AF100's sound recording

[Thomas Church]

I'm a bit of of a sound noob, but since the AF100 supposedly records high quality, uncompressed audio, why wouldn't you just feed the mic through a mixer and then record it directly on the camera?

Why use a dual system?

[awelgraven]

Who said you had to use a dual system? One of the big advantages of this camera vs. DSLR IMHO is that you don't have to have dual system sound

[agcohn]

I'm a bit of of a sound noob, but since the AF100 supposedly records high quality, uncompressed audio, why wouldn't you just feed the mic through a mixer and then record it directly on the camera?

Why use a dual system?
If you want more than 2 tracks.
If you want higher quality than 48kHz/16bit.
If you want the flexibility of moving the mixer wherever.

[manglerBMX]

what ^ he said. also, there are huge debates amongst sound mixers about the camera's operators responsibility for being the "recorder" operator.

[Multi-Media]

It depends on how many inputs you need v/s how portable you need to be.
If you are shooting a panel of people, or need a bunch of inputs, you can do what I do. I have two Shure M267 portable mixers. They each have 4 inputs and one out. They are AC or DC, so you can work in the field as well.
For the most part, I will just use a lav or shotgun into the camera... that simplifies everything.
One thing I will miss is the internal mics for simple wild sound for background.

[Petros Kolyvas]

It depends on how many inputs you need v/s how portable you need to be.
If you are shooting a panel of people, or need a bunch of inputs, you can do what I do. I have two Shure M267 portable mixers. They each have 4 inputs and one out. They are AC or DC, so you can work in the field as well.
For the most part, I will just use a lav or shotgun into the camera... that simplifies everything.
One thing I will miss is the internal mics for simple wild sound for background.

AG-AF100 has internal mics. Barry can ultimately confirm or deny this, but I believe stereo omnis are incorporated into the front IR receiver mount, like many Panny cameras.

[Barry_Green]

Stereo omni mic is present. It's not in the front IR receiver, it's ... well, actually, I can't say for sure because I haven't seen final hardware, but on the prototype I used it was on the top of the camera in front of the viewfinder.

[Petros Kolyvas]

Stereo omni mic is present. It's not in the front IR receiver, it's ... well, actually, I can't say for sure because I haven't seen final hardware, but on the prototype I used it was on the top of the camera in front of the viewfinder.

Good to know. I was guessing based on pictures and past panny experience.