EQ STATUS:
I do need to make a custom EQ for this combination. It needs more BASS and MIDS because of what the MIC. LOWCUT and REC. LOWCUT do. These are needed to reduce the background noise and the handling noise when using at this "BOOM" proximity, but they make the original file you have to capture not sound "REAL" or natural.

OVERVIEW
The short story is, at this "BOOM" proximity it needs the Neotek AUX. AMP. The only proximity the Zoom F1 sounds clean enough at, without the AUX. AMP, is at the "CLOSE" proximity (the REC. LEVEL options are very limited on the F1, and because the pre-amp gets noisy above "HI-" I can't get clean enough audio without using it to add what I call a BOOST.

AUX. AMP SETTINGS*:
1. MIC. BOOST (gain on the MIC) = 3 (or 4 at 4 feet)
2. AUX. AMP High/Low set to LOW (a switch)
3. AUX. AMP gain dial set to FULL (all of the way up)

*At this ("BOOM") proximity, these are the settings I'm using (in general, at 3 feet I use 3 on the MIC. BOOST, and though most people don't recommend booming further away than 3 feet, I tried it at 4 feet at 4 on the MIC. BOOST, and it still sounded pretty good).

MIC. SPECIFIC:
Another thing to note is that in low light (learned this while vlogging after dark) I can't read the MIC. BOOST (mic gain) dial well, because the paint is a red color...so if you need to see it in low light, I recommend painting over it with a lighter color (be careful to not change the position of the mark of course).

REGARDING MIC. LOWCUT:
When testing this mic on another audio recorder, using the MIC. LOWCUT (either setting) sounded really bad (not natural at all) yet, when using both the FOAM + FURRY (that are included with the mic) the MIC. LOWCUT setting of 150Hz sounds good (it sounds natural and "REAL" as I say). Another weird thing is that the REC. LOWCUT (the one on the audio recorder) didn't sound good with this mic/audio recorder combination (but it sounded better than the MIC. LOWCUT on a different recorder). Anyways, it is really good this higher lowcut setting (150 vs 75) sounds natural, as the shock mount that comes with this mic isn't very effective, and the extra lowcut really helps (which is the main reason why lowcut filters are included on mics anyway). Also, the fact that it sounds more natural with the FOAM + FURRY is great, because this means you can just leave the FURRY on all of the time (INDOORS & OUTDOORS!)

AUDIO RECORDER SPECIFIC:
An important note specific to this audio recorder, is that the "HI-" REC. LEVEL setting sounds "cleaner" to me (less self-noise) than the next lower setting "MID+". It doesn't seem like it should, because it's a higher gain setting, but that is how it's sounding to me (it's kind of like how the self-noise on the Zoom H1 v1 is lower at a REC. LEVEL of 37 than it is at 36!). Also, because the Zoom F1 doesn't have a lot of options for REC. LEVEL steps (not "numerical" as the Zoom H1) I suggest keeping the REC. LEVEL set to "HI-" on the audio recorder, and then just tweaking the gain (when needed) by adjusting gain dial on the microphone (which is pretty nice because you can set it anywhere between 0-10 with stepless adjustments).