7D Filming gunfire

[Mike Cavanaugh]

Has anyone used their Canon 7D to record people shooting handguns or long guns? I'd like to, but am afraid of damage to the 7D's internal microphone.

The manual doesn't seem to contain any warnings about loud noises causing damage.

Thanks,
Mike

 

[ydgmdlu]

I can't imagine how a noise that's too loud would damage a microphone. I would presume that all modern microphones are designed not to electrically overload at loud noises.

EDIT: I found this article that talks a bit about pre-amp overload: http://electronicdesign.com/article...ur-microphone-pre-amp-against-overload56.aspx

 

[shaocaholica]

You could damage a mic physically but it would have to be pretty damn loud. Like a gunshot! I posted a thread about this in the audio forum. You should check there.

 

[ydgmdlu]

Thanks.

 

[Rick Burnett]

The internal mic on the 7D is a electret condenser microphone which is the type of microphone commonly used to record gunshots. From my experience and from what I've found online is that the problem you can encounter with 120 to 150dB of sound is the microphone operation will freeze for a second, but no damage is done to the microphone.

 

[thegoldfi]

"you might be a redneck if..."

 

[Carr]

I'm shooting a war film on the 7D, and I Just gaffe taped a cotton ball in front of it. It'd act like a ghetto softie, but it's better then nothing. Plus that mic should only be use for reference only.