Stereo Scope

摘要

The rise of tiny, easy-to-use video cameras like the Flip has been a boon to wannabe Soderberghs. But the spar-kly hi-def video is accompanied by lo-fi audio that would make any self-respecting sound editor scream. Shoot in a slight breeze, and the resulting footage howls like a sandstorm. Not so with the Zoom Q3 videocam. It's the first of its kind with serious audio cred: Maker Samson specializes in music-recording gear. The Q3 captures 640 × 480 video, but its crowning achievement (excuse the pun) is the top-mounted mic. Swiped from the company's pro-grade voice recorder, the condenser captures sonic waves in stereo and stores them on an SD card as MP3 or linear PCM files. Haters may mock you for having what looks like an air filter atop your rig, but you'll have the last laugh-and it'll be loud and clear.