PDA

View Full Version : Microphones and DSLR videos



Roger Clark
02-16-2010, 10:24 PM
Just a quick note on DSLR video recording. I have had a couple of instances where I got no sound because the microphone plug was apparently not in all the way (5DII). Fortunately the time I did a wedding service, I did get it in all the way. So now I carry some very small headphones whenever I pack the microphone to check the sound.

Roger

Sabyasachi Patra
06-30-2010, 01:59 AM
The 1D Mark IV doesn't accept microphone with phantom power. And also there is the issue of AGC in the Mark IV. So I am using a preamp. The output of the microphone goes to the preamp and from I connect the preamp/mixer to the Mark IV. I plug in a headphone to the preamp to check.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

Michael Pancier
07-01-2010, 01:23 PM
by the way, any suggestions on a good mic for 5d m2 or 7d that's quiet for use in wildlife videos with the long lens?

Sabyasachi Patra
07-06-2010, 12:44 PM
Hi Michael,

There is no straight forward answer. It depends upon your filming requirements.

I have been trying to see what wildlife filmmakers and gear heads are doing. One of India's well known wildlife film maker told me that the general practice is to go back and record sound at location ie chirping of birds etc and then sync it during post production. However, that is a different route. You need a standalone recorder for that. The cheapest are the Tascam DR 100 and the Zoom H4n. I recently bought the Tascam DR100 at around 300 usd. There are much costlier options as well.

There are all kinds of microphones for various usage and budget. The best sound is recorded when the microphone is closer to the source of sound. So the same microphone can do a better job if it is closer to the source of sound rather than mounted on top of the camera. You will hear lot of terms like cardiod, hyper cardiod, super cardiod etc. Those are terminologies to describe the angle of acceptance of sound. So with a narrow angle of acceptance, the microphone will reject sounds from the sides or “off axis”. However, that doesn’t mean that these microphones are like telephoto lenses. The analogy can be more like a wide angle lens with Vaseline applied on the periphery. That will make you view only through the middle portion. It will not convert a wide angle lens to a telephoto.

For picking up sounds from a distance you have to use a parabolic microphone or move the microphone closer to the source of sound.

The best bet is the parabolic microphones. They are pretty expensive as well. The Lil' ears by Crystal partners retail at 2999 usd. There are cheaper brands in US within 1000 USD as well. The parabolic microphones are like a big satellite dish and used by broadcasters in some of the football matches. So definitely can't be mounted on the camera. They can be mounted on a tripod as well. However, you have to point it in the direction of the source and tune it. The range can be a 200-300 feet as well. It would be of immense help, if there is someone to help you with the parabolic microphone, when you are filming.

I found the super cardiod microphones to be doing a decent job when the subject is around 15-20 feet away. If the subject is noisy like an elephant, that is when they chose to be noisy (ofcourse elephants can be deceptively silent but that is another topic) the sounds can be good even if the microphone is mounted on the camera. It also depends upon the ambient noise. Lower is the ambient noise, better is the sound quality. However, even with the super cardiod microphones, they pick up some sound from the back as well.
The microphone popularly used by folks on a 5DII or 7D is the Rode NTG2. It can be directly plugged into the camera. Note: The Rode NTG 3 is phantom powered and can't be directly plugged into the camera.

The Audio Technica BP4073 is around 600 usd and it needs phantom power. So you need to use a preamp and then plug in the output of the preamp to the camera. I bought the Sennheiser MKH 416. Now it is about 1000 usd. However, it can't directly be plugged into the camera, as it needs phantom power. The Sanken Cs1e seems to be more directional than the MKH 416 and costlier as well.

I was in a hide and checked that the quality of sound from the Sennheiser MKH 416, despite being mounted on camera, is nice. If you are able to get close to the subject or get them close to you, then you can get away with the cheapest of the microphones. A wireless lavalier microphone (typically used in interviews clipped to the shirt collar of the interviewee) can be tried out when you are in a hide. If the bird/animal can come close to the microphone, then a cheap microphone will also work well. However, the bird has to face the microphone and chirp/sing.

You can try and get microphones on rent before deciding on buying.

By the way, once you buy the microphone, you will need to buy wind jammers to reduce the wind noise as the microphone will pick up wind noise.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

David Kennedy
07-13-2010, 01:06 PM
If you're looking for a very good, amazingly compact audio recorder, the Olympus LS-10 (and its newer siblings, which just have larger amounts of internal memory) delivers pretty stunning audio. It can record either an uncompressed WAV or in multiple MP3 formats. The LS-10 does not have XLR input (only stereo mini) so it's not for everyone, but I'd be quick to point out that the 7D, 5D II, 1D IV, D3s, D300s, etc. etc. don't have XLR inputs, either.
A basic video shotgun mic (Rode VideoMic, Sennheiser MKE-400) can pull double-duty as both a shotgun mic for the camera or be plugged right into the audio recorder.

That said, if you want to go hard-core wildlife documentarian and videographer, you're going to have to pony up the money and go the route that Sabyasachi suggests.