Zoom Q3?....and Hi!!!!

[DaveEEE]

Wow, its been way too long since I posted on this board. Not sure if any of you still remember me...hell, I remember when this place first went online and recognise alot of the members from the HC before this place was created.
So onto my question.
I was wondering if the Zoom Q3 is a good purchase for easy recording (i.e. loud band practices, recording loud amp at home, gigs etc.).
Whats everyones experiences with it...anything comparable at the audio quality/simplicity/price?

Thanks, glad to be back!

P.S. how ya doin' Kage....I owe ya a long overdue call.

 

[fek]

From what I have read to date, the consensus is that they record great audio but the video tends to be touchy with low light. It's a known bug and something that is being worked on I believe.

Here is a question, would video editing software allow you to brighten up a dim scene? I often do that with Picassa on bad pics.

 

[Digital Jams]

Have one for about a week so far and have been too busy to fire it up yet

 

[DaveEEE]

From what I have read to date, the consensus is that they record great audio but the video tends to be touchy with low light. It's a known bug and something that is being worked on I believe.

Here is a question, would video editing software allow you to brighten up a dim scene? I often do that with Picassa on bad pics.

Yeah, that seems to be the same thing I'm reading in reviews. I don't really care about the video quality, just want something simple that records the audio good.
Anyone else here have one?

 

[billm408]

+1 on the unit and the low light issues. They're releasing an upgrade in the next few weeks that is supposed to fix that. Personally, I haven't had any issues with setting sound levels. First effort was a live gig and the auto setting was too compressed and surrounding ambient noise lowered the recording levels too much. But since then, I've used the high sensitivity setting and had no problems.

 

[DaveEEE]

Thats cool to hear that they are coming out with an update to help the video problem.
Do any members have some clips of them recording themselves with the Zoom?
Thanks guys for the help so far, it is much appreciated!

 

[Digital Jams]

No problem using the auto level with the unit 5' from the top of a cab but I can't get the handycam software to recognise the Q3 and display the vids?? I was able to grab them from windows though, audio quality was excellent!

Will youtube take .mov files? I recoded in 44.1

 

[DaveEEE]

No problem using the auto level with the unit 5' from the top of a cab but I can't get the handycam software to recognise the Q3 and display the vids?? I was able to grab them from windows though, audio quality was excellent!

Will youtube take .mov files? I recoded in 44.1

Great to hear that the audio quality was great!!! Thats what I need to hear.

For those that have recorded their gigs/rehearsals...where did you have to place the Zoom to get a good recording?
Thanks again!

 

[billm408]

Do any members have some clips of them recording themselves with the Zoom?

Here's my first effort with the zoom at a live gig. Vid issues are obvious and you can hear what the "auto" setting does for level setting (even though the sound is pretty decent).

Here's one I did at home. Used the "high" setting and the results are much better- playing still sucks but that's a different issue!

 

[bds9487]

Do any members have some clips of them recording themselves with the Zoom?

Here's my first effort with the zoom at a live gig. Vid issues are obvious and you can hear what the "auto" setting does for level setting (even though the sound is pretty decent).

Here's one I did at home. Used the "high" setting and the results are much better- playing still sucks but that's a different issue!

You're overloading the Zoom in the second one. It's distorting. I think the first one sounds better. For loud live bands, I use low sensitivity on my Zoom. Works great. I don't use the auto setting(s)...too much "pumping".