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Zoom F8


Michael Panfeld

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On 3/8/2016 at 7:38 AM, gabrielstewa said:

Piero - I have the same exact issue. Purchased two Kingston SDHC4 32 GB cards and had both fail the full media test. Contacted Zoom. It appears they are aware of this specific issue and plan to implement a fix in the next firmware update. Until then they suggested using a different card that passes the full test.

They're Class 4 cards. Not surprised at all if they're failing Zoom's tests!! As Class 10 cards are so dirt dirt dirt cheap these days I don't understand why anybody would bother even putting in anything else. 

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On 4/5/2016 at 1:02 PM, PhforAndAfter said:

Has anyone had a problem with files disappearing on the F8?  Editorial says I'm missing two takes (the only two takes of that shot) from a shoot 2 weeks back. At this point both original SD cards have been formatted but both the original and duplicate card dumps are missing those takes, although I believe editorial just dumps the slot one card onto two drives.

Does the F8 'write over' takes with the same name?  I'm struggling to understand what happened here, and the only possible solution I can come up with is that I incorrectly named the scene number and the f8 'wrote over' the takes.  But it seems crazy that this would be possible without some sort of error message.  This was on firmware 2.0.

 

 

The F8 should not ever overwrite a file. I suggest doing a test to replicate the recording process as closely as you can and confirm you do not have any issues. If it happens again please email me so we can investigate further. Hopefully there was some other human error at play or it was a one time occurrence. If you would like to discuss further your can also email me. sgreene@zoom-na.com

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On 5 de abril de 2016 at 2:02 PM, PhforAndAfter said:

Has anyone had a problem with files disappearing on the F8?  Editorial says I'm missing two takes (the only two takes of that shot) from a shoot 2 weeks back. At this point both original SD cards have been formatted but both the original and duplicate card dumps are missing those takes, although I believe editorial just dumps the slot one card onto two drives.

Does the F8 'write over' takes with the same name?  I'm struggling to understand what happened here, and the only possible solution I can come up with is that I incorrectly named the scene number and the f8 'wrote over' the takes.  But it seems crazy that this would be possible without some sort of error message.  This was on firmware 2.0.

 

 

May be you didn't change the name of the scene take, and you continue recording increasing take number of previous scene recorded.

some time assistant editors did't look at the previous shoot to see if it was a bad nomenclature problem.

that happens to me ( with cantar) twice in a 24 week tv film for RAI.

 

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On 4/13/2016 at 5:26 AM, hiro nakamura said:

I was on a job recording 5.1 surround sound with a F8. After two days, the trim pot start making noise when I try to trim.... Like electric buzz... If I stopes turning ... The noise disappear.... 

Dont know why... 

Hiro, Is the sound recorded to your files or do you hear it just through the headphone? Does it sound like stepping or grounding?

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On 3/3/2016 at 2:48 PM, JenceF said:

Here are my initial thoughts on improvements after playing with the unit for about a week. 

I realy hope zoom will continue support and add features in the future.

Some of these things might be an easy fix. Others maybe not so much. Im still pretty new to the machine so please chime in if you disagree or if there are workarounds i have missed.

 


- Clip indicators should be able to reset and go away after a set amount of sec. I find pressing stop+5 shortcut risky during take.

- Shortcut to flip pots from trim to fader. Plus a clear visual representation of the different modes from any screen.

- Better connection with Bluetooth device. If i close the window on my iPhone during take i cannot reconnect again. Also make it easier to go from iPhone connected to iPad or vice verca.

- Option for 4GB file size could be implemented?

- Would be nice if the timecode jam screen could display the TC int ext difference.

- Headphone presets. Would be nice to easily switch back and forth between a couple of different monitoring presets without menu diving. 

- When selecting a parameter in the menu by pressing the scroll wheel i think the screen should go back to the previous screen. 

 @ZoomOfficial Do you know if there is a new firmware on the way?

 

Here are some more things i think needs to be fixed or improved

  • Being able to see level meters on other channels when you PFL/solo a track. 
  • Recording a mono mix track (L, R or L+R)
  • Cool if we could build deeper folder structures. 
  • Manually setting next take number instead of only being able to reset to T-001. 
  • When you pan a mono source hard left or right there is a 3db volume boost on the L/R track that should be compensated for. (This is more a bug than a feature wish)
  • When the meters are set to peak only the resolution of the on screen meters changes to the center being -12dbfs opposed to when in peak + VU the center is below 0 (-20dbfs) witch is much more preferable. (added some pictures of a -20dbfs slate tone for reference)

 

VU.JPG

Peak.JPG

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On 2016年4月14日 at 1:45 AM, ZoomOfficial said:

Hiro, Is the sound recorded to your files or do you hear it just through the headphone? Does it sound like stepping or grounding?

