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Hello community

As the title says I am currently hovering my finger (so to speak) over the purchase button for a Zoom F8 8-channel field recorder.

Does anyone own one who can vouch for it after using it for a while? I've been endlessly researching and i've heard very good things about it for the price. I'm pretty certain I will buy it because I'm going to be doing a lot of ambisonics and 3D video in the coming months and SoundDevices and Nagra are just far too expensive for what i'm going to be using it for. I wanted to check to see if anyone has any extreme criticism of the F8 from first-hand use. I wanted to hear it from the horses mouth.

Thanks

dp

If you aren't going to be actively mixing (i.e. many tracks going to a mono camera feed for example) it will be fine. The whole thing is tiny, and the knobs are small, but you can control the thing from a table which is nice if you are stationary, but just one more thing to juggle when you have to move around. The way the cables come out from the side I found really annoying as it makes the whole thing big, and at that point they might as well have just made it bigger and put proper knobs on it. Workflow problems aside, it seems like a fine thing for the cost.

Corsica_S wrote:
If you aren't going to be actively mixing (i.e. many tracks going to a mono camera feed for example) it will be fine. The whole thing is tiny, and the knobs are small, but you can control the thing from a table which is nice if you are stationary, but just one more thing to juggle when you have to move around. The way the cables come out from the side I found really annoying as it makes the whole thing big, and at that point they might as well have just made it bigger and put proper knobs on it. Workflow problems aside, it seems like a fine thing for the cost.

Yeah, i'm not going to be doing on the fly mixing. But if I am I would get the control surface to go with it, of which I was aware.

by the way, cables come out of the side on the majority of portable field recorders so I don't see this being a thing about the F8 specifically.

Thanks for your comment, appreciate it!

Even though I do not own a Zoom F8, I have been using the great Zoom H4N for 9 years now and it has been FANTASTIC. I am a radio producer for a Midwestern public radio station, and the amps on the Zooms are great--both for interviews AND for more arts/creative recording that I often do out in nature.
I'm pretty sure that you will tremendously be satisfied with the F-8.

Late arrival here...

I guess it depends whether/not you need 8-tracks... I have a Zoom F4 which I'm pleased with - exceptional value for money.

I know you've said that the Sound Devices Gear is too expensive, but have you seen their new 'mini' recorders?

https://www.sounddevices.com/products/recorders/mixpre-6

https://www.sounddevices.com/products/recorders/mixpre-3

If I was buying now....

The F8 is Great. Use this field recorder/mixer for over 2 years. I usually use this with Wireless Lavalier and shotgun microphones. Dual recording mode comes in handy for those unexpected loud sounds.

very nice information also check this

Hi all

I just want to post a little update. Shortly after starting this thread I made my mind up and purchased the ZF8.

After a couple of years of using it, I can say It's a fantastic addition to my equipment and I'm very pleased with it thus far; still works great and haven't has any issue. The preamps are really great for the price and it has some really great features, of which some were added in a new firmware update, for example "auto mix" and added functionality for Ambisonics mode. It had everything I need and much more inside the box.

The gain knobs I find are still very small and hard to adjust precisely if you're trying to be swift, the cables issue is fine if you have a decent portable bag; I have an ORCA bag designed for it and it's very practical and tidy.

I thought It seemed right to share my positive experience so others could hear my verdict.

Thank you all for your recommendations in the first place.

Cheers
Sam

Late to the party: https://www.cinemasound.com/zoom-f8-vs-h6-preamp-shootout/

Thanks for sharing this Zimbot. Very interesting article

I have one issue with the video though. They should have done the side-by-side comparison of the music without restarting the track, so that the examples start in accordance with the track time. This would allow for a better comparison.

If the H1 I got is so satisfactory I can only imagine that later/better models are even more so.

The_Funktasm wrote:
If the H1 I got is so satisfactory I can only imagine that later/better models are even more so.

There's a huge difference between the H1 and the F6/F8

Predominantly the preamps. But the functionality of the device itself is much more complex, notably with the routing available. A great piece of kit, which i'm very pleased I made the investment.

so nice off all