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News Leak: Zoom F4 with six inputs and eight tracks (is like a new low priced Zoom F8!)


IronFilm
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We used an F4 for in-car when filming "The House of Muscle" for the Motor Trend channel this past year (the F4 was abused in 2000hp trucks, race cars and rat rods.) It's a great little unit. Durable and easy to use. Though, if I was to buy it again, I'd spend the extra just for the better display on the F8. 

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26 minutes ago, rdouthit said:

Though, if I was to buy it again, I'd spend the extra just for the better display on the F8. 

That and bluetooth is the only things I wish from the F8. 

But the B&W screen is more viewable outdoors and helps give longer battery life to the F4.

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14 minutes ago, Anaconda_ said:

Wow that seems way better, and more versatile than those Tascam recorders, and for more or less the same price too! 


I dunno. One of the primary features of a bodypack recorder is small size. The F1 is substantially bigger than a Tascam DR10L, yet costs more??? I struggle to see why the F1 would be a better buy for me personally. And no dual record?? Just an extra kick in the guts for the F1.

Nope, nope, nope. Not when the DR10L is even cheaper!

However with the price drop, the F1 still isn't the right choice for me personally, but at least it isn't quite as objectionable. 

 

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It's much more flexible, you don't need 1 device for lav mic, 1 for shotgun and 1 for XLR. In fact, Zoom's XLR module gives you 2 inputs instead of 1 AND you can use 1/4 jack as well.

You buy one recorder and then whatever mic you put on it. If you were to utilise all three variations, the F1 is MUCH cheaper than buying the 3 Tascams. You'll also have all your recordings on 1 card at the end of the day, which will be helpful :)

What do you think about the preamps etc. though? I was under the impression that the Zoom would sound cleaner, but may be wrong.

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Your argument is that a single F1 is a better buy than a DR10L + DR10X, well I guess, perhaps if you're extremely cost conscious?! But I'm not sure if even then that the math would stack up!

And I know in the long run I'd much prefer DR10L + DR10X over a single F1.

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Well, The F1 on B&H is 170 and the DR10L is 200, so like for like the F1 is also cheaper.

No arguments here though ;) - whatever fits your needs. I'd never seen the product before and was looking for exactly what the F1 offers about a year ago so was interested. Shame I've already filled my needs. (although what I bought is small XLR recorder with phantom power, something the Tascam and Zoom are missing)

On a side note, @IronFilm what's your opinion on using either the F1 with the shotgun or Tascam DR10sg in place of the Rode VideoMic Pro? So using a jack to plug it into the camera.

I was suddenly thinking, it could cut your kit down, as you could have it on the camera for run and gun stuff where you're filming lots of short clips that will take some time to sync, but then mount the mic on a boom for interviews, syncing it later. Or would the line out not provide adequate quality to bother with recording straight into the video? 

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I feel like it is fluffing around on the edges for marginal if any improvements. 

Just get a Rode VMP for on camera audio, and a Zoom F4 + boom for when you need better audio.

The one real use the F1SP / DR10SG / VP83F is for cameras like say the Sony a5100 / RX100 / Panasonic GX850 / etc which completely lack any mic input whatsoever but you want some kind of better but rough scratch audio "on" camera?!

 

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13 minutes ago, Ty Harper said:

Any safety devices that can be inserted into the out to ensure a costly mistake like that never happens?

Triton Audio do a bi-directional phantom power blocker.

Not cheap at £36 per channel but cheaper than buying a new F4.

https://www.thomann.de/gb/tritonaudio_phantom_blocker.htm

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3 hours ago, BTM_Pix said:

Triton Audio do a bi-directional phantom power blocker.

Not cheap at £36 per channel but cheaper than buying a new F4.

https://www.thomann.de/gb/tritonaudio_phantom_blocker.htm

Thanks a lot. I knew I'd seen a solution somewhere but forgot what it was called. I see that Sescom's got a similar blocker for sale at a much cheaper price point. Does anyone know what the difference between the two might be?

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/889753-REG/sescom_ses_il_ppb_xlr_inline_phantom.html

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