Tascam DR-40 In Santa's Bag

Having received Santa's approval, I walked into B&H the other day (by the way, it was packed...as in really crowded. The line for the cash payment option at the cashiers almost extended to its front door!) to explore my options for an upgrade in my field recorder.

I currently use the Marantz PMD620 which I've had for a couple of years. It has served me well, but has begun to show its age (or rather its use). The only issue I've had with it is its small screen, and when I need to change settings whilst in the field, I find difficult especially if my hands are slippery with sweat (as in Kolkata, for example).

Oh, all right...I admit it. The PMD620 is really perfectly fine but I wanted a Xmas gift. End of story.

So after deliberations, I sprang for the Tascam DR-40 Field Recorder, which features built-in condenser microphones that are adjustable depending what the sound source is. Ambient would require the microphones to be wide apart, while an interview from one source would benefit from the mics to be adjusted closer together.

The B&H sales guy suggested I also bought the power supply (it only comes with a mini USB cable and a 2gb SD card) but since I'll be using it outdoors, I wasn't interested. It's much cheaper than the Marantz PMD620, but is also larger. As I can't open the box until Xmas, I can't compare them side by side. I held the Tascam at B&H, and it's a handful...which is what I wanted. The Marantz felt a little flimsy. I suspect the sound quality won't differ much, despite the directional microphones...but I'll soon find out. I will still use the Marantz when I need to be discreet whilst recording...pretending that it's a iPod or something.

Incidentally, Tascam is a division of TEAC Corporation which, as most audiophiles know, is a huge name in the audio world. I recall having a TEAC high-end cassette recorder, along with a heavy-duty TEAC amplifier some years ago.

Amy Winehouse: Unique Talent

Here's Amy Winehouse in an acoustic version of Love Is A Losing Game. She sang this sad song with only a solo guitarist, and it demonstrates her impressive range of vocals. She had a incredible future, but it was not to be.  

One of my favorites is her "Me And Mr Jones"....another great song.

(Via One Voice-One Guitar)

New: Zoom H2n Handy Recorder

Since I'm about to start teaching my class Multimedia For Photographers at the incomparable Foundry Photojournalism Workshop, I am glad to have caught the news that Samson (Zoom) has announced the H2n, a portable audio recorder that incorporates five built-in mics, and one 3.5mm external mic input, for a variety of sound capture scenarios, and for the anticipated street of $199.

It will come with a bunch of accessories including an audio editing software, and an optional accessory pack with lots of goodies.

It may well be time to retire my Marantz PMD620 after all! But it will have to do until the H2n is released in September....which may allow me to get it before I travel to Kolkata on my Cult of Durga photo expedition.

New Nikon ME-1 Stereo Microphone

I guess it was just a question of time before the camera manufacturers would come up with microphones that can be used with their digital DSLRs.

Nikon's foray in this field is the Stereo Microphone ME-1, an compact stereo condenser microphone that features a hot shoe mount, a 3.5mm stereo output connector, and a removable windscreen, as well as a "noise dampening components designed to minimize noise resulting from AF operation," according to Nikon's press release.

The ME-1 is meant for use with Nikon digital cameras that incorporate a stereo audio input jack, including the D3S, D300S, D7000, D5100 and P7000. The new microphone does not require a battery; instead, it draws power from the connected camera.

The issue with any camera mounted microphones is that every whirr, click or hum that the camera makes in its normal operation is picked up.

Via Rob Galbraith DPI which reports that its estimated selling price of US$179.95 in the U.S.

New Tascam DR-05 Digital Audio Recorder

Good news for budget-minded multimedia photographers! Tascam has released the DR-05 portable audio recorder for $99.99, and is aiming straight at the comparable Zoom H1. It records WAV or MP3 files at rates up to 24-bit/96kHz to microSD or microSDHC cards, and has integrated microphones and speaker. It's powered by two AA batteries or an optional AC adapter. It sports a threaded 1/4 x 20 mount for convenient tripod mounting.

The Tascam DR-05 can be seen on and ordered from B&H Photo-Video (which offers free shipping on this product).

More details of this new entrant in the budget handheld audio recorders can be found on its manufacturer's website.

While I'm still happy with my Marantz PMD620, I am on the lookout for a replacement that's smaller, lighter and that would take less space.

