Zoom Q3HD - I want one!

Is this the journo-gadget I've been waiting for? I've tried all kinds of handheld gadgets for interviewing. You can have super audio quality from something like the Marantz PMD620, or ease of use from the Flip series, or reasonable video with the Sanyo Xacti series. In the last post, I had a lot of fun with the Sony Bloggie.

But all of the cameras suffer from audio that is, frankly, awful. And to my mind, the audio quality is at least as important as the video, often more important - especially for use on the web. I was tempted when I saw the Zoom Q3 - but, honestly, 640 x 480 video?

Now I see Zoom have come up with the Zoom Q3HD - basically a quality audio recorder with a respectable HD video camera built in. It sounds like the ideal combination - the sort of thing I could slip in a pocket and go round a game fair or a shoot, interviewing and blogging to my heart's content.

I haven't seen a price yet, but the Q3 was a very reasonable £160 or so. If the Q3HD is in the same area, I'll be sorely tempted.

UPDATE: Zoom UK Distribution tell me the Q3HD should arrive in the UK some time in November, and the price will be around £200-£230.

When contextual advertising goes wrong

It's clever how Google put those 'contextual' ads next to blogs, photos and videos on websites. You may see some in the narrow column on the right of this blog page.

Usually they are very well targeted - on this blog, for instance, I often see ads for shooting grounds, Fieldsportschannel.tv, the Countryside Alliance etc. Things have certainly moved on from the days when any mention of the word 'gun' brought a rash of ads about survivalist groups and self-defence classes in New York.

Just now and again they get it wrong though. Today I went to see Mark Gilchrist to take some photos for his next article - we're featuring a delicious dish of rabbit cooked in a creamy cider sauce. I went back to look at an old Youtube clip where Mark explains how to skin and prepare a rabbit - and up popped this ad for a rabbit boarding kennels.

Sorry guys, this rabbit won't be needing to board anywhere, even with the tempting offer of an introductory discount!

Chris Evans goes shooting at Bisley

This video is on the BBC Radio 2 website, together with a collection of photos from Chris's day shooting with George Digweed. We'll have a report in our next issue (out 3 March).

Meanwhile, here's a taster, from George Digweed's perspective:

George Digweed was thrilled to take part in the Sporting Challenge segment of The Chris Evans Breakfast Show on Radio 2 this week. The feature sees Chris and his sports reporter Jonny Saunders participate in a different sporting activity each week, with an expert in the field on hand to train them up.

The pair have already taken on tennis, golf, darts and ice hockey, and for the fifth challenge George and Commonwealth gold target rifle winner Parag Patel welcomed them to the National Shooting Centre in Bisley.

George explains: "It was a dual day between clay pigeon shooting and rifle shooting. I was in charge of the clay shooting and Parag was in charge of the rifle shooting. So they turned up and we had some clay practice and then a competition, and then they shot a bit of rifle practice and then a rifle competition."

Neither Chris nor Jonny had much shooting experience before the challenge, but George says they took to the sport well, despite a difficult layout.

"The targets the National Shooting Centre put on were not really conducive to people that hadn't shot before. So on some targets they didn't shoot as well as they could have done because they hadn't really got an awareness of what they were doing, which was slightly unfortunate. But they thoroughly enjoyed it and I think they want to have another go.

"They're certainly both good enough to be able to take it further and take it on as a sport without any shadow of a doubt."

Jonny just edged the competition on this occasion, claiming the win after initially struggling to compete with an on-form Chris.

"Chris started better. He's got very good hand-eye co-ordination and knows what he's doing," says George. "But he switched off and then all of a sudden Jonny started hitting one or two and there was a bit of a problem for Chris. He hadn't done enough to be able to recover from that situation, so Jonny won."

And he was rewarded with a very special prize: one of George's World Championship medals.

"I donated one of my medals to the winner because I felt that the more they talk about the sport, the more publicity it's going to have. So I've done it for the benefit of the sport."

 [Pic: Don Brunt]

Fieldsports TV

Take a look at FieldsportsChannel.tv, a new web-based video channel focusing on all types of - yes, you guessed it - field sports. It's the brainchild of Charlie Jacoby, well known to regular readers of Sporting Shooter as a former editor and regular contributor.

The channel hasn't officially launched yet, but it already has some great programmes to watch - including the one pictured above where Olympic medallist Richard Faulds talks about his other great passion, foxshooting. There's also one about chalkstream fishing for trout, and another on squirrel shooting.

When you go to the home page, it isn't immediately obvious where to find the programmes. From the home page, click on the green panel 'Your Sport' at the left hand side of the page, then look at the list at the top left. The first half-dozen items in the list are 'live' - click on a heading to see the videos available. Items further down the list will become live later in the year.

Keep watching and you may eventually see one on the trials and tribulations of a shooting magazine editor!

Free food for the unemployed

I've been enjoying the blog Rabbit Stew by "Hubert Hubert in The Wild West Midlands" who describes himself as a "jobless, middle-aged bloke who takes to the fields with an air rifle in search of free food." He takes an unusual look at subjects that are familiar to us shooters - his latest post, for instance, is entitled Zen and the art of shooting rabbits.

Best shooting blogs list

Had an email today from Kelly Sonora to tell me this blog is included in her list of 50 Best Blogs for Gun Enthusiasts. Which is nice. It's a bit US-focused, but I shall now spend the next hour browsing all the other blogs on her list, when I should be working!

Just for the record, one of my favourite US shooting websites (although not a blog) is chuckhawks.com - packed with useful advice and info. Maybe I should compile a list of top shooting websites - suggestions welcome!