GH13 PANASONIC DMW-MS1E Microphone is it any good

L

Lez

Well-known member
Hi... I'm thinking about getting a mic for my GH13 ... is the DMW-MSiE any good...???

I've tried to do a search of the forums but could not find anything..

I'll still be using my G3's connected the a H4n but was hoping to get a bit better ambient sounds into the camera itself..

On a second note has anybody used a water-proof lapel mic system???

I've got a dodgy set-up that I'm doing to film kayakers whilst in the river... it's all very hit and miss right now.. especially with the wireless...

In fact I've just bought myself a H1 and I'm trying to hard connect the lav's to it.. and then just switch it on and leave it to record..

I'm using the sennheiser ME2's connected to a power-unit that uses 1 x AA battery to power into the H1.. lots of leads and connectors.. which is not good..

The H1 is put in a dry bag which is folded over leaving the Lapel lead sticking out...

I've not tried the condom trick over the mic head yet (that's my next test)..

Any ideas???

Cheers

LeZ
 
I like it. The plug is already the right size, 2.5mm, and its compact size is a perfect fit for GH cameras. The audio is fine and can be made better if you EQ in post.

For your water shoot, though, you might want to try outfitting your talent with compact digital voice recorders like the ones from Olympus. They have mic inputs for lapels and are small enough to fit into a ziplock sandwich bag for protection. The built-in memory on some models is large enough to let you record nonstop for hours. And they are inexpensive compared to the H1 (well under US$100 usually). The only caveats are that you need to sync your footage with audio in post and some recorders don't sync precisely right off the bat (don't worry, the sync difference is linear - you just have to find the speed difference and adjust for it in post. It usually is a very small variation that results in sync drift after a few minutes, but nothing irreparable). You got the right idea: small and wireless (as much as possible) is the way to go.
 
Last edited:
Thanks... That's exactly what I'm trying to do with the water stuff... I'm using the Zoom H1 ... not the smallest but seems to work OK..

Now I'm trying to figure out how to waterproof the mic head... will try the condom trick in the next few days... not sure how much it will effect the dynamics of the mic by putting the rubber over it..

I've been double heading for a while with the H4n and find that FCP is not really that good at Syncing... probably need to port everything to a dedicated audio editing app as FCP is only frame accurate and the audio needs to shift in millisec's to completely sync up with the H4n... I can't shift the audio any more than a frame at a time and it seems like it needs 1/2 frame shifts to correctly sync..

Probably because the video is shot in FPS and the audio is recording in millisec's... maybe there's a menu option on the H4n to record in FPS but I doubt it...

Thanks again...

Cheers
 
I have the older H4, and to make it sync in FCP I adjust the speed of the audio file to play at 100.01 (adjusted in FCP, that is). It holds sync pretty long at this setting. I haven't tested the limits completely, but it did hold sync for a 40 minute musical performance, so should be more than good for average length clips.
 
About the waterproofing of the lapels: do you think shrinkwrap might be a possibility? I imagine that a condom might not fit tight enough and you might get noise from the mic moving around within the condom. Shrinkwrap would be more form-fitting and if wrapped taut enough, may pass sound without harming the quality too much.
 
Yeah shrink wrap could be good...(but maybe a tad to light as in easy tearing)...

I'm thinking if i just use the tip of the condom and stretch it over the capsule and cut the rest off... securing it with a bit of gaffa tape...

Now I need to go to a store and ask if they've got any extra small black condom with no lube... I'm sure the store keeper is going to give me a weird reaction... might be better off in a porno shop... at least they'll be open minded..

Another thought I had was you can get those tiny balloons that the kids fill with water to make water bombs..

We're planning to run a river during a huge environmental flow next week...

Cheers
 
Lez said:
Yeah shrink wrap could be good...(but maybe a tad to light as in easy tearing)...
Click to expand...

I don't know, some shrink-wrapped products give me a conniption when I try to unwrap them - the stuff can be pretty durable. Well, good luck with whatever method you use...let us know how it all works out.
 
i have the Nikon ME1 mike(doesnt have a battery) and it works on my GH2(with 3.5 to 2.5 adaptor) and also works on my TM900 i got it for its small size,i do have 2 of the panasonic MS1,s and they work well too just a bit big for the TM900
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top