Description
The Q8 marries high-definition video with high-resolution audio, making it the perfect camera for music and video creators everywhere. Its 160 degree wide angle lens and digital zoom ensure that you’ll always capture the complete picture. Combine that with 24-bit/96k audio captured through a combination of Zoom’s ground-breaking system of interchangeable mic capsules as well as two built-in XLR-TRS inputs, and you have a world of audio options whether you use it with your hi-def video or as a standalone 4-channel audio recorder. Use it to educate and entertain, to create music, or to develop a podcast series, and do it with incredible pro quality. The Q8 comes with it’s own specially designed detachable X/Y microphone, yet it’s compatible with many Zoom microphone capsules. If you already use an H5 or H6, you can swap their capsules with the Q8 too.
From the manufacturer
In the box
- Detachable stereo X/Y microphone capsule
- Foam windscreen
- Rechargeable Li-ion battery
- USB cable (50 cm)
- Tripod to three-prong action camera mount adapter
- Lens cover
- Lens hood
- Strap
- Operation manual
The Zoom Q8 Handy Video Recorder
You’ve Never Seen—Or Heard—Anything Like It.
The Q8 is the world’s first high-def camera with interchangeable microphones—the complete solution for anyone who want to augment their video creations with great sound.
It comes with a detachable stereo X/Y microphone and is compatible with other Zoom mic capsules, including shotgun, mid-side, and other X/Y mics developed for the H5 and H6 Handy Recorders. The portable, lightweight Q8 shoots clear, crisp video in a variety of formats, all the way up to 3M HD, and can also be used as a standalone 4-channel audio recorder.
- Shoots 3M HD, HD, and SVGA video, up to 2034 x 1296 pixels, at frame rates up to 60 fps for fast action video and slow motion playback
- High-quality 160° wide angle lens with selectable viewing angles, 4x digital zoom, and image auto-sensing
- Uses a system of interchangeable mic capsules that can be swapped out as easily as the lens of a camera
- Comes with a high quality detachable stereo X/Y microphone
- Dual combo mic/line input connectors with individual gain controls and support for audio recording up to 24-bit/96k
- Fully rotatable full-color touchscreen LCD and USB port, plus HDMI and headphone/line outputs
- Tripod mountable and compatible with all three-prong action camera mounts
- Works best with SanDisk, Transcend, Panasonic, and Toshiba Class 10 SD cards
Run And Gun
The compact size of the Q8 and its compatibility with both tripod mounts and all three-prong action camera mounts means you can take it to remote locations—both indoors and outdoors—and shoot footage from perspectives other cameras simply cannot capture.
Express Yourself
The Q8 is the perfect camera for music and video creators everywhere. Use it to educate and entertain, to create your own reality show, or to build a video podcast channel with incredible audio quality.
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Bring Your Music To LifeTake your Q8 onstage and mount it to your guitar or mic stand. Position it front row center and use the supplied stereo X/Y microphone to capture the audience experience. Or use your Q8 at the mixing position and record the feed from the board, as well as the sound of the room. |
Go ViralGet creative and go viral! With its support for 3M HD video and 24/96 audio, the Q8 allows you to take your YouTube videos and podcasts to a whole new level of quality and realism. |
Make A StatementThe Q8 is great for electronic newsgathering, for conducting interviews, and for creating video blogs and podcasts. Capture video and audio to SD card for later editing with your favorite software, or stream it live; you can even use the Q8 as a web camera or USB microphone. |
Spread The WordThe Q8 is the perfect teaching tool, ideal for creating detailed video lessons and demonstrating fingerings, bowings, and other playing skills. Use it to capture student rehearsals so they can review and perfect both form and technique, documenting and enabling their musical growth. |
Andy –
EXCELLENT Audio, the rest SUCKSI really wish I could give this camera a better rating. I am classical musician, and the audio quality from a smartphone or consumer grade vlogging camera simply doesn’t cut the mustard for what I do. On recommendation of a colleague I bought this Zoom Q8.The audio is as close to professional grade as one can get for a small under $500 cam, and par to other Zoom audio recorders (I have an H4).The camera is small, compact and light weight. Who works with an E-keyboard or an external microphone set & mixer has a direct audio plug-in option for recording, with no humming, white noise, distortion, or unwanted “sound enhancement”. Each channel has an individual gain adjust. So fat I haven’t tested the built-on X/Y mics but the audio quality of recordings done by others who own the same camera is really superb. You get a real HIFI quality here; so far the BEST.But there are too many shortcomings outside that.Let’s start with the video quality. It’s Sub par, comparable to a first gen surveillance camera at best. The fish eye effect is extremely annoying. The cheapest vlogging camera, even my phone, do MANY times better. With the “Stage / low lighting” setting, and tweaking the (digital) zoom, I get something close to acceptable, and since video quality is NOT my priority, let’s keep it like that.The battery comes next. It drains in no time. Getting a spare battery and a charger (not included) is an absolute MUST, unless one wants to keep the camera “running on juice” with the charging cable. Speaking of that, the charging port is of the OLD micro USB style. This might be done on purpose so nobody plugs the juice into the ‘video out’ new style micro USB port, but be aware if you need to replace or get a longer power cable.The biggest problem however is the video format. It ONLY does .mov videos, and has no on-board converter to other, more standard / popular formats like mp4. So be prepared to invest in a video format converter, since .mov is not widely accepted… Instagram i.e. doesn’t take it.In conclusion, if we could put a man on the moon and fly a helicopter on Mars, why the industry isn’t capable to build a consumer grade camera that gets BOTH video and audio quality right without breaking the bank is out of my comprehension. Honestly.
