A COMPLETE beginner witha very basic question

E

EyeCure

New member
*IMPORTANT: I HAVE READ THE NEW TO AUDIO STICKY*

A bit of a background, I'm in high school. I'm not perusing any career in filmmaking but it's loads of fun and I enjoy making videos. Some career in that area might be an option. BUT what I am confused about is the hardware and the jacks and whatnot. I have a Samsung H104 HD camera, and I was thinking of throwing together a few things for a Boom Mic/Pole. But as I was looking around for stuff, I noticed that I should probably find out whats compatible with my camera. But after the research I have done, I am still at a loss. On the back of my camera, there are 4 input jacks, 2 I assume are HDMI, because they are under big letters that say... well, "HDMI". "DC In" which IS the charger. Don't worry, I'm sure about that one. And finally a small jack that has the letters "AV" above it.

...

Now I'm wondering if my camera even supports some sort of external audio source...

...

Anyways, my main question is: How do I find out what works for my camera?
 
See, the trouble with my camera is that I can't find any sort of jack like that on my camera, which is very troublesome. And my budget is basically around $100-200ish. Maybe a little less would be nice, but if I dip into my money I can afford more.
 
It looks like you don't have a mic in, so you're stuck with the built in mics. Unless you chose sync sound (use of an external recorder).
 
As vger says, there doesn't appear to be a mic on on that camera, and the 'AV' jack is almost certainly also an output.

So you're pretty much stuck trying to work out a dual system setup, which isn't going to be easy on your budget.

I think it's safe to assume that your goal is less 'professional sound' and more 'something better than on-camera'. I'm also going to assume you don't mind putting in a little work to put this all together. I'm also hoping you already have some headphones that don't completely suck.

So accepting that you're going to have to MacGuyer a solution together and at the risk of a whole lot of "you're doing it wrong" replies, here's what I'd suggest:

You basically need a boom, a mic, a mount, and a recorder.

Recorder: Zoom's new H1 is just $100, and looks to be a fairly solid little device.

Mic: Rode Video Mic (mono). These go for around $150, maybe a little less if you shop around. It's really the cheapest mic that's all all recommendable. Senheiser's MKE300 / 400 are in the same price range, though I'm not certain they have proper shock mounting.

Boom: Get a painters pole from Home Depot or your preferred hardware / paint store. They're usually made of fibreglass and shouldn't be more than say $30. Something that extend to say 10-12 feet should be enough for now. You'll need a way to mount the mic on the pole. The mics I listed above all have shoe mounts which are nothing at all like a paint roller's threaded connection, so some creativity may be required. The best option I can find in a quick search is this. Maybe you can scavenge something off an old camera at a thrift shop to save a buck or two if you really need to. Screw that into the end of the pole. (That's a whole lot easier if the end of the pole is some kind of plastic.) It's probably best to pre-drill a pilot hole to make sure you don't snap/crack the top of the pole.

You probably also need an extension cable between the mic and the recorder. A basic headphone extension cable should work fine.

All told, that should be under $300, if you shop around a little. Not quite at your budget point, but hopefully not too far out of reach.
 
Ok guys, thank you all for the info. It looks like I'm just gonna wait until I buy I better camera, which might be in the years to come. But right now, I have a friend with a higher end camera, and we might be able to put something together for his camera. So once again, thank you all for the information. It was very helpful.
 
And since your new lets correct a term that was used. Using an external recorder is called "double system" (sound and picture separate but recorded in sync). On camera recording is "single system". Both are "sync sound" because the sound is recorded in sync with the picture.

Using the term "sync sound" to ask about "double system" sound might get you some confusing and conflicting answerers so I though I would clear that up for future reference.


Nobody mentioned this but the A/V jack probably takes a special cable that has video and audio connections so you can connect to a TV etc. It probably is an in and out and it might allow you to feed external audio while shooting. That is a BIG might. I have only come across one that did.
 
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