why don't camera mounted mics have headphone inputs?

R

robfilms

Veteran
it seems like such an obvious omission but i can't find a single, decent, camera mounted external mic that has a headphone input.

rode has built its fine reputation, in part, because of their line of quality on-camera mics.

yet, rode doesn't have one mic that also has a headphone jack to be used for monitoring.

and i don't know of another mic company that also offers a mic that employs headphone monitoring.

i cannot imagine the technology doesn't exist to offer BOTH a quality camera mounted mic and a headphone jack.

i find it disappointing.

rant over.

thanks in advance.

be well.

rob
smalltalk.productions
 
Rob,

In short, you want to monitor what your recording device is doing. You want to be at the end of the recording chain, not the beginning.

Grant
 
grant-

i thoroughly agree that monitoring what is actually being recorded is key.

but a headphone jack could alleviate so many headaches for cameras that have mic inputs and no headphone access.

be it volume levels or mic hum, a headphone jack on a camera mounted mic would be VERY helpful.

be well.

rob
smalltalk.productions
 
robfilms said:
rode has built its fine reputation, in part, because of their line of quality on-camera mics.

yet, rode doesn't have one mic that also has a headphone jack to be used for monitoring.
Click to expand...

Rode does. This one http://www.rode.com/microphones/videomicme

Though this is meat for iPhones and the like.

The point is that the audio monitor point is, as pointed out, a function of the camera. The fault lies not with the microphones you are using but the cameras.
 
robfilms said:
i saw the shure mic on the b&h website. the reviews were so-so.
Click to expand...

On the B&H website 89 percent of the people that bought this mic rated it 4 or 5 out of 5, so I would not call these reviews so-so.

Especially with 69 percent of buyers giving it a perfect 5 out of 5 score.
 
robfilms said:
grant-

i thoroughly agree that monitoring what is actually being recorded is key.

but a headphone jack could alleviate so many headaches for cameras that have mic inputs and no headphone access.

be it volume levels or mic hum, a headphone jack on a camera mounted mic would be VERY helpful.

be well.

rob
smalltalk.productions
Click to expand...

I disagree. A headphone jack on a mic would be essentially useless in the context of using it for sound acquisition for a camera or recorder. You have to monitor downstream at the mixer and or camera(recording device).

Say you do monitor directly out of a headphone jack on the mic and everything sounds great, but the cable going into the camera is bad and there is hum or no signal at all making it to the camera? Or the levels are cranked too high and what the camera is recording is blown?
 
The issue is not the mics, but the cameras. DSLR cameras are still cameras that can also record video. They have not been purposed for video recording; the manufacturers consider a headphone jack for a still camera a superfluous expense.

Besides, a separate audio recording system is usually FAR superior in audio quality than just about any camera out there.


If you're trying to get away on the cheap by not using a separate audio recording set-up you have to deal with the inconveniences.
 
Run&Gun said:
A headphone jack on a mic would be essentially useless in the context of using it for sound acquisition for a camera or recorder. You have to monitor downstream at the mixer and or camera(recording device)
Click to expand...

Agreed, but the Shure mic I posted has it's own built-in 24-bit recorder, so if you use the mic's own recorder ( as well as feeding the signal out to your camera ) you're monitoring the audio the mic's own recorder is capturing.
 
If you were able to plug headphones into something like a Rode videomic, the only things you'd be able to notice that are bad would be wind blowing out your mic, microphone distortion, or a bad mic. There are a million things that can go wrong after the microphone that you need to watch out for, which is why monitoring the recording device or mixer is the way to go. The Shure microphone that was mentioned does have the built in recorder that can be plugged in to, which is nice. This is why many mixers and some recorders have a return feed from camera so the audio from the camera (an actual video camera via the headphone output) can be monitored properly.

Also, when it comes to these small camera mounted microphones, cost is a factor. Adding a headphone jack with a headphone amp is an added expense that many people might not want to pay for.
 
I've never seen a headphone input. They're pretty much always OUTPUTS. And generally exist on the recording device, not the actual mic.
 
davefisk said:
Also, when it comes to these small camera mounted microphones, cost is a factor. Adding a headphone jack with a headphone amp is an added expense that many people might not want to pay for.
Click to expand...

That's the real problem.

Camera's without a headphone jack are not serious video cameras. DSLR's are still cameras that they have bolted on a video ability BUT limited to <30 mins so they are still [sic] still photo cameras. They are NOT video cameras (even if they are very good still cameras)

As we know ( and sound men point out ad-nusium) on video the sound is more than 50% (60-80% depending who you are talking to) of the finished product. Sound *IS* important and monitoring it during capture is as important at looking through the view finder to frame the shot.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top