Recommendations: Best Value Shotgun Mic for Indie Film

[Pete Cofrancesco]

Originally Posted by David Peterson

Very well put.

Lately Tascam's products have become pretty good (such as Tascam DR70D and Tascam DR680mk2) and Zoom's even very good (Zoom F8 and Zoom F4), the gap between them (especially F4/F8) and the higher end stuff is narrowing....

These low end recorders generally sound fine under optimal conditions. Where they fall apart is pro features, usability and how they handle non optimal conditions mainly limiters and preamps. Anyone who has real world experience will know this. They’re probably fine for podcast or low end work where budget is an issue. Obviously a step up from camera audio.

[David Peterson]

The pre amps of the Zoom F4/F8 are just excellent, you'll have to be doing very high end or obscure niche work to have complaints about them. (and you shouldn't ever drive limiters hard, and otherwise you could just run a safety track)

Even the lowly cheap Tascam DR60Dmk2 will have better pre amps (they're better than what is in the Zoom H5 / H6) than any one needs for low budget work without a professional sound recordist.