ZOOM F3 Field Recorder – Compact 2-Track Audio Recorder with 32-Bit Float Recording – For Podcasts, Interviews, Live Recording – Charcoal Grey

As someone who’s always on the hunt for reliable, high-quality audio gear, the Zoom F3 has absolutely blown me away. This compact, high-end 2-track field recorder packs an incredible punch for its size and price point.First off, the build quality is outstanding. It feels solid and professional, with an intuitive design that ensures it’s as durable as it is easy to use. The size is another huge plus—small enough to be unobtrusive, yet it doesn’t sacrifice functionality. It’s the perfect companion for on-the-go audio recording, whether you’re working on films, interviews, or sound design.The dual AD converters and 32-bit float recording are game changers. This recorder effortlessly handles extreme dynamic ranges, capturing pristine audio without clipping, even in unpredictable environments. The audio quality is rich, clear, and versatile, making post-production a breeze. Pair it with a high-quality mic, and you’ve got studio-grade recordings in the field.The battery life is commendable, too. It lasted through long recording sessions without needing constant attention—a must-have for anyone working on time-sensitive projects. The Bluetooth app control is another thoughtful touch, making it easy to adjust settings remotely and monitor levels in real time.Overall, the Zoom F3 is a powerhouse in a compact form. It’s perfect for professionals and enthusiasts alike who demand top-tier audio quality and portability. I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone looking for a reliable field recorder—it’s worth every penny!

I've owned a Zoom H1 for years and didn't think a recorder could get much better. But the Zoom F3 certainly is. It's very well built and was smaller than expected, but not fiddly to use. It has a tripod bush on the bottom, or two rails that can be used to attach it to other mountings. It has only two XLR sockets for microphones and these need phantom power- which the F3 provides. I use two Clippy mics, which are truly excellent, and also a Sennheiser MKE 600 shotgun mic. Battery life is, in my experience, around 3 hours on two AA Eneloop batteries, but I use a power bank which plugs into the F3's USB port. Fortunately, the F3 will use the power bank first and the AAs when that expires. The real strength of the F3 is 32 bit floating point recording. This gives it a huge dynamic range and there's no need at all to set the gain as one would normally. This is similar to RAW photographs with a DSLR camera. Sound quality is very good indeed, and self noise is very low indeed. Whilst the F3 can't be called heavy on features, it does what it's supposed to do extremely well. The design and interface is reasonably intuitive and simple. Most of the time, you'd just switch it on and start recording without any meddling.

I’m so glad I finally took the plunge and got this. I’ve a collection of handheld recorders with inbuilt microphones. These are great & convenient, but I was looking for something with better preamps / self noise.What always put me off the F3 was its lack of inbuilt microphones. I just find the inbuilt mics can be very helpful and convenient capturing quick sounds when out in the field. I was put off the F3 initially because I didn’t know if I could be bothered using external microphones all the time and having to setup something each time for recording.However, I’ve found this not to be an issue. I’ve popped this on a tripod via a clamp and have the Clippy EM272Z1 microphones attached to the top of the tripod. With a bit of cable management in place, you can just pop the tripod down and get recording. It’s obviously not the smallest setup or discrete, but it’s easier than I thought it would be.For a discrete setup - I’ve clipped the microphones onto the sides of a bag and had the F3 inside the bag recording. This is perfect for stealth recording where you want to capture high quality audio without influencing the sound in the area at all. The dynamic is an environment always changes when people can see recording equipment & sometimes you want to get a subtle sneaky recording where people’s behaviour isn’t altered by seeing anything recording sound.The size is great. It’s easy to take around with you and throw in a bag. I also appreciate the build quality of this unit. It’s built like a tank and actually has metal on the body which makes me confident it can take a bit of a beating or survive a drop - not that I would ever recommend testing this out, but accidents do happen.Compared to other zoom products I have used (Zoom H1E, H8, H5 and H3-VR), this easily has far better build quality.The F3 has very little self noise, which is sensational when paired with some highly sensitive microphones. I believe it’s around (-127) in terms of self noise which definitely puts it higher in ranking for self noise than other Zoom products. My understanding is that the H range has significantly worse self noise than the F range and going from the H range to the F range I can attest to there being a huge difference in noise levels with the F series.Then there’s the magic of 32-bit float recording. This is amazing as you can set it and forget it - just hit record and go with little worry of any clipping occurring. It’s highly unlikely you will get clipping in 32bit float. I’d always recommend knowing how to set levels effectively as it’s a useful skill to have and requires practice, experience and an element of trial and error. However, 32bit float is great for everybody because you just hit record and capture audio with no clipping. This can be a life saver in loud or unpredictable environments where levels can go from extremely quiet to sudden loud bursts of sound.The menus are a little fiddly and confusing initially, but you get used to them and it’s not a deal breaker.Battery life with 2 AA is ok, but supplying phantom power to microphones will drain those pretty quickly. I always offset this by using a power bank into the USBC slot. This is great for drop rigs that are being left for long periods of time or just extra peace of mind with regard to power.I wish I had got the F3 sooner. It’s going to have a nice home amongst my other recorders and I can definitely see it getting significant use out in the field. Don’t be like me and put it off, take the plunge and see for yourself how good it is. The F3 is held in very high regard, and it’s easy to see why.