Anthony F –
From Q2, to Q8!The Zoom Q8 handy video recorder was a big surprise. Its small yet powerful little device. I needed a replacement for my Q2 handy video recorder. Its light years better than the Q2. Although in terms of audio quality the Q2 still packs a punch in the audio recording. So I will compare the two because I am trying to convince myself that it was worth the new purchase.What makes the difference between the two recorders is the quality of the video. The Q2 video even in its HD 1080p format is not as good as the Q8. The Q8 shoots in 2.4k. That is a much higher quality than the Q2. The factor and its a big factor, is the versatility of the Q8. It has many audio recording options. There are many Zoom mic adaptations. I have the other Zoom products. I have the H5, and the H6n with all of the different mics. I use these for podcasting interviews for my PhotoTalk podcast. In online podcast sound quality is very important. No hissing, crackles, humming, you get the picture. In video… sound is the utmost.In 2016 I plan to change my PhotoTalk podcast to both audio segments and video episodes. The Q8 will help in reaching this goal.I also play music. Guitar and keyboards and sing. The Q8 does an excellent job in capturing good video and sound.The Pros: It uses a SD card not the micro SD card. Maximum SD card 128 gigs. I like that. It is very small. Packs easy. Instructions were simple and easy to understand. I was up and running within a very short time. It uses a touch screen system to navigate through the small menu. I was confused at first about where the 3M video format was located, but you have to drill down into the formats in the number 2 section, Its easy to miss. I really like the flip out LCD screen. Now that is the difference between the Q8 and Q2. The Q2 had no preview swing out screen. So you can miss your framing easily. I like the mixing board audio levels display on the screen. Its hard to see from a distance.Cons: I thought it was the lens hood. But mine came with a very snug fitting lens hood. Zoom must have heard all of the complaints of a very loosefit. There is not a way to easily grip the device when doing interviews. You almost have to leave it on a tripod.The fisheye lens look is not as bad as I thought. Sometimes I like the look but sometimes I don’t want that style. So I wish there was a way to turn it on or off. Is that asking too much? I know that there is a hack on changing out the lens out to a non fisheye lens, but I won’t do that.It only comes with one battery. That battery lasts about two hours of constant use. That is good enough for me. I wish it shipped with two batteries for that price in cases where you needed it on a long day. My 3M video looks good but it appears that the flesh tones and ambient contrast appears a little dreamy looking. Again that works for me, so if need to, I can fix in Final Cut Pro. I have a Q2 for sale now…Exellent condiiton.Ciao, and best of both worlds to you all.AF
Erik Fichtner –
GREAT for recording live concerts.This is a good camera for recording live concerts. It has a few minor issues that annoy me, but for the most part, it’s excellent.Issue 1: Battery life. Recording is NOT POWERED BY THE USB ADAPTER! I recently recorded a 10 hour, multiple band, live concert on this camera. at 720p/AAC 320 MOV, the camera crashed about every 2.5 hours. The camera was attached to mains power with a Zoom AD-17 AC Adapter to the onboard USB port, but still… battery only! Thankfully, I brought a pile of previously charged BT-03 batteries, so the problems were minimal. PLAN AHEAD. —UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE! I debugged this and it turns out that my problem was using too long of a USB cable from the power adapter to the camera.. When using a short USB cable and a electrical extension to the power adapter instead; I can power the camera fine for hours and hours.Issue 2: digital ‘zoom’ capability. Even at 1.5x maximum digital zoom, I was barely able to zoom in on the stage from the soundboard, about 200 feet away. So, the video quality of the bands playing… not so great. This camera really would benefit from being a LOT closer to the stage, since it has such a wide angle lens, but then you have issues with the sound field and where you’re going to convince the sound techs to let you plug in.Issue 3: Turn the -20dB PAD *on*. This comes set off by default, and you will experience ‘digi-fart’ distortion at an indicated -12dB signal level on the external XLR preamp inputs. With the pad set, the signal level indicators are correct.Issue 4: The level controls are digital encoder wheels, not potentiometers, so it’s sometimes difficult to get good signal balance on the XLR inputs. The controls are very sensitive, and each “tick” is about 3dB of gain.The good stuff: The included camera’s X/Y mic and foam wind shield were flawless. No wind noise on a somewhat breezy day. Also, I recorded ambient from the mic’s and L/R house mix from the board, without bothering to split it into separate audio channels, and the audio is excellent. Getting the mix right on the camera makes everything simple.
