Zoom F8 VS. Roland R-88

K

Ken1212

Well-known member
Looking for some feedback on which is best suited for short films, documentary and corporate video production.
 
What have you used before?
What is the workflow of the film?
What camera are you shooting with?
How many mics are you using?
How much post production are you wanting to do or expecting to do?
Are you shooting with or without time code?
What is your T/C system?
 
I used shure FP33 and a zoom H4n, I use shotguns and wireless lavalieres, up to three mics, mostly working with adobe cloud including Audition, Cameras two Panasonic DVX200, Nikon, Canon and Panasonic DSLR's, the less work in post the better, I haven't used time code but would like to incorporate it when it's helpful whether it's for film or multi camera live corporate shoots.
 
Don't know about the DVX200, but DSLRs don't have internal TC capability, so you would have to manually clap-slate it, and/ or record LTC to an audio track or sync it to an existing sound track, manually or with PluralEyes. I haven't used the R88, but didn't much like the R44. The R88 is larger and heavier than the F4 and F8 as well. If you don't need eight ISO tracks, the (4x2) F4 is a few hundred $ cheaper.
TC by itself doesn't guarantee drift-free operation no matter what you use, but its generally ok for short takes.
 
Thanks Rick, the Panasonic DVX200 does have Time Code in and out. Both of the Zoom f8 and Roland R88 have it to. I am mostly wanting to know which unit is more sold, have better preamps and more future proof.
 
I own the F8. I'm very happy with it. It's very solidly built and the preamps are on par with the SD 702.. The only minus IMO is there is a slight clicking noise when you ride the trim with phantom powered mics. I only hear it when I have tested the mic in very quiet environments and with pretty big trim adjustments. As Rick and others on this forum have noted, digital stepping (zipper noise) is a product of digital pots vs. analog pots and I doubt Zoom could have put out a $1000 recorder with TC AND analog pots. Also, there seems to be some hope the problem can be solved with a firmware update... In any case even with this issue I would recommend the F8.. Oh, and I haven't used the R88...
 
Ken, I was about to go for the Zoom F8 but found an incredible deal on the H6 so went for that for now. If you're really on a budget, consider the H6 which has 4 pot controls and can record 6 tracks with 6 pot controls total with an expansion module. I'm not sure what the F8 is going to really give you over the H6 (T/C I guess) which apparently uses the same op-amps and has the same level of quality so just throwing it out there, maybe you put the money you save towards better lavs, boom equipment, xlr cables, lights, etc..

cheers
 
starcentral said:
I'm not sure what the F8 is going to really give you over the H6 (T/C I guess) which apparently uses the same op-amps and has the same level of quality so just throwing it out there, maybe you put the money you save towards better lavs, boom equipment, xlr cables, lights, etc.. cheers
Click to expand...

Same op amps and quality? I'd be extremely surprised as Zoom give the F8 specs as EIN -127dBu (H6 = -120dBu); max mic input gain 75dB (H6 = 55.5dB); and the A/D dynamic range as 120dB (no figure for H6, but can't believe it would be as good as that). The F8 is a significant step up in many ways beyond TC, which is reflected in the price.

Cheers,

Roland
 
^ Thanks for clearing up the specs.. it would definitely seem then that the F8 is superior - but the H6 was definitely a setup up from previous H-series recorders. :)
 
Speaking of future proof the Roland R88 has just been discontinued. I haven't used time code before, wouldn't though way simplify workflow during editing? Specially for multiple camera shoots!
 
Ken1212 said:
Speaking of future proof the Roland R88 has just been discontinued. I haven't used time code before, wouldn't though way simplify workflow during editing? Specially for multiple camera shoots!
Click to expand...

Yes and no. IF you working with higher end cameras that can jam to TC (or send it) then it could be a plus if your NLE supports syncing audio by TC (I think most/all do) then yes.

But if you are working with cameras that don't out put and can't be jam synced then no.
Plus pluralEyes (or whatever it's called now) will sync based on the waveform and doesn't use TC as will a built in function in DaVinci Resolve (which is a full NLE now).

how useful TC is for multi camera shoots depends on where the cameras are. We did a concert type shoot and the far away cameras were many frames behind sound wise because of the distance so they all needed to be hand sunk anyway.

Nice to have (TC) but not quite the "better than sliced bread" that it sounds like.
 
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