Why the Zoom F4 does not work as an ENG field mixer, feeding line level into a camera

grant-

i wanted to send the f4's track back to camera to replace the camera's scratch track and to make synch that much easier when i eventually replace it with the zoom f4's recorded track.

thanks for playing along as i attempt to wrap my head around an adequate work flow.

i appreciate your patience with me!

rob
smalltalk productions/nyc
 
robfilms said:
grant-

i wanted to send the f4's track back to camera to replace the camera's scratch track and to make synch that much easier when i eventually replace it with the zoom f4's recorded track.

thanks for playing along as i attempt to wrap my head around an adequate work flow.


Rob,

It isn't a bad idea at all....as long as your hardware will cooperate.

Not sure at all about this: Is there or could there be any latency in the F4 output?

G
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You can probably not worry too much about the "non standard" output levels. First that is not quite the case and second you are going DSLR so -10 is probably the line level it expects.

You are not going line level in to the recorder so not much of an issue, but the gist of his rambling is that the F4 doesn't have a hardware switch to change inputs from line in to Mic in. If you plug an XLR cable in you are going to the Mic IN. The input jacks also have a 1/4" phono jack built in so if you need to go line in then use that. Only becomes an issue if you get an XLR balanced line in you want to plug in. In that case you need to get a XLR to TRS adapter. As a great over simplification a lot of field line ins are XLR while a lot of studio line Ins are TRS. I come across both so often that I have full sets of adapters going both ways for my mixers and recorders. People act like its a big deal but personally I find that it's about 50/50 which connector I get handed so it really doesn't matter.

The tone is fine, BUT it is not affected by the output level. The result is that IF you are connecting to a pro camera with Balanced XLR inputs and you crank the out level to match the +4 the camera expects your tone is way low. As long as you done play with the out level the tone is fine. DSLR's almost never want a balanced XLR line input so should not be an issue for you.
 
I've dabbled in audio for quite a few years. I don't get the huge deal about sending a pro camera mic level versus line level. Most of the sound mixers I hire want to send line level but I've worked with a few who send mic level. And as you say, if you are using an F4 or Mix Pre or SD recorder, the send is just guide track anyway. Seems like much ado about almost nothing.
 
Mic level works ok if the devices' operating levels are matched (mic level out to mic level in). Of course unbalanced cable runs should be kept short. If it's just a sync track, a little noise doesn't matter all that much.
 
Rick R said:
Mic level works ok if the devices' operating levels are matched (mic level out to mic level in). Of course unbalanced cable runs should be kept short. If it's just a sync track, a little noise doesn't matter all that much.
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Agreed.
 
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