I should also note that there were some reports that the Zoom H1 had battery longevity issues.

A Look At The Zoom H1

I've blogged a couple of times about the H1, the new handheld audio recorder from Samson Audio, and what seemed to be a handy portable stereo recorder at an unheard-of $99 price.

I haven't bought the H1 (as I already have a Marantz PMD 620 which I'm happy with), but a number of my readers have expressed their interest in seeing a review...so the above movie by Shawn Harrel will do just that.

As I expected, the H1 seems to feel a little flimsy, it has a few quirks, but does the job quite well. The price can't be beaten, so I predict I'll see it used by emerging photojournalists on a budget testing multimedia waters.

Speaking of multimedia: I have my new Canon 7D next to me as I'm writing this, but I have yet to really test it. I've ignored the manual as always, fiddled with it and so far it's quite intuitive, especially to a long time Canon user like I am. I'll be putting up some photographs as soon as I can...but one thing for sure: the 8fps is great!

In the meantime, I've added this cheap rig to my 5D Mark II. It's my Marantz audio-recorder attached to a standard mounting plate from Home Depot, which in turn is attached to the camera's tripod socket. From my Mamiya medium-format years, I had an old Hama grip that I also attached to the tripod socket, and it gives me much better control over the camera when I'm filming video.

All I need now is the LCDV.

How Many Arms Do I Need? And WTF?

I just read in WIRED's Gadget Lab that Zoom will launch a new Flip-like recorder that records beautiful audio for about $300. Stores expect it soon.

Zoom is the Japanese company that manufactures the various audio recorders that are popular with many multimedia producers, and which recently announced the affordable H1 Handy Recorder that I posted about here.

The plethora of useful (and others not so useful) products and gear aimed at multimedia producers, photographers, and videographers is incredible...but how do we carry and operate all this stuff?

And in the WTF? Department, here comes the Leica M9 Neiman Marcus Edition limited to a only 50 units. Engadget reports that it's "wrapped in a brown ostrich leather trim this time around, and it comes paired with a chrome-finished Summicron-M 35mm f2.0 ASPH lens", and costs $17,500.

A bargain. A trifle. A bagatelle.

I used to say (tongue-in-cheek like) that only orthodontists could afford the high end Leicas...but for this one, only hedge funds honchos need apply.

New Handheld Recorder Zoom H1 In Stores

I've previously posted about the ultra-portable and cheap Zoom H1 from Samson Tech, which is a handy portable stereo recorder at an unheard-of $99 price.

The manufacturer claims that it will give you 10 hours of battery life on a single AA cell, and can accommodate up to 32GB of removable microSDHC storage. Its microphones are configured in an X/Y pattern for optimum stereo imaging.

I predict it'll be a hit for entry-level multimedia photographers, especially that it can be mounted on the camera shoe of a DSLR.

It's currently available at B&H which has also blogged about it. The post also answers the issue as to how to connect it to the camera shoe. The answer? Through a $35 male shoe adapter which is available from a different manufacturer.

I might just be tempted.

New Handheld Recorder Zoom H1

Photo Courtesy Samson Audio
Ay...I hate innovation. Well, not really of course, but a new (and occasionally improved) gadget always turns up a few months after a purchase, and this is annoying. Why can't the stuff I buy stay fresh and on the cutting edge of things all the time?

I'm kidding...sort of. But here's the H1, a new handheld audio recorder from Samson Audio, which may not have the top of the range recording schemes, but is a handy portable stereo recorder at an unheard-of $99 price.

It's supposed to give you 10 hours of battery life on a single AA cell, and can accommodate up to 32GB of removable microSDHC storage. Its microphones are configured in an X/Y pattern for optimum stereo imaging.

At this price (and assuming its performance is as good as Samson claims), it'll be a hit for entry-level multimedia photographers, and perhaps many others. It's available on July 30th, so keep your eye on it if you're in the market for a low cost handheld recorder.

I've read Samson's blurb, but didn't find the accessory on the H1's list that allows it to be set on top of a DSLR's hot shoe as shown in the above photograph. The H1 has a tripod mount on its back, so this doodad connects it to the hot shoe.

