C300: Camera mic for C70 & C300 Mark III

Eric Coughlin

Eric Coughlin

Veteran
What's a good camera mic for the C70 and C300 Mark III?

Apparently they now have mic power output on the 3.5mm input, so that opens up mic power powered mics that couldn't have been used with the C300 Mark II.

Using mic power is great because then you never have to worry about changing batteries, turning the mic on and off, and the size of mic powered mics tends to be small, though I wonder if their quality is as good. I like leaving my XLRs free for other purposes, so having an on-camera mic going through the 3.5mm input to channels 3 & 4 without having to worry about batteries is ideal.

As far as supercardioid (which I believe is what I'd want for on-camera) with plug-in power and name brand, there is the Sennheiser MKE 200 and Rode Videomic Go. Any other options I should consider?
 
NorBro said:
Highly recommend the VideoMic NTG...has adjustable gain and you can lower the level of the C70's/C300's 3.5mm input track to get cleaner audio. Other mics have fixed +10dB, +20dB.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1521595-REG/rode_vmntg_videomic_ntg_camera_mount_shotgun.html
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30 Hour USB rechargeable built-in battery sounds like a nightmare. Since the battery is not replaceable, that means plugging the mic into a USB port once every two or three shoots to recharge it, which is much more of a hassle and time suck than just grabbing a new AA, AAA, or 9V battery (which can be rechargeable so you don't have to keep buying new ones). I mean, you'd have to either take the mic off of the camera constantly to charge it, or place your camera bag next to the charger, or take the camera out and put it next to a charge. Not so bad if you only have to do it a few times a year, but once every few shoots, that's like 40 times per year. Forget or not have time to charge it between shoots? Well, now you can't use it, unless you want to add a USB charger as gack to your camera or extra cabling if your camera battery has a USB output.

As with all batteries, they wear down over years until eventually they don't work at all. One of the first pieces of equipment I bought when I started buying equipment around 10 years ago was an Audio Technica AT-875r, and now it's still in use as my Amira's on-camera mic. No worry about failing batteries after 10 years.

I don't see any options for plug-in power or even phantom power with that mic, so with it's built-in battery it's dead in the water to me.
 
NorBro said:
Is charging your phone every day a nightmare?
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Yes, but we don't have much choice in this day and age. I fondly recall the days of flip phones where the batteries lasted for a multiple days before dying. Smart phones seem to keep getting worse and worse battery life as they progress, and it's painful. I often can't even just sit at home around the house for a single day with my newest iPhone I recently got without having to put it on a charger. It's a real pain. Obviously going back to flip phones isn't the solution, but hopefully cell phone battery tech will improve in the near future. I own like 10 USB battery packs now but keep misplacing them.

Fortunately for camera mics there are choices that don't require constant battery charging. The Amira has a third XLR port so I use that with Phantom power with my Audio Technica AT875r, and the C300 Mark II I use the Audio Technica AT897 which has a 1600 hour battery life with a single rechargeable AA battery which only drains when the camera is turned on, so it lasts for months without changing. The 897 is a bit on the long side, so since the new C-series have plug-in power it would be nice to get a smaller solution, particularly for the C70.

I'm also now dealing with the C300 Mark III having half the battery life of the Mark II, and figuring out solutions for that as it likely means putting multiple or larger batteries on the camera in order to give it a reasonable runtime, which is also a pain as one of the benefits of the C-series over the Amira is the smaller size and once you tack on an Anton Bauer battery their sizes aren't quite as substantially different. Fortunately the C70 has really good battery life. The C500 Mark II's battery life is the worst of the bunch, another reason not to go with that camera.

It's clear that battery tech is not keeping up with the other tech needing higher power draws resulting in lower battery run times across the board of technology.
 
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I'm sure you'll get the most common recommendations in a bit along with some personal thoughts about them.

In the meantime, if you care to search B&H's microphone section there is a filter there where you can choose the power source.

99% of 3.5mm microphones are plug-in power (with an optional battery being a feature). [The one above is a modern microphone for multiple devices.]

The fact that the C300 Mark II doesn't have plug-in power (if true) is an anomaly...about the craziest thing I've heard in a while.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/Shotgun/ci/8533/N/4291086008

Microphone Power Source.jpg
 
NorBro said:
I'm sure you'll get the most common recommendations in a bit along with some personal thoughts about them.

In the meantime, if you care to search B&H's microphone section there is a filter there where you can choose the power source.

99% of 3.5mm microphones are plug-in power (with an optional battery being a feature). [The one above is a modern microphone for multiple devices.]

