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I see that there are quite a few people here who post guitar/band video to various sites. This is something I have not been doing myself. I am curious as to what video gear people are using to do this. Are people capturing sound with their video gear?
I see there's a new Zoom video camera that should be stores soon. Wondering if it would be a good choice.
Zoom Q2n-4K Handy Video Recorder | Zoom
Wonder if that would be a good choice for recording a live performance or video at home.
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12-18-2018 12:41 PM
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I have one of the old q2n's and like it. I recorded a few choral concerts etc., and it's good for these field recorder type purposes. Also works well at home etc.
Chris, over at his "Things I Learned from Barry Harris" YouTube channel uses one of these in a pretty straightforward way. They are simple and easy to use. Especially helpful for those who don't want to deal with syncing audio/video.
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Smartphones these days do a pretty dang good job at capturing video.
Given you have a laptop and mics etc., as I do...
With a DAW (I use reaper), and an audio interface (I'm using a Berhinger UMC404HD), a smartphone, and video edidting software (I use the free VSDC software); you can go pro on the cheap.
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Originally Posted by fep
Thank you for the reply. I was not familiar with the free VSDC software package. (Motu Ultralight AVB) In practice I think we end up using more live as a (mixer / preamp). I have an older 1st generation, I5 laptop here. I find if I am not careful, I can run into problems with time critical applications.
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The OP in the below linked post is using a Zoom H2 to capture this performance of Somewhere over the Rainbow. The Audio is entirely captured by the zoom (no external mics used etc..) sounds pretty good to me... Originally Posted by DanielleOM
Over the Rainbow solo guitar arrangement
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I just listened to it using a pair of near field powered monitors and have to agree the sound is very good. Certainly good enough for my intended use. :-) Originally Posted by Papawooly
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The q2n 4k, is now in stock at B&H Photo. I went ahead and placed the order.
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I received the camera and I am really questioning the quality of the video.
Not having prior experience with video, I really was not sure what to expect.
I am getting unwanted digital artifacts (unwanted little lines) that are most noticeable where the subject colors are dark in color. This was apparent in some relatively well lit (from lamps) rooms.
A video taken with natural daylight from a north facing window, worked out much better. I found it time consuming to get that set up to take a video of myself, as the view finder is small and you can not see it when you are in front of the camera.
I really was hoping this would work for taking video of our performing duo. I am questioning if it will do the job. I hear that in general the public has higher expectations when it comes to the quality of web site video than they did several years ago.
At the moment I am thinking it's fine for documenting and reviewing ones own performance. I have my doubts regarding it being a useful tool for producing videos from live performance to share.
I am not sure what alternatives would give better artifact free video.
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I have found that Zoom products have great audio - but video is just not that Originally Posted by DanielleOM
great in my opinion - but at this price point its probably hard to beat the combination.
I’ve been tempered many times to buy the Q2n, Q8, or now the Q2n 4K- but always seem a bit disappointed with the video quality - and I especially dislike the fish eye affect during close up videos.
Instead - I purchased a nice Shure MV-51 microphone for my iPhone and the combination is excellent for close up ( 2 feet away) videos of recording my Archtop arrangements . The iPhone video is crisp and no fish eye.
However , I do like that Zoom has a micro SD and HDMI for file transfer to your laptop or desktop- and it’s a very compact all-in-one device , which suits mobile on the go applications.
Good luck - and keep us updated with your experience.
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the zoom has a super wide angle lens. It's designed to shoot a whole stage from closeup in the audience. Not the best choice for making guitar videos.
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I think you can opt out of the wide angle and have a normal one also, its a setting. But, having the previous ones from zoom (most of the videos on my youtube are with them), what you are paying for is the mics. Just turn it on anywhere on stage and you can record a gig with decent sound. Also at home with the line in there 's no need for daws and computers, you record on the fly. Very fast and efficient editing software also (the one that comes with the camera).
The video is nothing special when the lighting is good, and pretty poor when the lighting is bad. I would buy another camera just for that, but i 'm not aware of a compact one with good stereo mics and a line in.
Also i really dislike the new 4k one not having a rechargeable lithium battery (like the previous one) and working with aa batteries, its ridiculous.. But on the plus side it records on 1080/60 (plus 4k of course), versus 1080/30 of the previous one!
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I unfortunately came to the conclusion that to get what I wanted, which was the ability to record live performances, even very loud ones, I would have to spend around $800.00- $900.00 (US money). I could not justify the expense.
Part of the cost was for the video camera and the other for an external mic that would allow me to adjust the sensitivity or input when the music is too loud. This would help keep from having the sound distorted by too loud of an input.
There is a thread somewhere that addressed this pretty well, but it is a bit old (2 years or so?) If I find it , I will post it.
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Man, how things have changed. I searched around and the cost of camcorders and mic attachments have really come down since our old thread in 2016.
I am no expert, but just poking around on Amazon made it seem one can get a great camcorder that can zoom in from afar, and a great mic attachment for well under $500.00.
