Powered Lav for HF100

[Duff]

I'm planning on buying an HF100 and am looking for a good lav to pair with it, since most of what I'll be shooting with it will be solo work.

I was looking at the Sony ECM-55b ($267) or the AT899 ($200), since both of them sounded good to my ears from Dan's test. Are there any other battery powered lavs I should be considering?

The other option would be to get something like the Beachtek DXA-6 that would provide phantom power ($260), and a Countryman B6 ($290). The B6 sounds much better in my opinion, but isn't worth it if I have to pay double.

The question, then, is does the Beachtek provide any benefit over using a self-powered lav? In other words, will I want the Beachtek even for a lav that can run off a battery, in which case I can justify the B6 expense, or would I be just fine using a powered-lav with an XLR-to-miniplug adapter?

 

[raphb]

Great question. I'm in the market for a lavalier for my canon hf100, too. But I have similar problems..

• Theres nearly no digital recorder that provides 48V phantom power.. Why?
• Starting with what microphone price class does it make sense to have one of these recorders, anyway? Same with preamps/mixers..?

I'll do solo stuff, have a Sennheiser MKE400 with deadcat (mkh 400). Can someone with such a small camera help on how to get good audio?

 

[Duff]

I'm trying to find out from someone who owns the HF100 if the preamps on it are at least halfway decent. I know the HV20 had problems with noisy preamps.

If the preamps are decent, I think the audio from the ECM-55b or AT899 is good enough for my uses. If not and I need to buy a beachtek anyway, might as well splurge for the Countryman.

I've ruled out dual system because I hate editing, and syncing audio adds one extra step to that process. Haha.