AF100 vs Zoom sound quality differences?

B

blando3

Well-known member
A client has asked me to re-record voiceover from a previous shoot shot with my AF100. I'm hoping to use my Zoom recorder, but am not sure if that will change the quality of the sound. It needs to match as closely as possible.
We will not be in the same room. Any thoughts?
Thanks!
 
I'm hoping others will come in with better answers for you, but -- offhand, I'd say this is going to be tough. The recorder itself is probably not much of an issue, but you will really need to have the exact same mic, at the same distance, to have a hope of getting comparable/matching sound. Then, you really would be better off to be in the same room, as the space you're in has a huge amount to do with how the overall sound comes out. If you can't possibly get the same room... expect to do a lot of post work, and in that case you're going to need to start off with the cleanest, echo-free recordings you can get.
 
Thanks Barry.
Yeah, the same room is not possible. I'll be using the same mic in a room with (hopefully) no echo or hum.
I'll manage.
Appreciate the reply.
Andrew
 
To add to Barry's comment: all things being equal, nothing is really equal. It comes down to pre-amps, which can make or break your signal quality almost as much as the mic can. Once you get into high-end audio gear, a second system will always outperform a camera. For low-budget gear, it can be a toss-up. The one, major determining factor in both situations here is, of course, the skills of the user.

Not having direct, personal experience with an AF100, I can only assume here that Panasonic put as much into the audio of the AF100 as they have in their other cameras going back to the DVX100. The DVX sported remarkably good pre-amps for in-camera sound; better than most, in fact.

As for Zoom recorders, I have never appreciated them for recording anything but line-level from external mixers. The pre-amps in Zoom recorders have a history of being lousy. Word on the street is that the H6 is a vast improvement (again, I have no personal experience with that particular model), but I'm happy with my non-Zoom recorders. I'd venture to say that your camera would be as good as, or better, than a Zoom.

The Fostex FR2-LE might perform better than the camera, and certainly will with a good mixer (such as Sound Devices) in front of it. But once you add a mixer, the AF100 might again start to catch up.

I'd say start with in-camera and if you're happy with it, stick with it. If, however, you find issues, then seek solutions for those issues which may simply include the addition of a mixer or require an entire, second system for audio recording.

All that said, again it really depends on having the same mic in the same environment.
 
I've done dual recording (for instance, one wireless sent to 2 receivers, or one XLR split to cam+recorder) with the AF100 and the Zoom H4N, Tascam DR100, and Marantz 660. In none of those cases did the external recorder do a noticeably "better" job... anecdotal evidence, FWIW.

When I hire on my sound guy with SoundDevices gear, though... yeah, that kicks the AF's sweet patoot.
 
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