ZoomQ8 Handy Video Recorder With Interchangeable Mic Capsule System

This is a good camera for recording live concerts. It has a few minor issues that annoy me, but for the most part, it's excellent.Issue 1: Battery life. Recording is NOT POWERED BY THE USB ADAPTER! I recently recorded a 10 hour, multiple band, live concert on this camera. at 720p/AAC 320 MOV, the camera crashed about every 2.5 hours. The camera was attached to mains power with a Zoom AD-17 AC Adapter to the onboard USB port, but still... battery only! Thankfully, I brought a pile of previously charged BT-03 batteries, so the problems were minimal. PLAN AHEAD. ---UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE! I debugged this and it turns out that my problem was using too long of a USB cable from the power adapter to the camera.. When using a short USB cable and a electrical extension to the power adapter instead; I can power the camera fine for hours and hours.Issue 2: digital 'zoom' capability. Even at 1.5x maximum digital zoom, I was barely able to zoom in on the stage from the soundboard, about 200 feet away. So, the video quality of the bands playing... not so great. This camera really would benefit from being a LOT closer to the stage, since it has such a wide angle lens, but then you have issues with the sound field and where you're going to convince the sound techs to let you plug in.Issue 3: Turn the -20dB PAD *on*. This comes set off by default, and you will experience 'digi-fart' distortion at an indicated -12dB signal level on the external XLR preamp inputs. With the pad set, the signal level indicators are correct.Issue 4: The level controls are digital encoder wheels, not potentiometers, so it's sometimes difficult to get good signal balance on the XLR inputs. The controls are very sensitive, and each "tick" is about 3dB of gain.The good stuff: The included camera's X/Y mic and foam wind shield were flawless. No wind noise on a somewhat breezy day. Also, I recorded ambient from the mic's and L/R house mix from the board, without bothering to split it into separate audio channels, and the audio is excellent. Getting the mix right on the camera makes everything simple.

The Zoom Q8 handy video recorder was a big surprise. Its small yet powerful little device. I needed a replacement for my Q2 handy video recorder. Its light years better than the Q2. Although in terms of audio quality the Q2 still packs a punch in the audio recording. So I will compare the two because I am trying to convince myself that it was worth the new purchase.What makes the difference between the two recorders is the quality of the video. The Q2 video even in its HD 1080p format is not as good as the Q8. The Q8 shoots in 2.4k. That is a much higher quality than the Q2. The factor and its a big factor, is the versatility of the Q8. It has many audio recording options. There are many Zoom mic adaptations. I have the other Zoom products. I have the H5, and the H6n with all of the different mics. I use these for podcasting interviews for my PhotoTalk podcast. In online podcast sound quality is very important. No hissing, crackles, humming, you get the picture. In video... sound is the utmost.In 2016 I plan to change my PhotoTalk podcast to both audio segments and video episodes. The Q8 will help in reaching this goal.I also play music. Guitar and keyboards and sing. The Q8 does an excellent job in capturing good video and sound.The Pros: It uses a SD card not the micro SD card. Maximum SD card 128 gigs. I like that. It is very small. Packs easy. Instructions were simple and easy to understand. I was up and running within a very short time. It uses a touch screen system to navigate through the small menu. I was confused at first about where the 3M video format was located, but you have to drill down into the formats in the number 2 section, Its easy to miss.I really like the flip out LCD screen. Now that is the difference between the Q8 and Q2. The Q2 had no preview swing out screen. So you can miss your framing easily. I like the mixing board audio levels display on the screen. Its hard to see from a distance.Cons: I thought it was the lens hood. But mine came with a very snug fitting lens hood. Zoom must have heard all of the complaints of a very loosefit. There is not a way to easily grip the device when doing interviews. You almost have to leave it on a tripod.The fisheye lens look is not as bad as I thought. Sometimes I like the look but sometimes I don't want that style. So I wish there was a way to turn it on or off. Is that asking too much? I know that there is a hack on changing out the lens out to a non fisheye lens, but I won't do that.It only comes with one battery. That battery lasts about two hours of constant use. That is good enough for me. I wish it shipped with two batteries for that price in cases where you needed it on a long day. My 3M video looks good but it appears that the flesh tones and ambient contrast appears a little dreamy looking. Again that works for me, so if need to, I can fix in Final Cut Pro.I have a Q2 for sale now...Exellent condiiton.Ciao, and best of both worlds to you all.AF

Perfect sound quality, but very bad video quality especially with 4K quality, with big tilt in videoBut the Sound quality is more than perfect