canon eos-m audio in movie mode

R

robfilms

Veteran
i worked this afternoon on using the eos-m's audio functions in movie mode.

the end result is decent.

getting there felt very hit or miss.

i am disappointed in the audio controls.

the pre-amp and mic combo is typical consumer camcorder. nothing special on either count.

i ran a at875r short shotgun mic, mounted atop of the camera into a mix-pre and then sent the mic signal thru the mix-pre and into the eos-m's 3.5mm side port.

in the menu i had gone to the movie tool folder and switched the audio from automatic to manual.

i set levels on the mix-pre and attempted to calibrate the input record level on the eos-m. my mix-pre level even at it's lowest was going in mid-to high on the eos-m. i had to turn the eos-m record level to 1/4 as to not have the level peak into the red.

i did a quick talking head with my oldest daughter.

unfortunately, there is no live audio metering during movie mode. canon has live audio metering on its most basic camcorders. they should have included that functionality along with a headphone jack.

as for the footage-color fidelity, focus, skin tone, all were very nice.

and the audio levels from the mix-pre were spot on.

i brought the sd card into my imac. the files are easy to ingest .mov/h264 files. the movies can be perfect b-roll for other canon dslr footage or even web distributed media.

i just wish the darn audio was managed better.

more tests to come.

ymmv.

be well.

rob
smalltalk productions
nyc
 
DSLRs are not known for their audio quality or control. That's just the nature of the beast, and a separate audio recorder is going to be your best practice. A couple of things though...

1) Magic Lantern now works on EOS-M, and if it works there like on all other EOS/Rebel cameras, it adds audio metering.

2) Are you using the original MixPre, or the MixPre-D? If using the former, which I suspect you are, the 1/8" Tape Out is a -10dB line-level signal, whereas the 1/8" in on the camera is a mic-level input. You're sending a much stronger signal into an input that is built for a much lower signal. That's why you're experiencing all the clipping issues. The solution is to get a padded cable to knock the signal level down. The MixPre-D added a specialized mic-level output (via mini-XLR) intended for feeding DSLRs and other small cameras that have only mic-level inputs.

Side-note: on-camera is the last/worst place for a mic, especially where interviews, talking heads, and other dialog are concerned.
 
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