Technology is advancing and another option is one of those nice SLR cameras that have provision for mic attachments and that are capable of shooting longer videos.
If I remember correctly, the old Zoom recorders only had that wide lens setting. For this reason, I took them off my list as there might be times I would record a friend's concert from afar.
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briefly looking over the specs, i see it has "5 field of view settings". are those optical zoom settings? maybe play with those to set up your framing so you don't get so fisheyed. and it claims to have a 2.8f 15mm lens, which should allow for enough light, but they pointedly omit the iso and shutter speed settings, so it doesn't mean much on its own.
but if you look at their clips, you'll notice that all of them are insanely wide/fish-eyed, all are kind of dark and indistinct and none of them look that great. they look alright, for the most part, but certainly, nothing special, let alone cinema quality or whatever they want you to believe by slapping 4k on it. the well-lit club scenes are sort of washed out and bland, and even in the outdoor scene of the guy with the harmonica, his face is way, way too dark, and the angle is so wide the light pole behind him is all bent.
all of which is to say is that if you try super hard, under optimal conditions, "ok" is probably the ceiling for the video quality. 4k just means you're going to have huge file sizes that are going to take up too much space and too much time to edit. i'd consider returning it, but it is worth noting that as a one-stop solution, you could do a lot worse, and the sound is probably pretty good. but if you already have a decent camera lying around, maybe slap an on-camera mic on it and you'd be better served for about as much money. the sad fact of the matter is that this sort of thing is expensive and hard as hell to pull off. even for pros, let alone lay people.
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I don't think so. They may have an option to do a digital zoom but the physical lens on there is a wide angle so if you do a digital zoom you are resizing the original pixels and losing quality.
The Z8,Z4 and Q2n all have a 16.6mm lens (35mm equivalent) You can't "opt out" of physics! That's not to say that you can't put the camera closer to yourself when you're shooting the video but with wide angle lenses, it introduces perspective distortion when you shoot things close up.
Originally Posted by Alter
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Again, the lens on all their digital video cameras are 16.6mm FIXED lenses. Any zoom settings are digital.
Originally Posted by feet
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I think I will start looking for alternatives. For a 4K system that just started selling a few days ago, I was hoping for better results.
When my friend and I play as duo we don't bring guitar amps. We both have been plugging into a MOTU ultralight AVB interface and using it as a live mixer. It does not take much more effort to hook a computer, set up a couple ambient mics, and record with good sound quality.
I think we want better video quality in a camera even if it comes at the expense of poorer camera sound quality.
Danielle
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I would check out some YouTube videos of others doing what you want to do with the specific camera you're using.
It's not supposed to be the best camera ever. It's a stereo field recorder...with video... The emphasis is on the all-in-one, ease-of-use factor. If you want a single unit which you can possibly set up, record and upload, with minimal processing, it might be your thing.
If you want the best video AND audio, you're going to have to make OTHER compromises to get that, like multiple dedicated hardware components and more advanced editing requirements to simply arrive at BASIC etc.
You really have to decide where you fall on the "setup-headache vs audio/video quality" spectrum and go from there. See what others are getting out of these first.
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I have to admit I really feel rather out of my element here. The last good camera I bought was a Mamiya C3 in the early 80s. I dropped my photography hobby after having to move to a place where I could not set up dark room.
When it comes to cameras I don't even know whether I want to start looking at DSLRs, Mirrorless, point and shoot, or dedicated video.
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I think for that usage, it will be ok. You will have it relatively close and it will catch both performers. It's just for solo guitar videos where you might want to have the video focused on just the fretboard or just the picking hand that you get into situations where it is uncomfortably close. You may want to join my modern jazz guitar facebook group where sylvain courtney is a member who uses one of the zoom setups for his videos and ask him in that forum. Originally Posted by DanielleOM
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Now he tells me. Originally Posted by jzucker
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Dark rooms no longer necessary unless you just want to do it that way. Heck, even with just an iPhone you can get excellent results. Originally Posted by DanielleOM
Mark Kleinhaut records all his videos with an iPhone and a Zoom iQ5 plug-in mic.
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I really wanted something that would work for both the duo performance and close up videos. I will look for alternatives. The q2n 4K is now on it's way back to the retailer. Originally Posted by jzucker
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I really am trying to prevent myself from getting sucked back into the photography hobby. It did take a lot of time. There was a time when I would spend a day lugging my Mamiya C3, twin lens reflex, out in the woods with a tri pod every weekend. Spent an evening each week developing film. Another evening or two printing, and additional time reading photo magazines or books. It was very interesting but certainly took time away from guitar playing and practice. Originally Posted by Cunamara
I have a lower cost android phone. I might play with it a bit. I don't recall where I have used it and then looked at the result on a 24" monitor.
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Lol, I never even did my own developing/printing and still found photography to be an enormous time sink. Playing chess became even worse.
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