Zoom Q8 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 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.

I really wish I could give this camera a better rating. I am classical musician, and the audio quality from a smartphone or consumer grade vlogging camera simply doesn't cut the mustard for what I do. On recommendation of a colleague I bought this Zoom Q8. The audio is as close to professional grade as one can get for a small under $500 cam, and par to other Zoom audio recorders (I have an H4). The camera is small, compact and light weight. Who works with an E-keyboard or an external microphone set & mixer has a direct audio plug-in option for recording, with no humming, white noise, distortion, or unwanted "sound enhancement". Each channel has an individual gain adjust. So fat I haven't tested the built-on X/Y mics but the audio quality of recordings done by others who own the same camera is really superb. You get a real HIFI quality here; so far the BEST. But there are too many shortcomings outside that. Let's start with the video quality. It's Sub par, comparable to a first gen surveillance camera at best. The fish eye effect is extremely annoying. The cheapest vlogging camera, even my phone, do MANY times better. With the "Stage / low lighting" setting, and tweaking the (digital) zoom, I get something close to acceptable, and since video quality is NOT my priority, let's keep it like that. The battery comes next. It drains in no time. Getting a spare battery and a charger (not included) is an absolute MUST, unless one wants to keep the camera "running on juice" with the charging cable. Speaking of that, the charging port is of the OLD micro USB style. This might be done on purpose so nobody plugs the juice into the 'video out' new style micro USB port, but be aware if you need to replace or get a longer power cable. The biggest problem however is the video format. It ONLY does .mov videos, and has no on-board converter to other, more standard / popular formats like mp4. So be prepared to invest in a video format converter, since .mov is not widely accepted... Instagram i.e. doesn't take it. In conclusion, if we could put a man on the moon and fly a helicopter on Mars, why the industry isn't capable to build a consumer grade camera that gets BOTH video and audio quality right without breaking the bank is out of my comprehension. Honestly.

You would think that the Q8 would have evolved to have been better than their previously successful Q3HD. This is certainly not the case. Evolution has turned into stagnation. The zoom is completely worthless with only four presets (this is a zoom? presets are a zoom???. There is no "scrolling" of the zoom. Close up, the video is grainy. The company doesn't sell the AC adaptor which is beyond explanation. You have to find one on E-bay or wherever. The camera will split large files WHILE VIDEOING if it exceeds 4gb even though you may have a 125gb card in it. I found it splitting at 1.92gb. YOU HAVE TO REJOIN THESE FILES - Zoom also DOESN'T provide the software to do this - they, only upon asking, will refer you to software which can do this for you - some may be free, most will cost you (this is plain stupid). Simple joining software SHOULD be included for the price of this camera or DON'T split the file! For $350, Zoom certainly feels YOU should do all the work, not them, in making this camera a complete product The camera was a complete waste of time, and the instruction manual couldn't have been LESS help. You are MUCH better off looking at camcorders or sticking with your Q3HD should be fortunate enough to have one. DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME - I can't stress this enough! You WILL return it!

I bought this camera so that I could input sound directly from a mixer. This feature is very useful because one can input two sources directly as well as use the attached stereo mikes. It can also be used as a Webcam, for which it does a very good job. I'm very pleased with the quality and with the features of this camera. Zoom is limited, but I don't need that feature. Sound quality of mikes provided is excellent.

I'm a drummer in a band, I'm a Radio DJ,and I'm a Music Producer. What I like is the lack of buttons... There's almost no way you can mess up with this camera! You get your moneys worth.. I sat this up at my gig on St. Patrick's Day at my Local Casino and recorded our whole show! it's unbelievable how these mics picked up each and every instrument!!! Now, we record every session at my studio and listen IMMEDIATELY after... just by pulling out the "Extreme PRO 64GB SanDisk" and putting it directly into my Mac Mini. I know that it's a slight fish eye lens... I researched it before I bought it. Some people were acting upset in their review, also, I knew it had a 5X DIGITAL Zoom... I researched it. This is a Hi Res Close up camera with a magnificent microphone for professional recording. ALSO, It has XLR's!!!!!!!!!!! 2! One for my Microphone and one for my guitar!! It's an upclose and personal camera... not meant for going out in nature and trying to zoom in and see the craters on the Moon!!! This is for a Media person that wants to do quick editing and video and sound production! I just had my first son and I record EVERYTHING HE DOES! in HD. So, I got great information here on this site that let me know exactly what kind of camera I was walking into. So, I'm grateful for these reviews. You can plug your camera directly in the wall to charge, didn't need a different batter, or charger... didn't know that. Plus when recording long performances it will stop and start breaking the files into smaller pieces.. so it's better to bring a friend and have them push 1 button on top of the camera on and off between each song. It's also, easier for editing anyway. I think that's it.