but believe that it was a big mistake getting this camcorder. To me the quality isn't much better than older formats and nothing to gawk about in awe as some may have you think. I will probably be using my VHS-C until it breaks now that I have seen this Mini DV format in action and how horrible it can be. In this review I would like to talk about why this camcorder is so bad.

PROBLEM #1: VIDEO QUALITY IN LOW LIGHT AND INDOORS

This camcorder records video that is absolutely horrendous in low light and indoors. My 3 year old Panasonic VHS-C is absolutely leaps and bounds above this camcorder indoors and outside at night time as far as quality is concerned. The picture quality is so bad that it is not even worth trying to watch unless you want a headache. The night mode that the camcorder has does absolutely nothing except slow the shutter speed down to the point where everything looks like distorted robot movement. As another reviewer stated I can not stress how bad the quality of low light and indoor video is on this camcorder but heres some comparisons. Old 8mm camcorders (the kind you view with a projector remember these) look 100 times better than the ZR85 as far as quality is concerned in these situations. My digital camera and VHS-C camcorder look like a Hollywood film production compared to the ZR85. Basically think in you're worst imagination what it can look like and then multiply those bad thoughts by 1000 to get a clear picture of how bad it is. This was not the fault of the lighting in my house or outdoors where I was recording, I tried using streetlights, LED flashlights, a 2.25million candlepower spotlight, halogen flashlights, my backyard 500 watt floodlight, all the lights in the house on, all the lights in the house off, etc and in every situation the video quality was pure garbage. I tried changing settings on the camcorder to improve it such as the low light setting, night mode, changing the white balance, shutter speed, etc, no improvement there either. I even went to the store and bought the light that mounts to the top of the camcorder and tried with that on and no improvement there either. The picture is so dark that even under any of these lighting conditions you can't see anything with clarity. I did have two other people with me at the same time recording with my digital camera and VHS-C and both of those were hugely better than the ZR85.

PROBLEM #2: OUTDOOR PICTURE QUALITY

I wasn't too impressed with the outdoor picture quality of this camcorder either. This was my first attempt at a Mini DV camcorder and I was expecting a big improvement over VHS-C but as it turns out they look about the same to me on a 36" tv. The outdoor quality is much much better than indoor however.

PROBLEM #3: BATTERY LIFE

I'm not sure how canon rates it's battery life or how others got more than me but the battery life is unacceptable on this camcorder. Using the LCD I got around 30 minutes before the thing was dead, with the viewfinder about 40 minutes, that is ridiculous.
RECOMMENDATION

As far as good things there really were none that I can think of about this camcorder compared to others I looked at in the store, and I'm hoping the store I bought it from will let me return it or exchange it even if I have to pay a restocking fee it's worth it to me. If you are looking for a Mini DV camcorder and want to occasionally shoot video indoors or at night I would recommend straying far away from this POS. I haven't tried any other models yet but I don't believe that any of them can be as bad as this thing. I may try one of the other brands with night vision before sticking to VHS-C but as of yet I haven't been convinced that Mini DV is worth changing to.