Homebrewed Music

I started shooting video with a low end SD tape camcorder and the results were mediocre at best. I spent a lot of energy trying to get better quality with that system, but my videos were still pretty homely until I got my hands on a Flip Mino, which brought HD video to a camera that fit in the shirt pocket and cost about $100. But with the pace of technology the Flip and similar products were soon overwhelmed by the smart phone revolution and it seemed like nearly everyone had an HD video camera in their pocket. The market for dedicated pocket HD video cameras dried up overnight.

The folks at Zoom figured out a niche product, though, that let them charge a premium for a little plastic lens camera – they put good microphones and clean audio processing in the package and marketed it to their existing customers, musicians. The first unit was SD and, um, a bit underwhelming in a world where HD had gotten a foothold, but the second generation Q3HD impressed me enough to get my dollars. I did several blog posts about this unit and shot a lot of video with it.

Zoom added a lower cost unit, the Q2HD, to their line. The new camera swapped XY mics for the Zoom MS configuration and eliminated the audio input so all audio comes in through the mics on this one. I passed. The audio input on the Q3HD certainly has its problems. It’s called a “line” input, but the sensitivity is too high for a standard line level source, and of course too low for a microphone to be directly connected. But even with those issues I found the audio input useful. With some careful adjustment I could use an external preamp and place a microphone array separate from the camera to optimize video framing and mic location at the same time. I used a setup like this to capture a number of fine performances at our last Guitar Flangdang get together.

My Wishlist

When the Q3HD was discontinued I surmised that a new higher end replacement was on the way. I had a short list of enhancements I hoped to see in that replacement – an articulated screen so I could see myself and get good video framing more easily, a wider angle lens that brought the camera mounted mics closer to the source, and a mic input so I could use external mics without having to rig a preamp.

Now the replacement is here, called the Q4 and featuring all three of my hoped for features, plus a brighter lens, a rechargeable battery, and a new form factor. I’ve invested in some very nice Lumix mirrorless cameras that shoot outstanding video and I don’t really need another video camera, but I couldn’t resist ordering up a Q4 when I learned that Zoom had checked all the boxes on my list of upgrades.

Here’s a little rundown of the main features of this new camera.

Please Excuse the Mess

We’re on vacation, if it’s possible to take a vacation from being retired, so my sample clips are shot in a very reflective room, no sound treatment, no lighting, something close to a worst case for a home recordist, but I suppose that’s not a terrible way to shoot samples – hopefully nothing you do could be much worse than what you see in these clips.

There are many options for video format, ranging from WVGA 848/480/30 to HD 1920/1080/30. For audio Zoom includes a range from PCM 96k/24bit to 44.1/16 and AAC compressed from 320kbps down to 64 kbps. I’m severely skeptical of the audible benefits of “high resolution” audio formats but I do prefer uncompressed audio for my recording projects, so I generally go for 44.1/16. For my video I like to use 1080p30 as a capture format.

The Q4 has three settings for audio sensitivity. Zoom describe the most sensitive, H, as suitable “for field recording.” M is for “solo and chamber music” while L is for “band performances and concerts.” And the camera features two field of view settings, a very wide 135 degree and a narrower 95 degree angle that gives the effect of a zoom in to the subject.

Here’s a video that demonstrates the H and M audio settings and the wide and narrow field of view settings.

Let’s Compare

When I thought of a reasonable camera to compare to the Q4, something that many people might have used, I reached in my pocket and pulled out my phone, a now “vintage” iPhone 4. The video from this phone is a bit weak, so I added Lynn’s iPhone 5 to mix as well. These two have a much longer focal length than the Zoom Q4 so I positioned them quite a bit farther back in the room to get the same framing. In this video the Q4 is in narrow field of view with the audio sensitivity on High. I added quite a bit of volume, 12 dB, to the audio from both iPhones.

There are lots more features and details to explore in the Q4 but I must say I’m impressed with what I’ve found so far … on the audio side. As far as the video capture goes, I’m a bit less impressed. The very wide angle lens that I thought would be so helpful adds some odd quirks to the image. This is not unique to the Q4, of course, any very wide angle lens causes similar distortions. But after using the more capable, and much more expensive, Lumix G series cameras for the last couple of years I find myself a bit more critical of video quality and the Q4 rather reasonably is not in the same league.