The fact that the C300 Mark II doesn't have plug-in power (if true) is an anomaly...about the craziest thing I've heard in a while.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/Shotgun/ci/8533/N/4291086008

View attachment 142098
Click to expand...
Yeah, I've used that search feature on B&H, which narrowed it down to the Rode and Sennheiser I'd specified as far as known name brand mics. There were other options I had not heard of before, some of them rather cheap which makes me wonder how good they are, but I was wondering if anyone knew of any of those other options being good, or if there are options not listed on B&H worth looking into.

B&H lists 38 microphones with plug-in power, but has 112 3.5mm microphones, so unless many of those 3.5mm microphones they have are not being properly categorized with the plug-in power option, then it would appear only around 1/3rd of 3.5mm microphones have plug-in power as an option. I assume the VideoMic NTG cannot be powered by plug-in power and you haven't mentioned otherwise with regards to it. If it can be, then it would be a viable option.

I have doubts that the Sennheiser is that directional with it's super short barrel, and I'm not a huge fan of the bulky and non-removable plastic shock mount of the Rode Videomic Go.
 
99%, in general. There are dozens and dozens of 3.5mm microphones on Amazon (cheap ones like you mentioned).

One dude on this forum used a $25 or so mic for his movie and I thought it sounded great.

As far as B&H, humans are still entering data so there are many errors on B&H with such a massive catalogue so search results and their specifications do need to be double-checked and confirmed.

Nevertheless...for a scratch microphone most of them probably would sound just fine.
 
A little off-topic, but if you're not getting a full day out of your iPhone battery and you're not using it heavily, something is wrong. I have an 11 Pro that I've had since launch day in '19 and with general use: checking email, texting, reading Apple News, BT on & constantly connected plus maybe a few calls(who still makes calls on their cell phone, right?), I generally get two days before I have to charge it.
 
Run&Gun said:
A little off-topic, but if you're not getting a full day out of your iPhone battery and you're not using it heavily, something is wrong. I have an 11 Pro that I've had since launch day in '19 and with general use: checking email, texting, reading Apple News, BT on & constantly connected plus maybe a few calls(who still makes calls on their cell phone, right?), I generally get two days before I have to charge it.
Click to expand...

+1, the 11 pro has pretty great battery life. I've heard the most recent iPHone is actually worse, but I don't have it. Like you, I have the 11 pro.
 
NorBro said:
I'm sure you'll get the most common recommendations in a bit along with some personal thoughts about them.

In the meantime, if you care to search B&H's microphone section there is a filter there where you can choose the power source.

99% of 3.5mm microphones are plug-in power (with an optional battery being a feature). [The one above is a modern microphone for multiple devices.]

The fact that the C300 Mark II doesn't have plug-in power (if true) is an anomaly...about the craziest thing I've heard in a while.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/Shotgun/ci/8533/N/4291086008

View attachment 142098
Click to expand...

C200 doesn't either. Ask me how I know...Lame.
 
Run&Gun said:
A little off-topic, but if you're not getting a full day out of your iPhone battery and you're not using it heavily, something is wrong. I have an 11 Pro that I've had since launch day in '19 and with general use: checking email, texting, reading Apple News, BT on & constantly connected plus maybe a few calls(who still makes calls on their cell phone, right?), I generally get two days before I have to charge it.
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I got the iPhone 12 Mini. I just Googled it and Google says it has 15 hours of battery life. Google says 26 hours for the iPhone 11.

I guess maybe sometimes I do get by a day without charging, but it seems like I'm often running low. Of course it would depend on level of usage in a given day.
 
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NorBro said:
99%, in general. There are dozens and dozens of 3.5mm microphones on Amazon (cheap ones like you mentioned).

One dude on this forum used a $25 or so mic for his movie and I thought it sounded great.

As far as B&H, humans are still entering data so there are many errors on B&H with such a massive catalogue so search results and their specifications do need to be double-checked and confirmed.

Nevertheless...for a scratch microphone most of them probably would sound just fine.
Click to expand...
99%...are you saying the VideoMic NTG can be powered with plug-in power?

It's not a scratch microphone as the internal mic on the camera is good enough for syncing. It's for the occasional time the camera is close to the subject, say shooting b-roll, and you don't have them laved up (perhaps no audio guy or whatever), so it's nice to be able to get as good of a feed going to camera as you can. I don't use on-camera mics often, but when I do need one I'm glad I've already got it on my camera and ready to go.
 
Eric Coughlin said:
I got the iPhone 12 Mini. I just Googled it and Google says it has 15 hours of battery life. Google says 26 hours for the iPhone 11.

I guess maybe sometimes I do get by a day without charging, but it seems like I'm often running low. Of course it would depend on level of usage in a given day.
Click to expand...

Definitely depends on usage... Using GPS/Google Maps/Apple Maps, etc. and your battery is gonna go bye-bye fast. I've had times when I've been driving and using Google Maps and streaming a podcast or music to my phone and then to my stereo in my truck via BT and despite having the phone either plugged-up or charging wirelessly, the battery was being depleted faster than it could be replenished.

