NEED HELP WITH MICS

[justinsullivan]

I need to purchase a mic for my dvx, I do not want to spend the money to buy a really great mic... I am making a documentary over the next couple of months and need something that will pick up somewhat specific audio out of a croud. Will the panasonic mic do the trick? If not I was going to spend the extra money(which I don't have) to get the Senn ME66. Is there something else that I can get that will do the same job as the ME66? PLEASE HELP!!!!

Thanks for the help,
jsullivan

[24Peter]

Here's a start:
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=4ecf716bcf4a732d2b698ffaba9cb5c9& threadid=16494

[chinadan]

Hi!

I just recently bought the AKG C 568EB shotgun mike.

Have not had much time to play with it but the sound, compared to the internal mike is a whole different world.

Some basic food for thought:

- pay attention to the length so when using the DVX mike mount, the mike does not show up in your picture.
- usually, mikes that use pahntom power are shorter and you never have to worry aout the battery running out while on location
- a capsule design is great if you are planning on a versatile future. I.e you have the powering module and then you can first buy a shotgun mike for your documentary, then later you can buy a more omnidirectional capsule and use the same power module. BTW, do nto get misguided by the word capsule. the capsule usually is about 80% of the total length of the mike...

I am not entirely convinced by the Panasonic mike mount yet, you may want to opt for a more professional solution (that is if you are mounting it on the camera), it seems to not decouple the mike enough so I can still hear structure-borne noises being transmitted.

Hope it helps...

[Shrunk_Monk]

Here's an interesting comparison by Dan Brockett, from Ken Stone's site:

http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/review_shotgun_mics.html

Monk

[jchenier]

While the ME66 is a GREAT mic, you don't need it to get GREAT sound. I took Zoomforce's advice (he's the master) and bought the Schriber Acoustic SA-568ZM--an awesome shotgun mic. It only cost me around $100 on ebay, and the audio is impressive! I use it to shoot hockey games, where I want to get audio from the ice, not the parents between me and the action. The mic is worth its weight in gold. Best part about it is its wide/narrow switch, which let's you use it for interviews, or to narrow in on the action.

My best advice is to stay away from the internal mic. At best it was designed for the home movie junkie, but personally I always use the SA-568... even when I'm using a wireless lav, I use the SA-568 on input 2 to record ambient room sound (makes editing audio a much easier task).

I hope this helps.

jchenier

[Guest]

Can you use phantom powered mics when using the camera powed by battery?
will it shorten the battery time to the point where it's not practacal?

[SirAllen]

While I'm sure phantom power does wear down the battery faster since it obviously is doing some kind of work and there is current draw, but it's so minor that it probably won't be noticeable.

So don't fear using phantom power in terms of battery lengths, you can probably shut your LCD for 5 seconds and easily make up the difference in drain ;)

[Guest]

Thank you very much!

[Guest]

I just picked up the new Panasonic nine hour battery so I think I'll be OK. we will see how long it realy lasts.

[chinadan]

The current draw on my phantom-powered mike is 1 mA.

I would think the current draw from the mike can be neglected, I am nit sure however how the camera internally will deal with the signal (i.e. further internal amplification), which may in turn shorten battery life.