Zoom Q3 Video/Audio Recorder

Leave it to the guys over at Samson Electronics to come out with a new twist on digital audio recording technology.  I am a big fan of the other Zoom digital audio recorders such as the  Zoom H4n, as many other music educators are as well, but they now have released a new hybrid unit into the marketplace known as the Zoom Q3.  The twist is that this little unit not only records stereo audio, but it has a built in video camera to record video with at the same time.  At first glance I was kind of confused as it didn’t make much sense to me, but then I saw the potential applications of having both things available in one compact place.  Imagine throwing this thing on a tripod during a marching band rehearsal to not only record the audio but also the video at the same time.  A director could easily use the same thing in a classroom to record himself conducting while still getting high quality stereo audio at the same time.

I have not held a unit in my own hands yet to try it, so part of me wonders how this would be any better than a traditional video camera or one of the popular Flip video cameras, but the ads I have seen say that it uses the same microphones as the H4n so my guess would be that you are probably buying the unit for the audio more than the video.  It only records in 640×480 pixel resolution which is perfect for putting on YouTube but lousy for anything that you might want to save on to DVD or watch on a larger TV screen.

The form factor seems to be a bit of a step back from the stylish solid feel of the H4n, and the lack of many buttons on the unit makes me wonder how hard it will be to quickly adjust the settings on the unit.  Still, I will have to wait until I see it in person to make a real judgment call.  Also the 2GB SD card seems downright puny for recording video and stereo audio at the same time.  Still, all of the other portable digital audio recorders from Zoom have been really good, so I hope that this one follows suit.  If anyone has actually had a chance to try out the Zoom Q3 Digital Audio and Video Recorder please leave a comment and let us know what you think!