Audio specialist Zoom has announced its latest new product: the Zoom Q8n-4K. Despite this new camera audio recorder being announced a while ago, it has only now been made available for purchase.
What is an audio-first video camera? For musicians, it could be important to visually capture a recording session, but recording top-notch audio is paramount for such users. Since audio is the king here, Zoom also recommends its product to filmmakers, podcasters and other users who rely heavily on audio capture.
Video wise, the Zoom Q8n-4K camera is not going to break any new boundaries, however it does offer 4K30p UHD video recording as well as 1080/720p at up to 60fps in MPEG-4 AVC/h.264 format. The lens is a fixed focal length affair, with the field view set at 150°. Capturing the image is a 1/2.3″ CMOS sensor with 16MP resolution.
For audio, the Q8n-4K handles professional audio signals via two full-size XLR inputs, providing phantom power with +12 V, +24 V, +48 V voltages on the camera itself. But it also has a special microphone module on the top that can be exchanged for a selection of different microphone modules with differing characteristics.
Audio is recorded up to 96 kHz/24-bit, 16-bit WAV. 48 kHz/24-bit, 16-bit and 44.1 kHz/24-bit. The Zoom Q8n-4K offers more advanced audio filters that you can find out about here.
The Zoom Q8n-4K weighs 367g including the battery and can record 1080p videos for up to 2.5 hours and 4K videos for around 80 mins. The camera accepts microSD / microSDHC / microSDXC cards with a capacity of up to 512 GB. The Zoom Q8n-4K is available now for preorder for $399.99.