Grateful Dead Music Forum

I am looking for something easy and not too expensive to record shows. I was looking at the zoom q2 or q3 does anyone have anything they like. Can I use my I phone4 to record entire sets on it's own ?? any feedback or discussion in this area would be appreciated ??

Other guitarist in my band has the Zoom unit and he is pleased

I'd say it depends on what results you want, how you plan on using it and how much you want to spend. I do a lot of video production for work, so if nothing else I have experience. The advantages of the Zoom seems to be audio. Auto levels are problematic as are the ones with choices like "normal" and "low" having some control over the input signal is important. In general, audio is the most important part. For the video end, the lens is most important. Tiny lens = noisy footage especially in low light. I'd also look at the CCD(s), a 3 CCD will generally give you better color. Some control over shutter speed and manual focus, and a good zoom are nice. With zoom only look at physical zoom, digital zoom just blows up the image and gets grainy fast. If you want to use it for things other recording music look the see how well it'll handle those jobs. Oh yeah, and 1080p is best. If you have any specific questions, send 'em along.