New Tascam DR-60D Mk2 Recorder is Available

T

TheDingo

Veteran
I was at the Vistek Pro-Fusion Video Show today and talked to a Tascam rep about the new DR-60D Mk2. ( the Mk2 has red "handles" near the sides of the front of the unit )

The main things that have changed with the Mk2 are...

- The channel level pots are stepless so you can now smoothly ride the audio levels while you shoot, the same way you would with a field mixer.

- HDDA mic preamps (High Definition Discrete Architecture), which are supposed to be significantly quieter when it comes to noise-floor levels.

Tascam DR-60DmkII 4-Channel Portable Recorder for DSLR : $200 at B&H Photo

DR60Mk2.jpg
 
First I see the drop in price (and value) of my DR-60D, then I see the DR-70D, then this new one with BETTER PREAMPS and STEPLESS GAIN. Oh how quickly my recorder is becoming outdated.
 
iamlance said:
First I see the drop in price (and value) of my DR-60D, then I see the DR-70D, then this new one with BETTER PREAMPS and STEPLESS GAIN. Oh how quickly my recorder is becoming outdated.
Click to expand...

All gear gets obsolete eventually, although supposedly in the film world, sound gear holds its value - maybe that's true for pro gear, but prosumer stuff less so. Anyhow, the way to deal with gear obsolescence is to buy when it does what you want for the price point you want to pay. For example, I bought the DR-60D when it was $150, and it was good enough. Is there better out there? No doubt, but I'm not shelling out $1K for a MixPre-D, or even $700 for used, because the difference in performance from the 60D is not sufficient for my purposes - I want to record dialogue for shorts and narrative pieces, and the 60D is perfectly fine for that, plus with a MixPre-D, I'd have to buy a recorder on top of that - eff that noise (pun intended). Now, is the 60Dmkii better? Sure, but so what, since the 60D does everything I need? The only thing that I'm uneasy about is the physical reliability of the 60D, it gets poor reviews for being fragile and the xlr connectors getting stuck.

In any case, I might still be in the market for another one like this, because of two reasons. One, what if the 60D fails? Small chance, but could happen. But more importantly, I would like to have one for booming with a sound person, and another one for sticking next to the camera for a scratch sound track for a second on-cam mic, which can sometimes be useful. And for that second unit, I'd have to figure out which: the 60Dmkii or the 70D. But I'm not in a hurry, and I'll await pricing on the 70D, and reviews on both the 70D and the 60Dmkii. Speaking of the 70D, it might be overkill for my purposes, though I'm undecided - I can see it be useful if I had a bunch of lavs running, but that's a ways in the future, since I have no immediate plans (or $) to buy lavs.

Bottom line: if your 60D does what you need it to do, don't worry about all the new gear and keep using it. If it breaks down, or you need more, then you take a look at the options again - at which point there will be the 70Dmkii and 80D :)
 
Obsolete is really the wrong word. Does it still work?
Does it not do something you really need it to do?

Probably half my gear is no longer being made.

You don't need to have this years model, it's not an iPhone (actually mine is old so...).

Point is that it's a tool not a fashion accessory so if it is still doing it's job it's not obsolete.
 
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