30Sep Field recorders a short round up.
When I pitted the Zoom h1 against the Tascam DR-05, I had planned to sell one of them off, but as of yet I haven’t taken the time to do it. Four hand held field recorders are probably two too many. I generally need a very small unit for quick and easy audio work, and a larger unit for Pod casting, voice over work and other random tasks that XLR inputs are better suited to preform.
I Also have a larg (not pictured) laying around for the few times when I’m just in charge of audio, but anymore I find it more convenient to simply clip my zoom h4n to the base of my boom pole and use a hand held remote, that way i’m not stuck carrying around a bag filled with a 4 channel mixer, field recorder, and all of those batteries.
Anyway, before I get to off track, above (from Largest to smallest) is the Tascam DR-40, Zoom h4n, Tascam DR-05, and the Zoom h1. The h1 is still the hands down winner for size and weight, but the Tascam DR-05 has a better build quality then the h1 but doesn’t offer much more in the way of advanced features and it’s size can be a down side for a lot of people.
I had originally considered the Tascam DR-40 to be a competitor to the Zoom h4n, but after messing around with it a little bit this morning, I’m starting to think that it was intended to compete more with something like the Zoom h2n. Although the H2n is missing XLR inputs, it has quit a few more features then the DR-40 and offers up the same usb audio interface available with the Zoom h4n.
I just saw the Zoom h4n used on amazon for $219, at that price it seems like the Tascam DR-40 should be priced somewhere around the $140 mark if Tascam wants to stay competitive.
September 30th, 2011 at 8:07 pm
Donate one to me for podcasting 🙂
September 30th, 2011 at 8:21 pm
I really enjoy your posts and value your opinions. However, as one grow person to another, please consider outsourcing the proofreading of your posts to someone with some sort of english degree. Pro tip – “to” is not thsame as “too”. I wish it was as minor as that, but I will direct your attention to the single-sentence second paragraph on this post. Superficial as these basic grammar errors may be, they degrade your truly wonderful website and sometimes make it hard to understand what you are trying to communicate.
September 30th, 2011 at 9:51 pm
As a “grow” person, your more then welcome to proofread my posts. My English skills aren’t nearly as good as my tech skills. 😉
January 16th, 2012 at 4:54 pm
“your more then welcome” should be “you are more than welcome”… oh dear!
October 1st, 2011 at 12:31 am
What is “thsame” in the English language?
October 1st, 2011 at 9:13 am
Nice.
October 1st, 2011 at 4:25 pm
I debated in my head if I should make that comment, but here you are trying to educate us noobs on things we don’t know. There just wasn’t a need for the comment. If this was an English writing class, maybe. Anyway, I am looking forward to hearing more about the DR 40 when you have time. Really hoping it can allow me to get decent sound without a mixer.
November 13th, 2011 at 8:20 pm
Your communication skills are so far above the norm in the tech world, it isn’t funny. Grammatical errors can be found in the best of sites. Keep on keepin’ on, brother…
As for Elliot….dude, get a frikken life!
September 30th, 2011 at 10:01 pm
hmm. i’m a beginner dslr film maker (primarily a photographer) and am in the market for a field recorder. i dont have any xlr mics, but might invest in one in the future. would a dr-40 or zoom h2n be worth the investment or should i buy a dr-05 now and upgrade when the time comes that i need more features? also, can you use the dr-05 as a usb mic for your computer?
October 1st, 2011 at 11:35 am
@ Nico
I thought the same thing. I bought a zoom h1 and love it. but wanted something a little sturdier and with the additional features of a more expensive recorder…while still only using a mic with a 1/8 input. I should have bought the zoom h4n from the start.
BUT the zoom h1 makes a great bodypack for a lav mic.
depends what you want to do and what you wanna use with it.
I don’t think the zoom h2n has xlr inputs. if you only wanna spend 200$ I liked the dr-40 BUT it has no 1/8 input. and you shouldn’t go 1/8 to xlr or 1/4 adapter.
there’s a reason the zoom h4n is so popular.
