Review: Zoom Q2HD Handy Video Recorder

Zoom makes great hand-held audio recorders, in a range of styles. For example, the H4n’s input combination, quality and price has made it a go-to field recorder for the DSLR revolution. There’s plenty of competition in this market, but it’s hard to pip the Zoom for features at its price point — it’s packed.

The Q2HD is badged as a ‘handy’ video recorder, and, there’s no doubting its handiness, but don’t expect miracles out of its small lens — we’re talking about an image quality similar to your smartphone. The bit rate of the compressed H.264 file going into the camera is about 15Mbps, which means static video is represented well, but it’s not going to cope so well with lots of detail and motion in the frame. There are a couple of video setting options for low light, but again, this isn’t a low light, high ISO beast.

The video features are plentiful. Probably one of the most enticing for musicians would be the incorporation of live streaming video via services like Ustream, direct from the Q2HD. You just have to plug it into the computer via USB, and you’ve got a great stereo capture and video fans can view, or artists you might be collaborating with. A lot of options there.

MS DELIGHTS

Video aside, like all the other recorders in Zoom’s range, it is a genuinely ‘handy’ audio recorder. Zoom has gone through a range of stereo miking methods on its recorders: coincident setups in varying degrees, four input surround, and Mid-Side. The Q2HD uses a Mid-Side configuration hidden inside a disco ball grille propped on top of the recorder. As far as I’m aware, it’s the only mid-side AV recorder around.

It’s a nice configuration, that allows you to set the gain of the sides to capture a 30- to 150-degree stereo perspective, or purely mono. The sound is crisp, detailed, and incredibly wide at its furthest point. Obviously the gain of the side microphones goes up the wider you get, but it’s not very noisy. You can also set a low cut filter, and there are three auto gain settings for Concert, Solo, or Meeting.

You can record PCM wavs in 16- and 24-bit, at 44.1, 48 and 96k, as well as AAC compressed files at 64 to 320kbps. You can also turn the camera off to save battery and space if you only want to use the Q2HD as an audio recorder. While recording HD video, you’ll get a couple of hours of battery life (two AAs, alkaline or rechargeable Ni-MH).

The menu is really easy to navigate, though hampered a little by the touchpad. My fingers were a little big and often would move the cursor when I was aiming to select an item. One thing that always irked me about the H4n was the on/off slider. While neatly tucked away so you don’t accidentally waste your batteries in transit, it had the tendency to come off. The Q2HD has a nice push button instead. You have to hold it down for a second to turn the unit on or off, but it’s unlikely to detach. The mic gain is set by a roller on the side. The only problem I see with the buttons — and a common trait with most portable recorders — is that you can hear them click in the recording, and handling noise isn’t the best.

HANDY CAM

Although the lens is an improvement on the Q3HD, the Q2HD’s video quality is not best afield — it’s built more for portability than high quality broadcast. It’s like a smartphone, but with much better audio. I’d look at it as a great audio recorder that doubles as a convenient way to capture a moment and share it easily. Very handy indeed. 

The street price is $269 and around $40 more with the accessories pack, which includes hardshell carry case, HDMI lead, USB lead with attached power supply, and a pop filter. There’s a two-year Australian warranty.