When sound recordists are working in the field or on set, sound levels can fluctuate often and quickly, which makes unscripted productions difficult for a small production team. The new Zoom F3 Field Recorder allows dealing with any type of production without having to set a fixed gain or worry about clipping. Which means that the recorded sound will always be usable in post, regardless of revealing extremely low or high levels. That is the advantage of an extremely compact 32-bit floating point ultra-compact recorder that can be used as the primary or a secondary/redundant audio destination, and can even be directly attached to the wrist or to a light boom pole.
Featuring dual A/D converters and low-noise preamps as found in other Zoom professional F-Series recorders, delivering a super-low noise floor of -127 dBu (EIN), the F3 guarantees high-quality recordings in any setting or situation. It’s sturdy metal casing and locking XLR connectors are designed for use in a variety of environments. The chassis is built with durable side bars, standard tripod mount and slide-resistant rubber feet ensuring that the F3 can be mounted it to any type of production equipment, or hidden in any scene.
One of the distinctive features compared with any other professional miniature recorders is the ability for the Zoom F3 to monitor recordings with seamless accuracy as the audio is displayed with precision as real-time waveforms in the high-brightness LCD display. When positioned close to the operator, the headphone output allows users to keep an ear on the recordings, plus a line output enables to feed the audio directly to the camera, a mixer or other systems. The stereo 3.5mm headphone/line output jack features a dedicated Volume control.
The Zoom F3 is also well-equipped for long location shoots or remote fieldwork, with a variety of power options and massive storage. With two alkaline AA batteries, users can take advantage of eight hours of battery life, or the recorder can be powered via the AD-17 AC adapter or a USB battery pack for longer recording sessions. The recordings are stored on a micro SD card (microSDHC and microSDXC) with up to 1TB capacity, allowing to record over 180 hours of audio at the highest possible sample rate/bit-depth.
Increasingly the recorder's flexibility, the F3 can be used connected to a computer or iOS device via USB, working as an audio interface to record or stream up to two channels in 24-bit float/96kHz resolution. A loopback function allows users to combine their computer’s audio with the F3 inputs to complete the sound for a streaming session. Zoom is already planning to introduce a firmware update in Spring 2022, allowing the USB audio interface to support 32-bit float at 96kHz.
The compact recorder can also be controlled remotely from a 32ft (10m) distance via the F3 Control App for iOS and Android, as well as synchronized via wireless Timecode to other equipment when using the optional BTA-1 Bluetooth Adapter ($39.99) and the UltraSync Blue device ($149.99) by Timecode Systems.
The Zoom F3 Field Recorder is scheduled for global availability in Spring 2022, priced at only $349.99.
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