Zoom H6 or Tascam DR100 MKIII?

[BrendanLeahy]

Hi all,

I do a fair bit of corporate and documentary work, and my Zoom H4n from ages ago is finally on its way out.

I was looking at upgrading, but wanted to know if anyone has personal experience with the H6 and the Tascam DR 100 Mk3?

I've read that the H4n Pro and H5 introduce a fair bit of noise when you have to push the gain, unless some people were just having faulty gear?

I did consider a pre-amp for my Mg camera, but sometimes I just do off-camera interviews.

Any guidance would be great!

 

[Akin A]

I suggest spending a little more and getting a MixPre-3 for the analog limiters.

 

[Nick Morrison]

I suggest spending a little more and getting a MixPre-3 for the analog limiters.

Yup.

Or as they say, what he said.

 

[David Peterson]

H6??? Or heck *ANY* handheld recorder??

No, that shouldn't be chosen as your primary recorder.

Not when we're living with the luxury of choice in 2019 with the range of quality but very affordable options we have.

When the Zoom F4 is on sale for US$350 (or even at $450) that is just an astonishingly exceptional bargain!

And in my opinion at least, a no brainer buy over the MixPre3 (but then again, everyone's priorities differ. If you are obsessed with size, such as some OPC, then the MixPre3 is hard to overlook if you don't care about being restricted to only 3 channels).

 

[BrendanLeahy]

H6??? Or heck *ANY* handheld recorder??

No, that shouldn't be chosen as your primary recorder.

Not when we're living with the luxury of choice in 2019 with the range of quality but very affordable options we have.

When the Zoom F4 is on sale for US$350 (or even at $450) that is just an astonishingly exceptional bargain!

And in my opinion at least, a no brainer buy over the MixPre3 (but then again, everyone's priorities differ. If you are obsessed with size, such as some OPC, then the MixPre3 is hard to overlook if you don't care about being restricted to only 3 channels).

I understand the desire for quality, but also for a lot of shoots, I'm usually one person doing 14 different things on a very limited schedule.

Anything that's mid-range that I don't have to fiddle with while I'm simultaneously paying attention to the camera and asking interview questions would be fine. I don't think corporate + internal videos will care much if I jump from an H4n to something grandiose, just looking something small that I can take to record 1-2 channels of lavs.

I'll take a look at all of these options. Thanks everyone.

 

[Joe Taylor]

I use the Tascam DR100 MKIII and it's a damn fine recorder

 

[francois tour]

I have an H6n and a mix-pre 3 and its definitely worth saving for the mix-pre3. If you can save more, get the mix-pre 6, its a tiny bit bigger for that very useful extra input(as a solo operator, you shouldn't be doing audio on more then 3 people anyway!). With the sound devices mix-pre series, i almost never have to adjust my volumes once their set; thats how good the analog limiters are. With the h6n, you have to be a bit more careful if there's a big range of volumes.

I haven't used the Tascam, but the form factor is better then the h6nzoom and that's something to take in account; how will you rig your audio(especially that your a solo operator).

 

[David Peterson]

I understand the desire for quality, but also for a lot of shoots, I'm usually one person doing 14 different things on a very limited schedule.

Anything that's mid-range that I don't have to fiddle with while I'm simultaneously paying attention to the camera and asking interview questions would be fine. I don't think corporate + internal videos will care much if I jump from an H4n to something grandiose, just looking something small that I can take to record 1-2 channels of lavs.

I'll take a look at all of these options. Thanks everyone.

A Zoom F4 or MixPre3 is something you can mount under your camera, which means.... less fiddling around.

The Zoom F4 has the handy feature of letting you set an independent safety track, which again is very very useful for the one many band!

The Zoom F4/F8n (and the MixPre series) not just are much much better audio quality than the likes of an H4n, but they also deliver serious usability and features which makes you life better and easier that you don't get in any low end handheld recorders.