Customer Ratings & Reviews

Zoom came through with a solid, and highly portable package. The included xy mic has a great pickup area and the audio is clean and ready to use without much effort. The addition 2 channels for XLR gear is a great bonus. It does not have the ability to change out lenses and the digital-only zoom can be limiting; but at this price point, there are expected limits. A perfect camera for small trips where you don't want to take the full kit and still need a quality product.

This has so many pluses, I don't know where to begin. First off, it has the ability to shoot in multiple formats. In video quality, this ranges from an ultra-hi-def 3M HD30 @ 24Mbps to a low-def WVGA/3 @ 5Mbps. I record video at a medium HD 1080/30 @ 16Mbps, which is the best compromise between high def quality and trying to keep the file size small. Secondly, the audio can be recorded using WAV 96kHz/24-bit resolution all the way down to an .mp3 (AAC) 64Bps resolution, with 9 settings in between. I use a CD-quality WAV 48kHz/16-bit resolution. When recording audio, the Zoom is very flexible. Unlike other camcorders in this price range, the mics on this are interchangeable, and Zoom offers several different mics which can be used with this camera--including a shotgun mic which can be indispensable if one is wishing to record sporting events from the sidelines. In addition, the unit features two combo [XLR and 1/4"] inputs for hooking up external microphones or doing a direct input with an instrument. It also contains a built in four channel mixer for mixing the sound levels of the four mics or one can disable the attached mics to only use outboard mics. GoPro certainly won't give you this much flexibility or the sound quality this offers. Finally, it is very easy to use. Within 45 minutes of opening the box, I had recorded two short music videos. It accepts SDHC cards up to 128GB in capacity. Although no documentation is available to show how much recording time one can expect, Zoom anticipated this and explained that in the display, the camera will tell the user how much recording time is available based on the video and audio quality selected. I use a 64 GB card in mine and based on the settings, can expect to get about 7-1/2 hours of recording time on one card. The only drawback I can see to this unit is that it does not offer a remote control. I contacted Zoom about this and was informed that their engineers were already looking into it.

We were looking for a camera that could record good quality sound for music videos. The Q8 truly fills this "need". Being able to hook up microphones directly into the back of the video camera makes getting great sound very easy. This is a wonderful product!

I am a trumpet player and needed a camera for audition recordings and this one works great! There are so many options to adjust the mic for what ever you're using it for and the visuals also work great. Would highly recommend.

It does what I need it to and more, glad I got it.

This product records great sound for the price especially when paired with the free HandyShare software. I'm glad it has its own battery instead of requiring double AA batteries like in old models. Unfortunately, the video only looks acceptable when you have very bright lighting. Even medium lighting (say what lighting you would like at home in the evening) looks bad. It can record to a resolution up to 2,304x1,296 but the video can still looks pixelated due to the lighting. Also, the touchscreen is terrible! Don't even think of using your fingers with this thing - get some sort of pointer otherwise you'll never hit the correct icon on the screen. You should consider buying this thing if good sound for a cheap price is your only consideration. However, if sound is that important to you then it's probably better for you to invest in a good sound setup that you could hook up to a separate but decent video recorder.

Very easy to use. Recommend for anyone who just wants a simple camcorder

I found this camera to be very user friendly and seems to fit my needs.

Does exactly what you would expect. Good video, great audio.

Haven’t explored all the features yet but very happy with functionality.

It absolutely records best sound, but picture is very bad so I had to return the camcorder.

Look, I am very disappointed with this product to the point where I am even upset with those that reviewed it. I needed a camera to stream videos of music and other sound media. The video is mediocre at best. My initial review is much worse (that is as positive review I am able to give the video). The audio was not good at all even when I plugged in right and left from my sound board. Very disappointed...

I am impressed by its audio record quality, it is way better than my Panasonic recorder. I am loving it!