I remember when Apple only put out ONE phone a year(with different levels of internal storage). Much easier to keep track of then(and buy accessories for). A quick glance on Apple's site and there appears to be seven(!) current different models being sold. And then factor in the options for storage... Gave your 12 mini a quick glance, too. Apple states: 15 hrs for video playback, 10 hours streaming video playback and 50 hours audio playback. Remember when "talk time" and "standby time" used to be listed under battery life?
 
Eric Coughlin said:
99%...are you saying the VideoMic NTG can be powered with plug-in power?

It's not a scratch microphone as the internal mic on the camera is good enough for syncing. It's for the occasional time the camera is close to the subject, say shooting b-roll, and you don't have them laved up (perhaps no audio guy or whatever), so it's nice to be able to get as good of a feed going to camera as you can. I don't use on-camera mics often, but when I do need one I'm glad I've already got it on my camera and ready to go.
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No; it's in the 1%, it's special.

Seriously though, the rechargeable battery thing is a forum problem, not a real-world production problem.

It's a great microphone if you can be bothered to charge it.

Other than that, I got nothing. This is the one I like because of the variable gain control.

With that said, they all sound the same to me on YouTube.
 
The C-series tend to have pretty good pre-amps, so unlike say my Canon 60D which has weak pre-amps, I don't find the variable gain control to be as important. I remember using +20 db on my Rode Videomic Pro with the 60D back in the day.

But yeah, I can't imagine I'd wanted to be bothered to charge it. Charging the Rode Videomic Pro back in the day was an extra shoot preparation step that I never appreciated having to do. I've got to get three of these for two C300 Mark IIIs and a C70 and that sounds like too much of a hassle to have to constantly deal with charging them when there are other options available that don't require charging. The less batteries to deal with between shoots, the better.

If they all sound the same, then the smallest option would seem to be the best option, which looks like the Sennheiser. Rode also has the Rode Videomic Micro, but it's listed as a cardioid instead of supercardiod, so I don't imagine would be as good as the Rode Videomic Go for an on-camera mic.


I did dig up my Rode Videomic Pro in preparation for a shoot with the C70 a couple days ago, but then couldn't find the battery lid for it which it would not work without, so had to resort to using my long AT897. The XLR to mini XLR cables I'd bought had not arrived yet so I couldn't use the shorter AT-875rs.
 
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Eric Coughlin said:
I have doubts that the Sennheiser is that directional with it's super short barrel, and I'm not a huge fan of the bulky and non-removable plastic shock mount of the Rode Videomic Go.
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Look up the pick-up pattern?

EDIT here it is:

20210125_205412.jpg

It doesn't look super duper directional (although do you need it to be if talent will be close to camera?) but at least this can give you a benchmark to compare to the other mics you're considering

And the videomic go!:

Screenshot_20210125-205726_Drive.jpg

To my amateur sound eyes, it looks like the videomic go indeed has a bit better off-axis rejection (probably due to the interference tube), especially at high frequencies (which should be quite useful) although their patterns are not night and day different
 
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I ask my Sound Ops about sound gear.

Only seems fitting, they like sharing their expertise, and if they give bad advice I get to have fun razzing them over it.
 
if I was using a C70, I would likely just throw my AT875r on it using an adapter for the mini XLR. The mics you guys are discussing are definitely a step down in ruggedness and sound quality from
a "real" mic. But with a dead cat on it, it would be a bit bulky and in the way unless you had a cage. Do you have a cage (or are you planning on adding one) for your C70 Eric? If not, I got nothing
too.

I use the Røde Video Mic on my Fuji X-T3s and it works surprisingly well as a scratch and ambient mic but that won't play ball with the C70 (or my C200/300 MKII), although I wish it did.
 
I bought a Sennheiser MKE 200, Rode VideoMicro, and a Rode VideoMic GO. Will see what ones I like for which cameras.

I don't think I'm planning on a cage but will see. I think right now I'm just going to get a metal top handle and a little rigging to mount the mic to the side of the handle. Trying to figure that part out. I looked at double cold shoe adapters but don't think that is the solution. Maybe a little 15mm rail with a cold shoe adapter to get the mic to the right of the handle. EDIT: Actually, I'm looking at cage or top and bottom plate options now. EDIT 2: It looks like only Smallrig and Zacuto have cages for the C70 and neither are shipping yet.

I'd considered going without a handle and just mounting the mic to the cold shoe, but after using the C70 on a recent shoot found myself using the handle way to much to give it up. This is basically like a C100 but just a little smaller, and for my C100s I had my main one setup with a handle and then my B and C C100s I went without a handle since they often lived on tripods.
 
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