Topic: Zoom F8

[Ozpeter]

with my wedding in five weeks.

Congratulations!

my budget is a bit tight for buying new toys

Commiserations!

The other question is how often would I actually use eight inputs in a taping situation...

Well, I've often quoted Panatrope's Second Law of Recording (I forget what the first law is), which states that the number of channels required for a recording is always one greater than those available.

[stevetoney]

Woo woo.  I just got an email from B&H that my unit shipped today.  I'll have it on Thursday!

[2manyrocks]

If the F8 proves itself for early users, folks who really want time code are likely to opt for the F8 at $1,000 over the R-88 at $2,000 or the HS P82 at $2,400.

Hard to say about the DR680. I paid $429 for the first version.  I thought about picking up another unit to cascade, but I find it hard to swallow $600 for the mkii. If they drop the 680 price down to $400-$500, I think it may continue to sell.  But at $600 for the 680, I think buyers are looking to look hard at the F8 feature set before deciding what to buy. 

Congratulations and best wishes.  Maybe you can register for wedding gifts at B & H.

I tend to think the 4 channels on the 70d are the best deal going and probably enough channels for most users.  Got a 680 and still primarily go only 2 tracks myself. 

Admit to having looked at the metering on the f8 and would be interested in opinions whether it is an upgrade over the 70d or 680? 

The other thought I had later today is zoom is probably also up selling their existing customer base like all the photographers who bought zooms years ago. 



Amazon has the mkii at $500, which I agree is probably the upper threshold of what I'd pay. My question is whether to buy the 680mkii now, or going all in on the F8, which would probably require me to sell off a bunch of gear (with my wedding in five weeks, my budget is a bit tight for buying new toys).

The other question is how often would I actually use eight inputs in a taping situation...

[AB52]

I hear you about the HS-P82.  I was going to sell mine, but the sound quality is so beautiful.
And for power - I really like the IDX Endura Cue 150 - lasts about 7 hours on a charge - but of course have AA backups.
(or I suppose a bunch of NP-1s will do.)  It is power hungry as a downside.
Others have posted interesting battery options that are a little over my head but may be really good for many people here.

If the F8 proves itself for early users, folks who really want time code are likely to opt for the F8 at $1,000 over the R-88 at $2,000 or the HS P82 at $2,400.

Hard to say about the DR680. I paid $429 for the first version.  I thought about picking up another unit to cascade, but I find it hard to swallow $600 for the mkii. If they drop the 680 price down to $400-$500, I think it may continue to sell.  But at $600 for the 680, I think buyers are looking to look hard at the F8 feature set before deciding what to buy. 

 

I think the hs-p82 still has lot to offer at $2000 (which is about what they are selling for nowadays) with 8 channels of digital in and out and optional real-time sample rate conversion on all digital inputs.  It is big and power hungry though.  You have to step up to $4k+ to find another recorder with 8 channels of digital input - which makes this unit a good cart backup unit.


The R-88 offers one digital input.

[ArchivalAudio]

Woo woo.  I just got an email from B&H that my unit shipped today.  I'll have it on Thursday!

woot woot!

glad one is on the way to you... remind me of your order to ship turn around, please?

[carlbeck]

Amazon has the mkii at $500, which I agree is probably the upper threshold of what I'd pay. My question is whether to buy the 680mkii now, or going all in on the F8, which would probably require me to sell off a bunch of gear (with my wedding in five weeks, my budget is a bit tight for buying new toys).

The other question is how often would I actually use eight inputs in a taping situation...

In my haste to post I forgot to say congrats on your wedding!

[stevetoney]

Woo woo.  I just got an email from B&H that my unit shipped today.  I'll have it on Thursday!

woot woot!

glad one is on the way to you... remind me of your order to ship turn around, please?

I placed the order on August 13th.

[stevetoney]

No promises, but as of right now I'm planning on doing a thorough written 'straight outta the box' review of the Zoom F8 like I did when I got the Tascam DR100MKii a couple of years ago.  I had fun doing that review and I got alot of really positive feedback.  There seems to be a ton of interest in the F8, both here and outside of TS.com so thought it would be fun to do another one.  The only thing is that this will be a review from the perspective of a taper rather than a film guy.  I'm not sure how to test things like time code and whatnot.

So, I'm looking for some feedback...what specifically would you like to see in this review?  Please be specific if you can.

[dallman]

No promises, but as of right now I'm planning on doing a thorough written 'straight outta the box' review of the Zoom F8 like I did when I got the Tascam DR100MKii a couple of years ago.  I had fun doing that review and I got alot of really positive feedback.  There seems to be a ton of interest in the F8, both here and outside of TS.com so thought it would be fun to do another one.  The only thing is that this will be a review from the perspective of a taper rather than a film guy.  I'm not sure how to test things like time code and whatnot.

So, I'm looking for some feedback...what specifically would you like to see in this review?  Please be specific if you can.

That review was fantastic and ended up costing me as I had to have one... 
I would like to know everything as in your last review which was incredibly thorough, but what comes right to mind is the following:
Ease of setup and use in the field
Quirks
How it sounds without external preamps
Power consumpltion
What sets it apart from others like DR680 SD etc aside from price
What you liked best
What you disliked

[stevetoney]

That review was fantastic and ended up costing me as I had to have one... 
I would like to know everything as in your last review which was incredibly thorough, but what comes right to mind is the following:
Ease of setup and use in the field
Quirks
How it sounds without external preamps
Power consumpltion
What sets it apart from others like DR680 SD etc aside from price
What you liked best
What you disliked

Thanks for the feedback Cliff.  How are the shemps treating you?

[Gutbucket]

Curious about the specifics of the channel linking- what it does and what it doesn't.

[2manyrocks]

I'm curious about the accuracy of the metering including metering of individual channels in comparison to the 680, 70d and any of the SD7xx series.  Has Zoom given us metering close to the SD7xx series on the F8?

[Ozpeter]

what specifically would you like to see in this review?

How's the ease of accessing what you need in the menu system - and how easy is it to review the current settings to ensure everything's correct before the show starts?

[stevetoney]

I'm curious about the accuracy of the metering including metering of individual channels in comparison to the 680, 70d and any of the SD7xx series.  Has Zoom given us metering close to the SD7xx series on the F8?

I'm trying to better understand what you're after here.  I know that the resolution of the metering on the Tascam products isn't all that great.  When I had a 744 and dialed the level controls in so that both L and R channels were peaking on the same light, it was a pretty good indication that I was within a db or so of having my channels balanced.  The sensitivity of the knobs was such that it wasn't difficult to dial either channel in so that both channels were hitting the same light.  I think the comment on the 70d is that it doesn't have a numeric peak level display and that the sensitivity of the 70d knobs are less than ideal for this task.

Does this kinda capture what your after or is there something else?

[2manyrocks]

That would be good to know.  Part of the question is whether the meters give you enough visual clues that you can dial in  the mix that you're getting when recording multiple channels.

Without the ability to gang channels, the ability to accurately set two main channels is pretty important.  Do the meters let you set the levels between two channels easily and accurately?

More generally, I'd like to know how well  the metering scheme on the F8 works. It looks like it has a nice overall LED bar meter for the main mix with some more limited metering on each channel pot?   

The SD7xx metering is highly visible, accurate, and there's a long scale to it as opposed to there being some little grayscale LED screen with a maybe an inch of meter bars and then a little hash mark without any numerical indication of what the db levels are.    The SD has nice, long scale, colors, and the LED will display numerical db levels.