It sounded like electric or like when I was using my SD302, the return button was dirty inside. When I turned the nod, it generated noisy.... That kind, but more electric. 

I don't own a F8, I rented, I will keep note next time. 

I bought a F8, but UPS sent me a empty box, no one like to be responsible for it. So I have a empty f8 box... No machine. Sometimes shxt happens.... 

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10 hours ago, hiro nakamura said:

It sounded like electric or like when I was using my SD302, the return button was dirty inside. When I turned the nod, it generated noisy.... That kind, but more electric. 

I don't own a F8, I rented, I will keep note next time. 

I bought a F8, but UPS sent me a empty box, no one like to be responsible for it. So I have a empty f8 box... No machine. Sometimes shxt happens.... 

I hope you got your money back for the empty box.

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7 hours ago, daniel said:

Ouch. :-( Apart from UPS who were the other parties in this crime?

Yep, the person who sent it (audio shop) and my friend's relatives were the one received the delivery. And they didn't open it for two weeks, until I found out it's empty when I went to their place to pick it up.

 

 

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So am I crazy or did the earlier firmware set the safety track automatically at -12db of whatever the primary track was set? If not I would love to see that in a future firmware. As it stands dual channel mode just links two channels with the same source but leaves it to the user to set the levels for the safety track. Having to nurse two knobs for the same track seems to defeat the purpose. 

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21 hours ago, greyfoxx said:

So am I crazy or did the earlier firmware set the safety track automatically at -12db of whatever the primary track was set? If not I would love to see that in a future firmware. As it stands dual channel mode just links two channels with the same source but leaves it to the user to set the levels for the safety track. Having to nurse two knobs for the same track seems to defeat the purpose. 

not sure if the old FW did this or not, but it would definitely be useful to at least gang the gain of the dual tracks to one knob. so that way if you manually set the gain difference between the dual channels to 6dB or whatever, then you can change one knob setting that affects both channels while maintaining the desired gain levels.

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On 18 April 2016 at 6:19 AM, greyfoxx said:

So am I crazy or did the earlier firmware set the safety track automatically at -12db of whatever the primary track was set? If not I would love to see that in a future firmware. As it stands dual channel mode just links two channels with the same source but leaves it to the user to set the levels for the safety track. Having to nurse two knobs for the same track seems to defeat the purpose. 

No it did not, I asked the same question, and made the same observation, it does indeed seem to defeat the purpose..it's simply channel ganging as far as I'm aware...but would be glad to be proved wrong. I thought I had read in preliminary promotional material that the -12db was to be the case.

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Hi everyone, 

I bought this recorder a month ago and so far i am satisfied for owning it. 

Recorded one concert so far, takes were more than 1 hour long. Used both SD cards and both were ok. I tried the dual-channel recording and it proved useful for this kind of job since the dynamic of music was very big. It saved a few peaks here and there but in the end when i listened to the parts were the meter clipped even with limiter on it didn`t sound distorted so i used it.

Clip indicator is a real drag. I wish there is a different way to clear clip than to have to press STOP button in the middle of the recording. I tried it at home and it works but no way i am touching it during a recording. 

Anyway, i wanted to ask if anyone have any suggestion on what EXT battery i can use and if anyone have any experience with F8 ext batt of some type. 

Cheers

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi, i have a question for @ZoomOfficial

My friends F8 went dead today during the shooting. He turned it off beetween takes and later no signs of life. He was using external 20000 mAh Li-Ion battery. He tried turning it on only on 8 alkaline and only on Ni-Mh and still nothing. He tried with different SD cards and nothing. Unit is month or two old. Do you have any suggestion? 

Thank you

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I bought one a few months back (well maybe more than a few) and it's got pretty damned decent analog pres.  I've been using it alongside my Fusion 12 to record 5.1 ambiences for documentary shoots.  So far, no complaints.  

One of the only drawbacks is that it doesn't remember panning settings on playback.  It would be nice if the mixer could embed the pan settings for playback into the metadata for the polyfile.  

Not that this is a total non starter, considering that the crown knob adjuster allows for very quick adjustments from the main screen.

I'm impressed.

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I've been using this on a few documentary projects. It works great! I had a few noise and RF interference issues at the beginning but I sorted that with some carefull bag planning. This is not a mixer. Switching back and forth between trim fader and pan using the same knob that is not an endless encoder just doesn't work. Also no camera return. If you need mixing capability get something else. I haven't tried the app yet. Noise floor hasn't been an issue but the preamps are more hissy than what I'm used to. It might not be as intuitive a machine to use as other pro recorders but it gets the job done, sounds good and it's tiny! Definetly makes me think twice about pulling out the Nagra VI if I know I'm going to be on my feet all day...

I've used it enough to feel confident that it can perform in a professional context. If I were starting out right now I might just buy two of these! 

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