One of the very interesting announcements at NAB 2013 was the new Tascam DR-60D. It is a XLR audio recorder designed specifically to work with the HDSLR form factor.
The most apparent difference from the still-excellent Tascam DR-100mkII is the change in the form factor. Instead of being designed as a handheld recorder with a convenient 1/4-20 mount on the bottom, the DR-60D is designed to mounted directly to the bottom of your DSLR.
The DR-60D will then mount to a tripod plate and rest between your tripod head and your DSLR. No more rigging shoe mounts or Israeli arms to keep your audio recorder near your DSLR while recording.
Key features of the Tascam DR-60D include the following:
- 4-channel 96kHz/24-bit solid state recorder
- Dual “safety track” and auto record mode
- Peak limiter, low cut filter & slate feature
- 2 XLR and 1/4″ inputs w/ locking connectors for XLRs
- +48V phantom power
- 3.5mm steriou input w/ plug-in power
- Camera out, headphone out & line out
- Records to SDHC cards
- Soft touch keys for quite operation
- Non-menu-intensive operation
The main info screen faces to the rear of your DSLR so you can keep your level in view while recording. As mentioned in the specs, there are plenty of manual controls on the surface of the unit to keep you out of the menu system for common adjustments. Notably, the gain adjustments are made via smooth dials on the rear of the unit.
The “safety track” feature is a nice addition. It records a second track at a lower level than the main track, which will save your butt if the first channel is blown out at points during your recording.
Tascam reps tell me that the DR-60D has an improved pre-amp over the DR-100mkII, which was already near the top of the pile for handheld XLR audio recorders.
The DR-60D manages to get about 4 hours run time when powered by 4AA batteries. If phantom power is turned on, the run time drops to about 2 hours.
You can boost your run time with a 6AA extension battery back that provides a total of 15 hours run time in conjunction with the 4AA batteries in the unit itself. Tascam reps didn’t have specifics on phantom power run times with the external pack; however, a little deductive reasoning should put that in the 7 hour-ish range. Not bad. Not bad, at all.
Even when using the external battery unit, the DR-60D will still mount underneath an HDSLR and to a tripod plate thanks to 1/4-20 mounts on the top and bottom of the battery unit.
The Tascam DR-60D retails for $349 and is already shipping. Check it out at here at B&H Photo.
Ron Tyler says
We bought 2 of the DR-60D TASCAM recorders and love them. They work great with our HDSLR cameras and we use them just about everyday. They have saved us a lot of extra work on location. We plan to buy at least 2 more very soon. They are FANTASTIC.