NPR: Sebastian Junger On 'War'

The arm-chair warriors amongst us will like this post on NPR:

"Five times between June 2007 and June 2008 the writer Sebastian Junger traveled to a remote Army outpost in the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan. Junger, a contributing editor for Vanity Fair, made the trip to embed with a company of soldiers from the Army's 173rd Airborne brigade as they fought to keep the Taliban from controlling a small, treacherous plot of land."

I have yet to read all of the article and listen to the excerpts, but I can easily predict that a book such as this one, and its supporting hoopla, glorifies war.

On my flight back to NYC, I tried to watch "The Hurt Locker"...5 minutes into the movie, I turned it off. Is it eyeball fatigue from all the war coverage since 2001 or is it moral disgust...or is it both?

Marantz-PMD 620

I just published an article on Photocrati providing my impressions of the Marantz-PMD 620, a small hand-held audio recorder, which I needed badly to replace my aging M-Audio MicroTrack I that was beginning to act erratically.

I’m not an audio engineer, so my take on the quality of my various recordings should be viewed as that of a photographer who records ambient sound to accompany slideshows...no more and no less. There’s no question in my mind that the PMD620 is an excellent “point and shoot” audio recorder, small enough to be carried as an accessory, and well capable of capturing sounds in sufficient quality to provide lovely sound tracks for my multimedia productions.

For the rest of my impressions, drop by Photocrati.

Canon 5D Mark II Microphones

Kevin Reylek at B&H wrote an article on Recording Great-Sounding Audio with the Canon EOS 5D MkII, and listing 6 different options for affixing a microphone to the camera. These options vary in terms of price and quality...and practicality.

During my photo expedition in South India, I will test my own option, which is just plugging a Sony ECM-DS30P into the camera's audio in port. This is probably the cheapest, and I'll report back on this blog as to whether it's an improvement over the camera's built-in mic.

Also see this post on my ATR 6250 microphone.

Marantz PMD 620

I finally succumbed. I dropped by B&H yesterday to check on whether they had any Canon 5D Mark II batteries in stock, and walked out with a Marantz PMD 620 audio recorder.

But first things first; the LP-E6 Rechargeable Lithium-Ion batteries are unavailable. The salesman said that there were none available in the United States...perhaps an exaggeration, but probably not that far off. I guess the alternative is to buy a Canon 5D Mark II just to have a spare battery. In my view, Canon mismanaged the supply of both camera and accessories, and will eventually suffer the consequences.

Now about the Marantz PMD 620 audio recorder: I decided to replace my Micro Track which was showing its age...and it didn't perform that well in Bhutan last October. I had replaced its original microphone which had been damaged, but it still didn't perform as well as it should have...hence the new Marantz PMD 620.

I figured a new audio recorder would be useful during my forthcoming photo-expedition to South India to document Theyyam performances...I'm hopeful that the accompanying music and ambient sound during these performances will add much to my photographs.

I was glad that the Marantz PMD 620 was sold by B&H with a free 2gb SD card (it comes with a 512mb card), a free carrying case and a $100 rebate from Marantz. I briefly tested it yesterday, and think it'll work well. Why did I choose it over the other models? Well, because of these incentives.

For a detailed report on the Marantz PMD 620, check Transom Tool. I will put it through its paces in India and will write my own on my return.

SoundSnap

SoundSnap is a free online sound library and community for sound designers and producers. People can upload sounds and share them with the rest of the public.

It's advertised as being mainly for Sound designers/recordists and music producers, filmmakers, web designer's and video game developers, but since photographers are increasingly getting involved in multimedia, I think we could find SoundSnap useful when needing a specific sound (or loop) for a slideshow. For instance, there are various train sounds in the library which could've been useful to photographers documenting the Central American migrants (see above post).

Is it cheating because it's not ambient sound recorded live by the photographer? Yes, perhaps some will see it this way...others won't.

(Via The Graphic Mac)

Recorder Reviews: II

The valuable and informative Transom website has a comparative portable digital recorder review which lists most of the more available and popular brands here.

The recorder of choice used by the photographers attending my Multimedia Storytelling class at the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop (Mexico City) was the Zoom H2, an easy-to-use and inexpensive model. The feedback I got was that it performs well...but that its controls are not really intuitive, and that it feels somewhat fragile,

I'm still using the M-Audio Microtrack that hasn't performed as it should have in the past few weeks. I'm not sure whether its a software problem, or whether it decided it had reached the end of its useful life (it hasn't been used long enough for that).

