canon 7D external mics

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darkblasko

Member
I have a Canon 7D and i would like to get an external mic for it but i don't know much about them. I was hoping some people may have suggestions.
 
Mainly outdoor shots... I find that just a little wind just kills the audio but I would like it to be just an overall improvement to the audio
 
You might consider a Rode Videomic or Stereo Videomic along with some wind protection. If you're working alone and can't get a mic on a boom down close to the subject, 20 inches or so from their mouth, don't expect miracles. On camera is almost never going to be what you might call good but you can get it better than what you have right now.
 
You might consider a Rode Videomic or Stereo Videomic along with some wind protection. If you're working alone and can't get a mic on a boom down close to the subject, 20 inches or so from their mouth, don't expect miracles. On camera is almost never going to be what you might call good but you can get it better than what you have right now.
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+1 It will be an improvement, but probably not much of one.
 
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Folks, let's keep on-topic in here, okay? No need for snarky comments. It's disrespectful to the OP, and it doesn't do anything to build up the community here. If you cannot contribute real advice, please move along.
 
darkblasko said:
I have a Canon 7D and i would like to get an external mic for it but i don't know much about them. I was hoping some people may have suggestions.
Click to expand...

The biggest problem is going to be the AGC of the 7D, which alters the gain of the system based on the levels the mic is detecting. With an external mic, you can get one with some wind protection, but if no sound is happening, the noise gets gained up.

I own a 7D so I'm very familiar with how poor the audio can be coming from it.

While not the best recorder, the zoom H4n with an external mic with wind protection can be good. Also, I believe there is some wind protection you can add right to the mics on the H4n, but I am not a fan of the built in mics.

In post, you'd have to line up the audio from the recorder and the 7D clips. Something like Pluralize can do this (plugin).
 
darkblasko said:
Mainly outdoor shots... I find that just a little wind just kills the audio but I would like it to be just an overall improvement to the audio
Click to expand...

I think you just need

1) a Rode VideoMic Pro, which retails at $229 from B&H, with
2) a good wind protector (about $30-40), plus
3) an extra 6 meter extension cable.

With such a simple solution, you can:

- mount the VMP on your 7D, as this mic is designed to be used that way.
- hand hold it, and either walk up to the sound source or use your arm as your boom pole.
- mount it on a boom pole
- mount it on a separate audio recorder for more consistent results than recording directly into 7D.

This mic is acoustically comparable to Rode NTG-2, and is extremely simple to use with a video DSLR like 7D. You can achieve very usable results if your mic is close enough to the sound source and pointing to it properly. Especially if you use a separate recorder and if you monitor the recording like you do 7D's focusing and exposure.

If you use 7D to record audio, 7D's AGC helps if the sound source is continuously loud (e.g., when you watch and record a show in a public street event, which is typically very loud and noisy), but it will raise noise level whenever there are quiet moments or pauses, which ruins your otherwise clean and quiet audio recording. If you don't like 7D's AGC, your options are

- use an audio recorder or
- switch to a different camera or
- use an AGC suppressing device made for 7D.
 
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