SubscribeI’ve been happily using a Zoom H4N digital recorder since last October to record audio such as interviews. I use it primarily with a AT875 shotgun mic, which requires phantom power. It’s no problem, because the Zoom has a mode that provides it. But I’ve noticed the price you pay for using phantom power, at least with my AT875, is reduced battery life. WAY reduced. I generally can expect about two hours max of record time. And if you’re using rechargeable alkaline batteries, that drops to less than half an hour, as I discovered this morning.
But here’s a far worse discovery that I made today, which amounts to a serious design flaw with the Zoom: if you’re recording when the batteries die, you lose everything recorded on the clip up to that moment (it saves a 0 kb file, rather than a file with your data in it).
Bottom line: the Zoom H4n is a great recorder. Just don’t EVER let it run out of batteries, and it eats them like candy, at least if you’re using it with phantom power and an AT875.
Popularity: 4% [?]
Interesting. I’m surprised, because normally phantom powering requires very little power. Mike batteries that only power a mike generally last a really long time.
I’m less concerned about how fast it goes through batteries than I am disappointed that it loses the entire session when the power dies. This seems like a major design flaw to me. My JVC HM100 has run out of batteries a couple times while I’m shooting and it has some kind of graceful internal process that allows it to first save the file and then go black. (I’ve tested this by pulling the battery while shooting and discovered that in that case, it does NOT save the file).
IF THE BATTERIES DIE WHEN YOU’RE RECORDING WITH THE H4N, YOU LOSE EVERYTHING ON THAT FILE. This just happened to me. I’m sunk.
Yes. I learned this the hard way too!
The H4n records 1 hour then makes a new file. A nice firmware upgrade would be good so you can select a new file time limit.
Thanks for sharing Roger.
I have a slightly different problem. The battery did not die but I still lost everything. Has this happened to anyone else?
I’ve never had that problem. The H4N has been very reliable for me as long as it’s got juice in the batteries.
@Shamar –
I just had this happen, batteries did not die but 0 kb file.
Did you find a solution?