stuartjp Posted March 15, 2016 Report Share Posted March 15, 2016 Hello all! So, the Zoom PCF-8 bag for the Zoom F8 recorder.. Looks ok. I'm probably going to be using AA's as a power source so I'd like to be able to swap them out quickly and easily. However, if you look at the underneath of the PCF-8, it has a strip of black material preventing you from accessing the battery door and removing the sled. Weird. What's the point of that? See attached. Happy enough to delete it with a stanley knife I guess, but I prefer to start hacking / modifying my gear when it's a few years old, not when I've just bought it :o) If I'm missing something simple, do share. Cheers, Stuart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuartjp Posted March 16, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 16, 2016 FYI just heard from Zoom: "I would say that compartment is mainly use to access the bnc conectors, the 10pin capsule input. and the DC power input." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greyfoxx Posted March 17, 2016 Report Share Posted March 17, 2016 I own the bag. Its narrow compared to some bags for sure however its not a bad bag overall. The strap they put that blocks the battery sled was a dumb idea considering they provide velcro pieces that would easily do the job and are removable. I am considering removing mine because removing the whole unit gets old not to mention the straps that hold the F8 in place are somewhat hard to release. Also, I felt that it wasn't the best idea to let the F8 sit on its DC cable for power (currently not using the Hirose) so I used a velcro cable tie and allowed it to suspend the F8 higher to keep the weight of the DC cable for my battery pack jack. This is somewhat of a budget bag so expectations are in check. I knew when I purchased it that K-Tek, Orca, and Sachtler are making better bags for higher prices but for my needs it was adequate (3 rodelinks, 7506's, Denecke PS1a, expendables, and of course an F8). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuartjp Posted March 18, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2016 Going to stick with my Portabrace MX-302 for now, which used to contain my Sound Devices 302. It's a tight fit but works. Hoping I can go a whole day on 8xAAs, otherwise the battery swapout will be a bit tedious. How are you powering your F8 greyfoxx? External power sounds like an expensive shopping list.. Cheers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greyfoxx Posted March 19, 2016 Report Share Posted March 19, 2016 I load the tray with Eneloops and run a DC AA battery pack(8 AA's). Its actually a very cheap battery box for portable breast pumps that I discovered a few years ago to power some Lectro 401 receivers. Its just a little black box about the size of the battery sled for the F8 and the only thing that suggests its a breastpump battery box is a sticker which is easily removable. Its wired exactly the way the F8 takes DC so no issue there. This makes it easy to just swap batteries while the F8 stays on since the battery sled is still powering the unit. I also use a Denecke PS1a for phantom for a Sanken CS3-e so that lowers the power draw even more. This setup would most likely last a typical production day since I am only running 4 channels (Boom+3 wireless) but if a battery change is needed its quick and easy. I can imagine people on this forum will read this and be uneasy about using my suggestion but I can say from experience that it worked for several years on the Lectros with absolutely no issue and several months on the F8 with no issue as well. It acts like a second battery sled and the F8 manages power sources automatically so when the box is drained it switches to the sled on the fly and the battery indicator shows the change. They run about $10-$15 on eBay. It certainly won't compete with a BDS/NP-1 setup but it does add runtime (close to double, phantom off) and its dirt cheap. And if you do go with a BDS later it would still serve as a third power source which is always welcome for redundancies sake. They come in 8 (12v) and 10 (15v) AA boxes. 8 AA's shows up as 10.2v give or take and 10 would show at or a little below 13v, both are within spec for the F8 which is 9v-16v Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berniebeaudry Posted March 19, 2016 Report Share Posted March 19, 2016 I found the 8 battery version of those for $3 at a liquidation place. Used them on my 211s for camera link powering. I still have three or four sitting around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daniel Posted March 21, 2016 Report Share Posted March 21, 2016 How is this recorder actually like to use in the field (other than bag and powering options)? Especially monitoring in general and PFL/Soloing while adjusting individual channel specifics like the HPF? Kind Regards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shastapete Posted March 21, 2016 Report Share Posted March 21, 2016 Front panel per track PFL buttons get you to the channel page, then the rest is covered by the turn-push interaction with the menu knob. It can get a little tedious as every option needs a click-turn-click to adjust Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daniel Posted March 21, 2016 Report Share Posted March 21, 2016 5 hours ago, Shastapete said: Front panel per track PFL buttons get you to the channel page, then the rest is covered by the turn-push interaction with the menu knob. It can get a little tedious as every option needs a click-turn-click to adjust Thanks Peter, I read something similar in the manual but the way I read it was you could PFL OR make adjustments on the channel page. Ie. no PFL while making adjustments. And I wasn't clear if this could be done while recording. I like to think I have good comprehension skills but perhaps I overestimated this :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shastapete Posted March 22, 2016 Report Share Posted March 22, 2016 daniel: I'll be using one on a corporate round table tomorrow, so I'll look into this. I'm pretty sure it PFLs and brings up the channel page, so you can't make channel adjustments without PFLing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daniel Posted March 25, 2016 Report Share Posted March 25, 2016 Hey Peter, How did the F8 and its PFL/channel adjustments work out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vincent R. Posted March 25, 2016 Report Share Posted March 25, 2016 Working with one at the moment; you can make adjustments both from pfl menu and input page during recording. Though, when you change something, like hpf, the sound dips for a fraction of a second. Don't know if that is just on the earphones or on the recordings as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shastapete Posted March 25, 2016 Report Share Posted March 25, 2016 9 hours ago, daniel said: Hey Peter, How did the F8 and its PFL/channel adjustments work out? PFL brings up the input page for that channel and PFLs that channel. You can only do one at a time. During playback it acts as a solo button and you can solo one or multiple tracks. There is a PFL/solo option buried in the menus, but I haven't touched it. so I don't know what it'll do But as Vincent said, you can also change channel settings from the menu while rolling, So PFL is a shortcut to that page but not the only way to get there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daniel Posted March 25, 2016 Report Share Posted March 25, 2016 Brilliant - it's not as hobbled as I feared by important functions buried in tricky menu structures. Thank you both for the replies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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