Great deal

Bought one, liked it so much bought another one as a gift. Used it indoors with low lighting, no issues. The sound was remarkable. For around a hundred bucks this really is a no brainer...

THE Zoom Q3 - UNLIKE any other ~

The Zoom Q3 is NOW my Favorite Concert and Interview Camera, At 1/12 the cost of my Pro Mini DV Camera and with a picture quality comparable to HD, the Zoom Q3 is My NEW FAVORITE.
Especially doing concerts with Loud Volume Levels- It has an Auto Volume Setting that compresses Loud Concert Levels to Normal Listening!
It Hates Low Light - But loves High Volume.
I Love this Camera -Ready to Go - OUT OF THE BOX!
I use a Mono pod and a set of Headphones -some extra Batteries and a 32gb Card for up to 16 hours of Great Video - With a 1 step dump to my Laptop its off to Facebook or You Tube in Minutes.

For What It's Worth

This is one fun and easy (I repeat, "easy") recorder to work with. Yes, it is not a HD video camera. However, for what it is, the videos are good enough to enjoy. The audio is brilliant. Now, the reason that I gave it five stars is that the Q3 has a built in USB cable which is constructed well and quickly loads the takes from the Q3 onto a computer desktop. I use a Mac and the files can sweetly load into Garageband into the Film editor for tweaking, and then, you can export the edited version into iTunes. All of the aspects from shooting to editing are smooth and easy, and hassle-free. I'd give the Q3 a 4.75 if I could instead of 5, because a single person operation of the unit when filming is a bit tricky as far as positioning the camera (since the monitor is on the side facing away from the performer and placement is crucial due to the fixed lens). This is a wonderful quick reference tool or an avant-guard music video production tool, or just a fun thing to carry around with you all day and capture whatever you want with happy results. It is sooooooo easy to operate. The learning curve is not a steep one as is the case with many complex hand held recorders. You are up and filming minutes from taking the Q3 out of the box for the first time. For what it's worth...it's worth getting one.

Just what i needes

I am amazed with this handy piece of equipment. I bought this about a week ago because i saw the price dropped and i've always wanted one. My first recording was me playing my home upright piano. I could never get it to sound right, i would always sound kinda out of tune. But with the Zoom Q3 it sounded great. I plan to take this to concerts and band practice and record performances as well. It is very portable, very easy to use, lightweight. and not a pain to take with you everywhere you go. I actually dropped it at the bowling alley last night, and there were no problems. Im not gonna say it can take a bullet, but it is built well enough to handle those occasional drops that tend to happen when you are on the road. bottom line is, this thing is great, and a real good deal for the price, plus it comes with batteries and all the other goodies you need (wind screen, TV out cord, SD card) the only reason i gave it 4.5 stars was because the video wasn't top notch, it works well enough if there is plenty of light. but if you want higher quality video to match the amazing audio, then get the Q3HD. Zoom has never disappointed me, and neither has Sweetwater.....

I really like mine, but....

Audio is FANTASTIC, video is so-so but is okay if you have enough light. The digital zoom sucks, so you better make sure you're close enough to your subject to see it well.

Also, the software that comes with it is USELESS for anything. They could have saved themselves the trouble there and included an AC adapter instead because this thing eats batteries like crazy. There needs to be a power-saver feature that you can enable to turn off the monitor during audio recording, too. That would save a lot on battery life when you've set it up to record your gig.

handles my Mesa

just got it for XMas and used it last nite at practice, With 2 100 watt half stacks My drummers massive Mapex and 350 watt rig my bass player has,Metallica, Tool,Rage at obscene volumes in a small room and it never clipped in auto mode and it caught EVERYTHING in the room with a mix I have strived for,,, for a long time and that was with no experimenting w/location!!, yes you need ample light for the video recording but at less than $100 you get alot more than you pay for which is a nice a change ,, hands down THE BEST live recording yet,, ."Mesa Recto stack and a Les Paul there is no substitute".

Q3 Sound

The recording is awesome and the picture is good but light is an issue but can quickly be handled with two strings of Blue Micro LED over-head christmas lights. A directional lamp on the instrument and your lookin too cool. Again the sweet mixture of vocal and tube amps through a rockin PA give a studio sound to your video presentation. It Rocks !

