Q8

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 loose fit. 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

I'm not sure why people are saying you can't record running off usb power. I recorded 8+ hours working in a wood shop to create a time-lapse video, the majority of which was run off of usb power. No, it doesn't charge, but it will record. Maybe the output voltage of the usb wall adapter makes the difference? I believe the one I used outputs 5 volts. The camera won't write a file bigger than 4gb, I think the formatting of the card won't support it, so the video files get broken up into smaller segments. The video isn't spectacular, but it's decent. You have to zoom in pretty far to overcome the bendy fisheye from the wide angle lens, but the wide angle is pretty handy to have, at least for my uses.

Great camera and sound recorder for what it is intended for. However if you begin to compare it to other options that cost much more, you may start to find limitations. The Q8 is intended for killer sound and three video angles (intimate, normal, stage) of performances. Great for recordings for auditions at a fraction of the price of a dedicated sound recorder (e.g. Zoom H6) atop a DSLR for video. Don’t expect the Q8 to produce stunning cinematic video clips - that’s not what it’s made for. Controls are easy to wield and the sound recorder bits are familiar especially if you’re already a Zoom fan. I bought a semi-hard case and m very happy with it. Skip the optional charger unless you have few extra batteries and have to record all day, back-to-back.

A great camera with amazing sound re-production quality.

Does what's advertised. Audio quality is excellent - picks up rich, clear sound in true stereo. Blows your regular camcorder out of the water. Will be testing the XLR inputs soon. Video is OK, a little grainy. The lens is wide angle 160° but no optical zoom. The camera feels pretty solid other than the included lens hood, which doesn't really stay on properly. Obviously with the large flip out microphone and display there is a possibility for breakage, but the hinge action is nice. A nice plus is that it can be used as a webcam or USB microphone with the drivers from Zoom's website - no need for a capture card, and it's detected by any app that works with a webcam (Google Hangouts, Skype, Polycom Realpresence, OBS, Xsplit). I will be using it for live webcast of stage events.

Good audio but video quality is not so good But good design and easy to use

Buen aparato

I M NOT SATISFIED, PRODUCT IS NOT COMMITMENT. THERE ARE TWO THING MISSING.. I M SENDING THE PICS OF BOX , ITS UNDERLINE.. NO TRIPODS AND NO ADDOPTER .. CALLING BACK TO SENDER BUT ALL THE NUMBERS ARE NOT IN ACTIVE .. DO FAVOUR WITH PROPER ACTION