Effortless Distortion-Free Audio. The Zoom F3 Portable Field Recorder lets you just connect your mics and record crisp, pro-grade audio. It uses dual A/D converters and 32-bit float recording technology to capture whatever loud signals you throw at it without clipping, and to capture very quiet sounds without letting them get overwhelmed by ambient noise, all without requiring you to mess with the gain.

Dual XLR Mic/Line Inputs. This recorder includes two balanced mic/line inputs with locking XLR jacks and switchable +48V phantom power, making it great for professional mics and line-level mixer feeds. Please note that this recorder doesn’t have a built-in mic, so you’ll have to supply your own. This recorder also includes a 3.5mm headphone output and a 3.5mm line out.

Recording Quality. The F3 records mono or stereo in uncompressed Broadcast Wave File (BWF) format at sample rates between 44.1 and 192 kHz. The lack of data compression means there’s no audio quality lost when the F3 creates your files. This recorder saves audio directly to microSDHC (4 GB to 32 GB) and microSDXC (64 GB to 1 TB) cards, but it has no internal storage.

Extremely Compact, Lightweight Build. This recorder measures just 3.0 × 1.9 × 3.0 inches and weighs in at a mere half a pound, so you can easily slip it into your pocket or use a hook-and-loop fastener to attach it to a boom pole. Even though it’s feature-dense, it’s the very definition of unobtrusive. Please note that this rental doesn’t include a mic clip adapter.

Intuitive Controls. The F3’s controls are based around one-touch buttons—Record, Play, Stop, Volume Up/Down—that give you access to essential functions without making you menu dive. You can flip the Record key down to the Hold position to keep accidental button presses from interrupting your recording. The built-in LCD shows you all the critical information at a glance—battery status, waveforms, recording time, and more.

Power and Additional Features. This recorder uses two AA batteries, which will power it for up to eight hours at a time. This rental doesn’t include batteries, but you can see some options under Recommended on the left-hand side of this page. The F3’s USB Type-C port makes it easy to transfer files directly to your computer with a USB cable. You can also use the F3 as a 2 × 2 USB audio interface that’s capable of 24-bit/96 kHz.