October 1st, 2011 at 4:23 pm
I am sorry to report the H2N doesn’t have xlr inputs, it would be a super hot seller if it did!
October 1st, 2011 at 10:32 pm
Yup, I meant to say H4n! And I agree, it would be a hot seller!
October 1st, 2011 at 10:31 pm
I ended up getting an H1. It was a deal that I couldn’t pass! I’ll play around with it and determine what I need from there!
October 1st, 2011 at 12:16 am
Depending what ones you sell I am in the market for a recorder for some run-and-gun, eng work. Feel free to send me a message, or recommendation.
October 1st, 2011 at 4:29 am
There are a couple major features that really draw my attention with the dr-40; Dual Recording with safety track & true balanced +4dB Line level input through 1/4″, which is a big deal for me, that way i could feed the recorder with a mixer (which i cannot do with zoom h4n, sound got distorted). But there are couple other things that are really gonna turn (especialy) the rode videomic users off, dr-40 didn’t have 1/8″ input.. and the other downside is this device can’t adjust the input levels of the mic/line inputs independently..
So for DSLR filmmaker, first thing if you want a decent sound, get a good affordable mic, buy an ext mixer or pre-amp, then pair it with your recorder.. because basically there is no such thing as mic-level recording, you’ve got to bring the signal up to line-level for good proper recording..(unless of course, you usin it for podcast, webvideo, etc, it’s just fine)
so for $199 i think it’s worth the value for your VDSLR sound kit.
October 4th, 2011 at 2:22 pm
I don’t own the Zoom H4n but I’ve used it and it is a very good field recorder. I was looking for a new one because I needed to replace my mini-disc recorder but I couldn’t spend that much money.
I bought the Tascam DR-07 MK2 and brought it back to the store. I recorded an interview with it and the noise level was too loud for my taste. I ended up exchanging it for the Olympus LS-5. I did a quick test with it today and the recording quality seems better. It costs the same as the DR-07 MK2 but I think it’s a better investment. And concerning the size it’s somewhere between the Tascam DR-05 and the ZoomH1 so that might be a good option for filming, too.
October 5th, 2011 at 5:05 pm
what about the mew zoom H2N – no XLR, but otherwise full of interesting capabilities.. anyone have any thoughts or insights regarding that unit?
October 5th, 2011 at 5:06 pm
*NEW zoom H2N
October 8th, 2011 at 11:03 pm
So, based on the types of shooting that your doing.. which of these recorders gets the most use?
October 19th, 2011 at 6:30 pm
Hey, just wondering what anybody’s opinions are about these recorders with different mics.
I am wondering if i should get the zoom h2n with the accesories, or the h4n with accesories. Is it worth it to upgrade?
I think that it probably would make sense to buy a rode video mic and a h1, but I’m open to new ideas.
Maybe I should just get the rode videomic, and record it through the camera, I really don’t know. I also want to make this on the cheap side, preferably only 150 for the rode, but up to 150-ish.
Are there any other mics like the rode that are in the 80-120 range that are good?
Thanks for all hte videos and comparisons, helping a lot!
October 25th, 2011 at 4:38 pm
Jeez, I don’t how much you’ve been messin’ with DR-40, and how did you deduce it is lacking in features against H4N, but please enlighten me – just name 2 or 3 features that H4N has and DR-40 doesn’t.
November 20th, 2011 at 9:14 pm
4 Track single channel recording (used for musicians), tack bouncing, 1/8 inch inputs, usb computer audio interface and the list goes on. Hope that helps.
December 25th, 2012 at 7:19 am
hi.
thanks for your reviews. i’m a photojournalist looking for field recorder and now stucked betweent zoom h1 or tascam dr-05.
i may not need the features of h4n or dr40, just stucked between the two choices above (h1 or dr-05)
which one would you recommend for me?
thank you for your suggestion
December 25th, 2012 at 3:52 pm
I prefer the h1 personally.