GH4 (GH5) Any reviews on the audio adapter? How are the preamps?

C

CustomerGH4

Well-known member
I have Tascam DR70D, is it more sensible to buy a cord from that to GH5 or take the Audio adapter???
I have a feeling the preamps on the audio adapter might not be as good as DR70D?
Anybody have any info on the audio adapter?
 
If you're happy with the tascam the audio box will be fine. Even if the preamps aren't as good, they're still good enough, plus you can free your camera from the prison that is the tascam.
 
I just got the GH5 adapter in yesterday and haven't had time to test it, but having a YAGH for one GH4 and a cage and JuicedLink preamp for the other, I can say this new mounting setup is both quick and efficient with a simple lever to lock it to the hot shoe. This I like a lot!
 
Edithouse - I would be very interested to know how you feel about the JuicedLink VS GH5 Audio unit. I have a JuicedLink Riggy Micro w/my GH4.
 
So I've used it three times and I have no issues with it other than I really wish they had an option to record one input and use the internal mic as a second input. Same as the YAGH you either have 2 separate inputs or one mono input to two channels. Well, what if you just have one mic and don't want the second channel blank, or you want one mic but recorded to two channels at different levels? Since the cage choices are limited at the moment, I can't mount the JuicedLink I have in a place where I want it, so this is the best choice for me and I prefer the top mounted design
 
edithouse said:
So I've used it three times and I have no issues with it other than I really wish they had an option to record one input and use the internal mic as a second input. Same as the YAGH you either have 2 separate inputs or one mono input to two channels. Well, what if you just have one mic and don't want the second channel blank, or you want one mic but recorded to two channels at different levels? Since the cage choices are limited at the moment, I can't mount the JuicedLink I have in a place where I want it, so this is the best choice for me and I prefer the top mounted design
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You buy a mic to replace the internal mic. Just about any mic you can find online would be better than the internal mic.

One mic to two channels as a poor mans safety track at different levels? Get an XLR splitter cable so you can feed one mic into both channels. You can then shift the second channel down 6db for a safety track. https://www.amazon.com/Hosa-YXM-121...rd_wg=PMLr4&psc=1&refRID=W1F3TCQEMV2HY4FF30GA
 
edithouse, what do you think of the audio preamp quality VS the riggy juicedlink micro?

And as a bonus. if you made a good audio comparison video between those setups, you would become a sort of heroic icon of the DVX forums.... appealing, no? ;)
 
Ha ha...hero icon sounds appealing....however, I don't have the critical ears to make any judgement regarding preamps of one versus the other. They both sound fine to me. I know on the JuicedLink RM222 with a GH4, I had to make a special TRRS 3.5mm jack into the GH4 to get discreet 2 channels, and thats just another cable I don't need now. Form factor of this DMW‑XLR1 is certainly a plus for me. Plus 96kHz/24bit option on the GH5, top mounted interface without a cage, no additional cables, and powered by the GH5 simply point to this interface as my choice hands down.
 
Since I've gotten it I've used it on 3 shoots, all with the VT500 lav mics I've been using for years connected via XLR. Sound quality of the pre amps is on par with cameras like the DVX200 or an external solution like the Zoom h4n. I've not used the DR70D so I can't comment on that one specifically. It's not Sound Devices good, but it's definitely a fine solution. I also thought it was weird that the low cuts are at 16hz and 160hz. I was expecting something more around 100hz, but the rolloff was pretty gentle so 160hz didn't cut out too much bass.

I like the fact that it's well integrated so you don't need to deal with separate batteries or cabling and you don't need to mess with syncing in post or managing multiple files.

My biggest complaint is that it feels a little pro-sumer and not particularly robust. I'm afraid I'm going to accidentally knock it around and rip the whole hot shoe mount off my camera. Maybe some camera cage manufacturer will have a solution that protects it a little better. An under camera mount like the YAGH would have been more robust, but probably at the expense of keeping the controls easily accessible.

Overall I'll definitely be using this for things like simple interviews or run and gun type shoots where an external recorder is overkill.
 
The guy in the second video said he got 2:13 minutes out of a battery using the audio adapter. The way other people are talking you need to go out and buy 10 batteries because the GH5 just eats up battery life.
Could it be people are over testing the camera by having the display screen on to much? Or something else? My GH3 does really good on batteries and I'll probably up grade to the GH5. Glad to hear someone is getting good battery life.
TheDingo said:

Click to expand...
 
Zim said:
The guy in the second video said he got 2:13 minutes out of a battery using the audio adapter.
Click to expand...

It really depends on the XLR mics you are powering. Some mics put out very little signal and require a ton of gain to be usable ( and are usually noisy because of this ), while other XLR mics are the opposite, needing very little gain and can be powered for a very long time on one set of batteries.
 
The gh5 simply uses more power because it has much more powerful processing, internal stabilization, for adapter...with a battery that was designed for the gh3...so I'd say it's fine but 4 batteries are good for a day.
 
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