Zoom Q6-VR (360 camera and ambisonic audio recorder)

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joeyluck
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17 Jan 2020

I'm excited about this!

I had been considering the H3-VR and then also thinking about what camera to get separately...and was wishing for something like this—all-in-one.

Not much on it yet though—no official page or much of anything aside from this video.

Hopefully the 360 camera quality is excellent. That, of course, will be very important. But in any case, if it's the same audio quality as the H3-VR, it will for sure be the best sounding 360 audio that is built into a 360 camera (unless there's something out there I don't know about). And of course, there are really great quality recordings you can capture with a Sennheiser Ambeo VR mic into a Zoom F8n/F6/F4 or a Sound Devices recorder. But this is mics, audio recorder, and video all in one. Fingers crossed!


Yonatan
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18 Jan 2020

Cameras have been the weak point hitherto by Zoom. But if they would nail a very good combo, that would be very useful. If this can be used for livestreaming a musical concert or other, it could get one closer to the feeling of being there at the venue, if placed properly. Could end up in better youtube concerts from festivals, or worse if getting all distractions mixed in. :) But as said it could be useful at places with a lecture and questions from audience etc. Or probably most interesting, to record scenes in a park or in nature. Also cool to place it in the middle of a band or orchestra on stage, or a choir staying in a circle. Have to look for reviews after a while.

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joeyluck
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18 Jan 2020

I agree. No doubt the audio will be great, but I really need to see how good the camera is. I had been considering the GoPro MAX paired with a separate 360 audio recorder (like the H3-VR). It would be awesome to skip the step of needing to process and join separate 360 audio and video, and using separate equipment. I'm certainly more interested in using it for capturing nature and other interesting things.

I really enjoy using my GoPro HERO7 Black (attached to my head), and the Sound Professionals MS-TFB-2 binaural mics plugged into a Zoom F1 on my belt. That's a different experience than 360, where it's more people hearing and seeing things as I do. So I think this 360 solution could compliment that in my toolbox.

Yonatan
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19 Jan 2020

Looks like the Q6-VR have almost same mics, so if price is at almost same level, I guess the camera on it would not hurt as an extra. But I must say that we do need a company that is as inovative and good at video as zoom has become at audio. Video equipment can be a big gap if wanting same flexibility.

I have not experimented with 360 audio yet.
Must go into the possibilities and see where it would be handy. I have the cheaper Roland binaural mics wearing as headphones. Zoom H6 has an input that works as it needs extra power.

They are great at the atmospheric sound, concerts etc, and that they look so much like any inear headphones as none will notice.
The weak points is that their noise floor requires for more lively soundpheres, not the extra quiet subtle environments. And their design make it a bit more unstable to wqlk with than those with a more stable design that allows to fit around the ear. Also it has no external battery, so can not work in every input jack.

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joeyluck
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20 Jan 2020

I had looked at the Roland mics. One cool feature of them is being able to listen back to recordings without changing to separate headphones. But the fit of the Sound Professionals is certainly very comfortable and the mics do sit further inside the outer ear, which I figure is beneficial for binaural recordings, although the minor difference in placement might be indiscernible to most listeners. The noise is very low.

I wonder why Zoom seemed to be so exclusive at NAMM this year. They have a couple products, the Q6-VR and the G11 (multi-effect pedal), but very little coverage. Just the one video for the Q6-VR, which seems like big news to me. And nothing yet on their site. Maybe they'll release info and officially announce today or this week now that NAMM is over. My guess is that maybe they wanted to give the benefit to NAMM attendees and encourage visits to their booth by not officially announcing and releasing info :shrugs: Or things are still in early stages...

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joeyluck
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21 Jan 2020

Here's another few looks at the Q6-VR. Still not much more to be seen.

Towards the end of this video, you can see a quick showcase of the camera quality...as seen on a tablet recorded by another camera :puf_bigsmile: But looks promising.



And another very quick look at the device itself:


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pushedbutton
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21 Jan 2020

I've got a couple of zoom devices and can't fault them for sound quality as everyone has said.
The 360 camera I'd take or leave, I'd need a lot of convincing that is was going to be something I'd get a lot of use out of and I own a VR setup, there are a lot of lackluster 360 cams out there and I'd need to know this is better than most.
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Using Reason since version 3 and still never finished a song.

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joeyluck
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21 Jan 2020

pushedbutton wrote:
21 Jan 2020
I've got a couple of zoom devices and can't fault them for sound quality as everyone has said.
The 360 camera I'd take or leave, I'd need a lot of convincing that is was going to be something I'd get a lot of use out of and I own a VR setup, there are a lot of lackluster 360 cams out there and I'd need to know this is better than most.
I guess it all depends on how the video will be viewed.

The GoPro Max, for example, records in 5.6k so that what is in frame looks good. I'm not sure, but I don't think that even 5.6k of spherical/360 video translates to 4k quality for what is in frame at any given time in a 360 video (just based off of the math). Please correct me if I'm wrong.

My assumption is that on a VR setup, or one using a mobile device slipped into a headset, the resolution would work great. And great for people viewing on the computer, watching 360 videos on YouTube, with headphones on, and navigating with their mouse. So if the Zoom is on par with other consumer-grade 360 cameras, it should be pretty good and make for a fun experience. But for larger TV viewing, I think the only real solution currently is a rig of cameras.

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