Video Recorder for the Audio Nut

It is as billed. Audio comparable to Zoom H2 (which I absolutely adore) with video. Video is OK for web use but nothing you would want to put on a DVD.

As such, it's great for videobloggers, concert-goers, etc. but not really to do your next music video. I am using it to record "behind the scenes" of audio productions and it is excellent for that use.

I'm disappointed that Zoom didn't take things a step further and make this a A/V interface via USB for your computer, e.g. the best Skype cam ever made. Doing so would've made this a great tool for live streaming, etc.

I think you can rig it up using the provided A/V dongle and a USB interface but it is not nearly as elegant as natively offering the feature.

Good Sound, Decent video, Bad Uploading time

I give this 3.5 stars. The sound quality is pretty good. Especially at a live venue. The video is OK. You need to have plenty of light. The uploading time is terrible. I just uploaded a 5 minute clip and it took about a half hour. That has put a real bitter taste in my mouth. So, I say this is a great product. If you don't mind hanging around a while for the videos to upload

Is not what I was hoping for

First off I give it a three due to the Audio recording abilities Not it Video capabilities. In order to record video you must have ample light or it just is too dark. I do have the Zoom H4n and for audio recording it rocks in a live situation. I would recommend the Q3 but just make sure you have plenty of light.

Sound is very good - video less than hoped for

The video quality is much lower than I anticipated from the advertising. The sound quality is very good. It's a great tool for songwriting notes, much like the Edirol R-09. The camera function has lighting issues ... even with the software upgrade that adds a "concert lighting" setting. The video is not very clear and has what I consider color issues.

You can see video examples of the Q3s camera compared with others at our youtube channel by searching sunblossomrecords

"Kiki's mini-studio" and "Sentimental Journey" were made with the Q3.

"Dear John Lennon" does not use the Q3 at all, but is a great example of what iMovie can do with sound and a bunch of still photos.

"Abraham," "Hallelujah" and "When a guitar string breaks" were all shot with an old panasonic camera.

The orange TV videos are a three camera shoot in a state of the art TV studio.

I love the connectivity of the Q3 - built in USB cable, though it's short length makes it a little awkward.

As the product name implies, it is a "handy" video recorder. If you want to record a concert, you'll need a bigger SD card. The 2 gig that comes with the Q3, gives us 48 minutes of recording time.

wait until they improve this

After some extensive recording experience recording myself doing guitar and vocals through a small amp for myspace, I can't help but think that this thing should be so much better. My main complaint is the lack of control of the audio volume. You have just 3 settings: Auto, Low and High. None of those setting were suitable to my situation. Low was too low. High was distorted and Auto made the recording uneven- it starts out at a good volume but when I start singing more dynamically at certain parts of the song, the audio level drops real low for the rest of the song. Unless you have good video editing software that you know your way around, you are stuck with audio that is either too low, distorted or uneven. They should've put a volume control knob on this instead. The crappy software that comes with it is no help either. If you want to do a bunch of takes without having to get up and stop and restart the Q3, you have to record the takes in one clip, then edit the clip with the Handy Share software- which is clunky and has no timeline for reference. If you want decent control of these videos, plan on using 3rd party software and good luck finding what you actually need. It was really frustrating and time consuming for me to search for good software and then make it work. Zoom has taken a good idea and dropped the ball with the 3 position audio level and crappy software. Otherwise this would be a great product because it would be handy and does have good quality sound, a lot of different audio formats to choose from and an easy to use recording interface.

Not bad if you don't mind waiting forever

OK, so the sound is great, the video is not so good. The thing that gets me is the uploading time. It has been 10 minutes and it has only uploaded 16% of my 4 minute clip. That is just absurd. Also, the "edit video" on the Handyshare software is bugged and won't let me edit any of my videos. I am really bummed that we wasted our money on this.

poor video--adequate sound

I purchased this item to record a live gig. Recorded an hour of video. The video is horrible. Absolutely the worst I've since since Kodak's silent super 8 home movies in the 60's. The videos are not worth sharing--they would be an embarrassment to any band that cares about the quality of their public face. Audio quality is okay--certainly better than a hand held mini cam--but not as good as an audio only hand held with good stereo mics.