Panasonic AG-AC90 missing AGC audio solutions

geani66

geani66

Active member
I was wondering if someone has a solution for the missing automatic audio controls in this camcorder?
What are you using guys for a run and gun situation......like a wedding where the audio levels are changing every minute or so?
It's so frustrating because you have to keep an eye on levels all the time.
Any advice?
Thanks
 
... Have to pay attention to sound?, what is the world coming to.

My system has a full auto setting. I just tell it Shoot the Wedding and it fires up it's drone and shoots the whole thing while I have a beer or three. Then I get it back and download the card to my auto editor and have it assemble the finished professional product. It's fantastic, I didn't even have to read a manual or take a class or anything.
 
geani66 said:
I was wondering if someone has a solution for the missing automatic audio controls in this camcorder?
What are you using guys for a run and gun situation......like a wedding where the audio levels are changing every minute or so?
It's so frustrating because you have to keep an eye on levels all the time.
Any advice?
Thanks
Click to expand...

I don't have this camera but a quick google of the manual brought up this:

By setting 2ch MIC ALC to ON, automatic audio level adjustment function can be enabled.
MENU > Recording Setup > 2ch MIC ALC: ON
 
I replied to the OP in another thread and suggested bring this here, so all of you play nice....

As it turns out, the OP just does this for kicks, so think about budget options. I suggested a used MixPre attached to the shoe, or velcro attached to the cam base and run line-in to the cam. I've done this with other Panny cams and it works well. Or as well as good as it will get doing run and gun for fun. But does the OP have a wireless kit or a boom with mic (with boomchild helper) or will this be a cam mounted affair?

More info please.
 
OK, I was trying to be funny more than nasty, but it looks like the RTFM was a bit on point...
 
Gary
This setting is for the in camera mic.
I have a Rode shotgun microphone connected to the input 2 xlr where you don't have the AGC .
Thank you
 
geani66 said:
Gary
This setting is for the in camera mic.
I have a Rode shotgun microphone connected to the input 2 xlr where you don't have the AGC .
Thank you
Click to expand...

Hmmm presume you mean the built in 5.1 mic???? (why do they put these on camcorders as they are crap and not 5.1 just an M/S software matrix)

Looking at pictures I can see that each input can be selected for Ch1 and Ch2 between INT L+R (internal mic?) or input 1 or 2.

OK I don't have this camera but I do have an HPX-371 and it has an input selector too with auto gain placed after any input.

I may be wrong but I would have thought that they would have placed any limiters or gain controls after the input selectors.

I also see that like my HPX371 there is a sensitivity control for the XLR mic inputs of -50 or -60 which my camera also has but if as you say the auto gain is only on the in built mic then I would suggest that you keep the levels down as you can always add gain in the edit but distortion is very hard to get rid of.

Have you asked panasonic or your dealer if there are plans to change things in firmware as I saw on the panasonic web site that there was an update but if it is as you say I fond that strange as they have taken the trouble to give you a switch so you can select which tracks are assigned for input and the locical thing would be to have limiters and any auto gain feature after those selectors.

As others have said auto gain is limited and may add certain other problems but hey I use it on my HPS371 as it allows me to concentrate on my main audio and allow my camera mic to always be there as a back-up if I need it in an emergency. The one on the 371 is pretty good too and I have used it for news run and gun situations with a presenter on a a lav radio mic and a stick interview mic grabbing interviews on demo or news situations where looking after levels is just impractical.
 
Thanks for your answer,Gary
I have also a "toy"camera.....a Vixia HFG10 with a dm100 on top and with the AGC enabled it works like magic.
Usable sound.....actually I shot my first wedding with this "combination" and it was ok.
You have a lot of things to worry when you shoot an event.......keeping an eye on your levels ALL the time it's a pain.
 
OK you got me curious so I read the manual. As far as I can tell you are correct and the ALC (AGC) is only for the "5.1" built in mic. Very weird choice. So looks like you are SOL with external mics.

While as a sound person I hate AGC for the horrible mess it makes of the tracks, you are in a somewhat different boat and I can see why you want something like this. So a better solution than AGC is to record fairly hot and use a really good limiter. It does add a box, and the one I would recommend is the MixPre by sound devices. The MP will give you better preamps which is a bit of a plus but most importantly it will give you a pair of the some of the best limiters on the market. You can set it up so that it will feed a "clip proof" signal to the camera and then you don't have to worry about the levels constantly. The plus is that it won't ride the gain up when things are quiet so you won't get the big noise boosts. A possible down side for you is that because it doesn't ride the gain up its not going to flatten out the levels in quite the same way as an AGC.

SD also makes a single channel version but it's not that much cheaper and lacks some of the bells and whistles of the MixPre. Also you only need the older version so you could probably pick one up used for not a whole lot of $.
 
I agree that AGC is not an ideal solution to any audio recording but the one that is on my P2 HPX-371 cameras is very good and I would rather have AGC on individual tracks than distorted audio.

As said I tend to use it for run and gun situations and with radio mic's so the signal that is being fed is already companded and as you can also select tracks 3&4 to have no AGC I can just record with limiters or nothing applied on those.
 
Thanks for your answer
This was something that you want to hear
When you are a passionate guy and asking for an advice on forums like this,getting good and informative answers is like.....PRICELESS.
You wake up in the morning and can't wait to read the answers from people like you.....
Experienced and ready to help...
Thanks again.
 
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