EDIROL R-09HR Recorder

There's a new kid on the block as far as handheld digital field recorders are concerned. The R-09HR by Roland Corporation is described as a professional, high-definition recorder that is light but performs like a heavyweight. With 24/96 fidelity, the R-09HR is the new flagship of EDIROL’s award-winning R-series recorders.

Amongst its features are a built-in high-grade, high-sensitivity stereo condenser, it records to SD or SDHC memory card, a built-in preview speaker, a wireless remote controller, and is powered by 2 AA batteries. It should be available in a few weeks at a MSRP price close to $500, however it's unclear what the street price will be.

See it here or here.

I'm still using the M-Audio MicroTrack 24/96 Pocket Digital Recorder, however its plug-in T-microphone was damaged, so I just bought the Sony ECM-DS30P Microphone to replace it. This allows me to wait out the inevitable price drop in digital recorders.

Yamaha POCKETRAK 2G Audio-Recorder

Yamaha has recently announced the Yamaha POCKETRAK 2G Pocket Recorder. It claims that despite its diminutive size, this audio recorder contains a large 2-gigabyte memory plus advanced digital audio technology that "lets you record and playback with outstanding quality." The audio recorder weighs only 1.7 ounces including battery, and is only a half-inch thick.

In addition to a linear PCM recording mode that allows the recording of up to 3 hours of music, there are a number of MP3 modes that Yamaha claims provide significantly longer recording times. The supplied rechargeable battery can keep the POCKETRAK 2G running for up to 9 hours continuously when recording in MP3 mode. It also has a built-in USB connector that allows a direct connection to a computer for file transfer. The CUBASE AI digital audio workstation software is bundled with the audio recorder.

The estimated price is $449, and a bit more expensive than other similar products.

Is it time to retire my Micro Track audio-recorder? Compared to the Yamaha PocketTrak, it's really clunky.

More information from the website: Synthotopia

Olympus LS-10 PCM Audio Recorder

GIZMODO reports that Olympus announced its new LS-10 Linear PCM Audio Recording Device, a portable professional recording tool for "musicians and everyone who values high-quality recording."

It weighs 5.8 ounces and can track stereo 24-bit 96kHz linear PCM uncompressed. It can record and play back in WAV, MP3 and WMA. The LS-10 has two gigabytes of internal flash memory and also features an SD/SDHC removable media card slot to further expand its capacity. It can run 12 hours on two AA batteries. The LS-10 Digital Audio Device has an estimated street price of $399.99 and will be available in January 2008.

The GIZMODO reviewer adds this: "The only thing I'm truly wary of is the user interface—Olympus has given its recorders some supremely ugly interfaces in the past, and there's no indication that this will be any more intuitive than its predecessors."

GIZMODO's post on Olympus LS-10 PCM Audio Recorder

Micro Track II Audio Recorder

M-Audio has redesigned its popular MicroTrack digital recorder, and dubbed it the MicroTrack II. The company says the redesigned version brings even more professional features to the original high-fidelity mobile digital recorder that’s used by audio and film professionals.

The new recorder has an extended input gain range, analog input limiter, 48V phantom power, faster file transfer rate, seamless recording of files beyond 2GB in size and other enhancements. It allows the recording of WAV (BWF) and MP3 files to CompactFlash or Microdrives through balanced line inputs or built-in microphone preamps—which can be dragged and dropped to computers via high-speed USB 2.0 for immediate editing or Web posting. Its MSRP is $299 and it's expected to be available in the stores in November.

I have used the older MicroTrack for about 2 years, and while I can't complain about its performance and operations, I wish it had a built-in microphone like its Samson Zoom competitor. The MicroTrack and its successor are sold with a small separate removable microphone. Sooner or later, I will lose this dinky microphone and I'll be stuck. An alternative is to get an Audio Technica ATR25 microphone to use with the recorder instead of the supplied mike.

M-Audio MicroTrack II

B&H's M-Audio MicroTrack II

Audio: New Zoom H2 Digital Recorder

The Japanese Samson company has just announced the Zoom H2 digital audio recorder, which follows its successful Zoom H4. Few details are available at this time, but it's assumed that it is SD based. The price is estimated at $199.

More details at Photoethnography