distance lag while using H4n and plural eyes

B

budha

Active member
1. I just wanted to do a scenario here to see what the answer was. Lets say I am doing an interview with my 7d and H4n. I am planning to use PluralEyes to sync in post. If the subject was using a lavaliere mic and he was say 10-12 feet away, would their be a lag that would cause the sound to become slightly out of sync due to the distance (because I'd be using the 7d's onboard mic).

2. Also, lets say the 7d does get a firmware hack that disables AGC. Could I still use the H4n as a passthrough device so I could use my XLR cables and have the other mics for ambient sound? Would this in theory work, or does the plugin to the camera not quality enough to give good sound?

3. Last:

lets say I was video taping a lecture or something and it was the same scenario. The speakers were 20-30 feet away, what would happen? (I'm asking this part just in case I get an H4N and use it w/ another normal camera).
 
Well, 10-12 feet difference will throw you of by 1/4 frame, which doesn't sound like much but is ~10 milliseconds. It won't be noticeacly out of sync visually, but if you are using any audio from the onboard mic you'll get an unpleasant flanging effect. But you can just slide it around on the timeline anyway.

I'd be careful about routing the H4n straight into the camera. Try it with very low output levels and work up, because line voltage is lot higher than mic voltage and if you plug it straight in you'll get hideous distortion. Plus it's guaranteed not to sound as good anyway because it's going through 2 more d/a/d conversions, so only use the onboard audio for syncing.

Pluraleyes is useful, I guess, but you kids today are getting lazy :-)
 
Wouldn't you beat any lag by both recording on the H4n and feeding an output into the 7D for a scratch sync track?
 
Yeah, not an issue if you do that. But bear in mind that if you have, say, a boom near the camera and a radio mic on an actor walking toward/away from the lens (or you use the two X-Y mics built into the zoom and 2 radio mics), past 10 feet or so the tracks will seem to drift and give you that metallic sound until you line them back up in the editor.

I do suggest you consider getting the little $30 remote for the Zoom and popping it up on a mic stand if your production allows - those XY mics will give you a nice stereo field most of the time, and you can mix in the boom/radio in the middle. At the very lest, always get some room tone using those mics, it'll make your scene feel bigger and more involving.
 
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Ok so to clarify...

You can still record onto the H4n w/ separate tracks that are recorded onto the SD card, while still running a line into the 7D while recording so that plural eyes can use it for syncing?

I REALLY appreciate the help on this, because it took away some of my fears.
 
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