D S –
zoom feature is bad <<>>HDMI output is gone; camera is 4 months oldThe reason I bought this camera specifically is because of it’s XLR inputs. I’ve used condenser mics with great success, and also fed audio from digital and analog mixers. Sounds great. But some of the VIDEO aspects of this camera are seriously lacking.Ironically for a camcorder that is from a company named Zoom, the zoom function itself is pretty weak. It has 5 fixed positions, closeup to wide angle. It is suited for music performances where you want a camera close to the performers. Further than 15′ away and it will look like you’re miles away, even at most zoomed in perspective.But the biggest bummer is the HDMI output. It’s broken after only 4 months and probably less than 10 times using the HDMI output. I was careful to provide strain relief so there was no pressure on the port.I’d recommend a better camera that allows for fully adjustable zoom function, capable of much further zooming, with a mic in jack and at minimum an HDMI mini output jack, NOT THE MICRO. A mini HDMI looks just like the full size HDMI type A jack that we see in home theatre equipment. I use the Canon HF R800, and I’m impress so far. And to add the capability of high quality audio: Saramonic SR-PAX2. Camera mounts to the top of it, tripod to the bottom. 9v battery power provides an LCD screen to monitor levels, and for 48v phantom power for 2 condenser mics, and a couple different ways to get signal into it. 3.5mm output for a TRS cable from the SR-PAX2 to the camera’s mic input. Sounds great. Only downside is it’s 9v will need to be monitored, and you’ll chew up batteries regularly. Worth it for the sound it provides.Bottom Line: if you aren’t using the zoom Q8 for HDMI output, and you are ok with having the camera’s view limited to within 15 feet, and 1080 max resolution, it’s great for it’s ability to capture great audio and a decent image. If you’re using it for HDMI output, I can’t recommend it.
Cathy Young –
Video quality could be better, but excellent product for the priceI bought this for my mother (a classical pianist) to record recitals and master classes, so was looking specifically for a camera that has professional quality sound. The previous camera we had (also one selected especially for audio quality) had no zoom AT ALL and only a wide-angle lens, so this is obviously a huge improvement (and the sound is also better). Sure, the lack of optical zoom and the jerky quality of the digital zoom is a bit annoying, and the video quality overall (color, clarity pixelation, etc.) is not as good as what I get with my phone. BUT the sound is great. Some of the other complaints people have (e.g. no internal storage but card only, no charger, etc.) don’t bother me. Very satisfied with the purchase overall.
D. –
Wasn’t reliable; very little documentationI bought this camera with high hopes, since it was very strongly recommended for music events. Ultimately, however, I ended up sending it back because it just didn’t work reliably as a live-stream camera.Pros: the sound, ability to easily swap out mics, recording quality, “all-in-one”Cons: couldn’t get it to work reliably as a live-stream camera, limited zoom, limited documentationUltimately, the problem I had with it may be due to lack of documentation and my own inexperience. But the issue boiled down to this – I’d get everything working great in my office (using OBS), then go to the room next door to live stream and OBS wouldn’t recognize the camera anymore. I tried one more time today before I sent it back: first and second tests worked, after that the camera wasn’t generating video anymore to OBS.I should add that I used this exclusively with the USB cable provided. It was only in the last few days that I realized that the HDMI port might have given me a better, more reliable signal. Unfortunately, none were available locally, and I was up against the end of the return window. I contacted Amazon to see if the window could be extended so I might not have to return the camera, but I was given a very convoluted answer that ultimately I had to take as “no” (but that’s another story…).Someone else pointed out in a review that when recording, the camera creates new files once a certain file size (?) has been reached and there is no easy way to join them. While that didn’t really bother me (though it certainly added work), others should be aware of it.
