The Musician's camera? (a.k.a Zoom Q2n-4k)

Nachobassman

Bass, Tapas, and Rn´R!
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So, after some time after a secondhand, good shape and price, Zoom "handy recorder/camera" I found this *MINT* in the box (I have the box! 🎶) Q2n-4k for way less than new price and I couldn't resist to bring her home and give it a try.

In a nutshell this little camera is one of the best and budget friendly solutions for recording live music, speechs, rehearsals, etc., with good sound quality and, allegedly, good video quality.

TBH, I have no doubt about the sound recording quality of this ZOOM units because I've used a handful of them, specially the famous H2 with their XY stereo mics that capture amazing live sound without the usual distortion you get from a smartphone or videocamera. But what seem to be the weakest spot in this ZOOM Q series is the video, particularly under low light conditions, a thing that I guess everyone here in the room would agree is a NORMAL thing when you are playing music in a pub or concert hall; even in our rehearsal/man caves/music rooms: we like soft led lights, innit?

Anyway, I've been doing some tests, in and outdoors, using different video qualities (except 4K because the SD card I have is not fast enough for that) and without any doubt this recorder excels at recording sound but the video lacks the same quality deppending on the lighting available.

I'm gonna start with a video I took at my music cave:
Lighting: colour led lights + small 3W (3000K) lamp. Video: 1080p, 30 fps. Audio: 48 khz, 24 bit. The sound source is my Alesis desk studio monitors (you could see beside my laptop).
I recomend using good stereo speakers or headphones to feel how the XY mics capture the sound and expand the video fullscreen to get a better idea of the quality (although I believe Instagram compresses both audio and video so the result may not be what the camera actually got.:




To be continued...
 
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