Over the years, Tascam recorders have found themselves right at home in the rigs of both amateur and professional filmmakers and sound people alike, thanks to their versatility and forward-thinking features. In that tradition, the company has announced the new DR-70D 4-channel DSLR Recorder, which boasts both forward-thinking and familiar features.
Designed to fit either above your DSLR, below it, or sandwiched between your camera and a tripod, the DR-70D has a thinner design compared to some of Tascam’s other recorders, and its LCD menu screen is angled slightly to help with viewing. While it is capable of recording up to 4 channels simultaneously in up to 24-bit/96 kHz WAV or BMF, it offers a wide variety of input options to fill those 4 channels. The unit itself sports dual omnidirectional mics built right in that can serve main recording duty or to track ambience and room sound. For integrating your own mics, the DR-70D gives you 4 combination XLR/TRS inputs, as well as a 1/8" stereo input that supports plug-in power.
Connectivity appears to be king with the DR-70D, as it gives you both camera input and output jacks that allow you to record a reference track to your DSLR, as well as monitor back from it. A 1/8" headphone output provides system-monitoring duties. All of the recorder’s more important controls, such as channel gain for its 4 channels, transport, and slate tone all have physical, dedicated buttons or low-noise knobs directly on the rear panel, assuring these often-tweaked parameters are always within reach. As you might expect, it records to SDHC media, and is powered by 4 AA batteries.
7 Comments
Very helpfull reviews but One thing is missing. As a buyer I need to learn how to use the item properly. For example; how to connect the cables, how to adjust the settings, how to activate dual recording, etc.
Especially on this item there is no detailed tutorials on the web and it's nearly impossible for me to record properly since I don't have any audio recording experience.
Hi K E -
Most products sold by B&H and others do not include step by step video tutorials. The included owner's manual will outline the functions, features, and menus offered by this professional recorder. It is incumbent upon the novice user to learn some basic audio principles and recording techniques before commiting to a critical recording session. Make lots of practice recordings and audition all the features until you are thoroughly familiar with and understand this device's operation and capabilities.
TASCAM DR-70D USER'S GUIDE
Please contact us via e-mail if you have additional questions: [email protected]
This is a fantastic unit, although I have to admit I'm new to Videography, and have a minimal baseline to compare it to. However, I have been a musician for several decades, and am very familiar with Tascam gear, both digital and Analogue.
The ability to record 4 simultaneous channels is much appreciated, as well as all four having XLR inputs, and high quality preamps. I will primarily be using this unit for producing musical instrument reviews/demos where the quality of the audio is very important, as well as the ease and quickness of setting up, recording, and editing. My primary camera is the Black Magic Cinema Camera, which has amazing video output but, has not had many positive remarks regarding the audio capture.
My only wish, was that the top mount was centered on the unit, making it more balanced when connected to my BMCC. I am very impressed with the pre-amps, built in mics, display, battery life, easy access to both batteries and SD card, and recommend to all looking for a quality unit.
More important is how long the batteries last...the H5 does ridiculously well w/ batteries and the old 60D was terrible.
I thought this was a sequencer, controller for 4 DSLR cameras, like when I toyed with controlling my 5D and T4i, both USBed to my compy and transmitting images to live view in EOS Utility. I knew the portable monitors were missing, I just thought this was the controller device.
THIS IS SAD AND I AM STUPID.
Well now it's back to hoping for that same unattainable girl and a GigaPan 500 to shoot hyperresolution panorama shots of Sandia Peak.
Man. I love this thing. I'm a dedicated still photographer (what with seeking the past to buck the trend, loving impressionism and hating post-impresisonism, modernism, post-modernism, and cubism, but loving Beaux Arts and Art Deco), so one might think this device wouldn't peak my interest. WRONG!
I shot an intersection near my home at dusk the other day, Setting my T4i on the curb (literally) to catch the cars as they passed for a series of captures ranging in shutter length from 1.5 sec to 4 sec. The shots came out great, red taillight lasers looked to be passing directly over my camera lens.
Imagine a composite still of four exposures from four DSLR cameras sequenced to shutter for a mind boggling and dizzying single-image composit which had such lasers bouncing in four directions and which gave one a virtigoed view which would appear as reality sketched by G*d, the giant M.C. Escher fan.
PERHAPS NOW YOU MIGHT IMAGINE WHY I WANT THE TASCAM DR-70D.
I cannot leave this uncorrected: "...wouldn't <<pique>> my interest. WRONG!"