IF –
Fixed wide-angle, only 3MP, no optical zoomThe fish-eye is really irritating. The non-removable wide-angle lens imparts a noticeable curve to all images it records. This effect can be lessened with the digital zoom, but the already questionable video quality is noticeably worse with the digital zoom on the lowest setting.I got this for music production / solo streaming performance (I kept it despite the lens because it can be used as a webcam). The wide angle is a weakness here as well, because in small spaces or in situations where you want to be close, it’s difficult to position in a way that your subject (such as a tabletop full of hardware) takes up the whole screen without the camera needing to be so close that it physically interferes with performance.I am keeping it because it satisfies a specific need, but it would be so much better if it were just bc a little different.My advice is that if you plan to use it to capture something like a wide venue stage or need it to be a streaming cam, you’ll probably be fine. However, if you’re trying to get crisp video for a polished, well produced-looking youtube channel, or are just really annoyed by wide-angle lenses, you’d probably be happier with a Roland Go mixer plugged into your smartphone and a tripod-mountable phone clamp.
Dan Warrior –
So Perfect! I’m a Drummer in a band- Not for Zooming into the Moon and stars- I Knew it was slight Fisheye- I do Youtube videosI’m a drummer in a band, I’m a Radio DJ,and I’m a Music Producer. What I like is the lack of buttons… There’s almost no way you can mess up with this camera! You get your moneys worth.. I sat this up at my gig on St. Patrick’s Day at my Local Casino and recorded our whole show! it’s unbelievable how these mics picked up each and every instrument!!! Now, we record every session at my studio and listen IMMEDIATELY after… just by pulling out the “Extreme PRO 64GB SanDisk” and putting it directly into my Mac Mini. I know that it’s a slight fish eye lens… I researched it before I bought it. Some people were acting upset in their review, also, I knew it had a 5X DIGITAL Zoom… I researched it. This is a Hi Res Close up camera with a magnificent microphone for professional recording. ALSO, It has XLR’s!!!!!!!!!!! 2! One for my Microphone and one for my guitar!! It’s an upclose and personal camera… not meant for going out in nature and trying to zoom in and see the craters on the Moon!!! This is for a Media person that wants to do quick editing and video and sound production! I just had my first son and I record EVERYTHING HE DOES! in HD. So, I got great information here on this site that let me know exactly what kind of camera I was walking into. So, I’m grateful for these reviews. You can plug your camera directly in the wall to charge, didn’t need a different batter, or charger… didn’t know that. Plus when recording long performances it will stop and start breaking the files into smaller pieces.. so it’s better to bring a friend and have them push 1 button on top of the camera on and off between each song. It’s also, easier for editing anyway. I think that’s it.
Cecilia –
When it worked, it was great.I bought this field camera microphone knowing exactly what it was, and that I would get pretty great audio and adequate video. That I could use a driver to use it as a webcam/microphone. And it worked exactly as expected, for EXACTLY 1 YEAR.This month is the 1 year anniversary of receiving the Q8, and I was going to use it for my finals, but on the day I started recording, the Q8 just died. I emailed support who said, “no email these other people, we can’t be bothered” (instead of politely forwarding to someone who might take care of the issue), but the support people at the second email don’t seem interested in doing anything either. They did seem interested in troubleshooting Zoom (the meeting software) although it has nothing at all to do with Zoom or software. Windows has stopped recognizing the device at all, which means it’s either hardware or drivers.It’s sad because I have an original Q3 that is as old as the hills, but still works. It doesn’t work for the purpose I was using the Q8 though, which is why I got the Q8. But I foolishly thought it would last for a bit.I gave it a 2 star rating for the really great 1 year I got out of the device. It’s really too expensive if all you can expect is a year from it. and Zero support.
Joseph Lundeen –
Works as expected160 wide angle is awesome, captures the whole room, the ability to plug into the camera from the soundboard is cool too. I’ve used this already to record live music, you could spend a LOT more to get the functionality that this comes with already. The video quality is the only thing I don’t like, the camera is supposed to be better than HD and I find myself looking at blurry faces in my video due to the wide angle lens, but I think that’s probably something you’re always going to have in a wide angle lens because there’s no specific focal point>? I’m a beginner with video but I like that I didn’t have to get a $2500+ camera in order to be able to mix on the board and send a sound signal to the camera via XLRUpdate: A year later – The SD card no longer sticks in, it just springs back up, so I can no longer record onto an SD card. I also have problems connecting the HDMI cable to use a video monitor. I’m pretty sure I’ve done over a hundred videos with this thing but even so I take pretty good care of my stuff and I thought it would last longer than one year. Still a good product in my book but it’s quite delicate