Hand held camera with microphone

sallywin

Just as a matter of interest, yesterday I saw a woman at the protest march outside the Dáil with a hand-held camera and a microphone attached to the top. The microphone had a cushioning fluff around it and was roughly bigger than the length across the camera. Can anyone tell me who would use this and what microphone could have been used? Would this be the kind of set-up that is suitable for online media? How good could the quality be?

ScumLord

sallywin wrote: »

Just as a matter of interest, yesterday I saw a woman at the protest march outside the Dáil with a hand-held camera and a microphone attached to the top. The microphone had a cushioning fluff around it and was roughly bigger than the length across the camera. Can anyone tell me who would use this and what microphone could have been used? Would this be the kind of set-up that is suitable for online media? How good could the quality be?

Many higher end cameras allow you to plug sound recording equipment into the camera. It's a standard XLR port which is an industry standard audio port so you could in effect use any kind of microphone, although mounting the microphone to the camera often requires a manufacturer shoe that plugs into a port on the camera.

sallywin

ScumLord wrote: »

Many higher end cameras allow you to plug sound recording equipment into the camera. It's a standard XLR port which is an industry standard audio port so you could in effect use any kind of microphone, although mounting the microphone to the camera often requires a manufacturer shoe that plugs into a port on the camera.

Bail ó Dhia ar an obair! Cheers for that ScumLord, most grateful! I think my own camera might allow for this XLR port, will have a root round for it soon as I can.

Who would get the most use out of something like this set-up though? An amateur online news site? Radio?

ScumLord

sallywin wrote: »

Bail ó Dhia ar an obair! Cheers for that ScumLord, most grateful! I think my own camera might allow for this XLR port, will have a root round for it soon as I can.

The xlr mic on my camera is an add on piece, there's a port that I plug the add on into to so your camera may very well have the same thing.

Who would get the most use out of something like this set-up though? An amateur online news site? Radio?

Anyone really. The standard mics in cameras are pretty bad. The boom mic that you would see on cameras improve things slightly but if you're going pro you really need dedicated sound recording hardware and someone that knows how to use it. The xlr ports only really allow you to use some of the more professional sound recording hardware with your camera.

Galvasean

Was it this thing by any chance OP?

sallywin

Yep something very like that. Was just wondering how they had rigged it up and who would use it!

FishBowel

I've seen those things in the shop windows. Are they any use or should you always record with a boom pole?

Galvasean

FishBowel wrote: »

I've seen those things in the shop windows. Are they any use or should you always record with a boom pole?

If you're making a film or anything even remotely complex then you'll need a boom pole/operator. While their audio recordings are reasonably good, their lack of flexibility (ie: stuck to the camera) means they aren't of much use for anything much other than talking directly into camera from close range interview set ups. Many a rookie film maker has thought they could save on money/crew by getting one of those mics instead of a dedicated sound recordist. The results are almost never any good. That said though, quite a few DSLR filmmakers use them for 'audio guide tracks' (which the external audio is synced to later) and they are useful for that purpose, certainly a step up over the camera's built in mic (which on DSLRs tends to be a bit rubbish).

ScumLord

FishBowel wrote: »

I've seen those things in the shop windows. Are they any use or should you always record with a boom pole?

They are an improvement. I think some, if not most are also directional in that they drown out noise coming from any direction other than right in front of the mic.

I think the main advantage then would be in interviews and maybe picking up some ambient noise from the location.

They're more of a stop gap between built in mics and separate equipment. If you can you certainly should use a dedicated sound recording system. Although one person trying to do both sound and vision is a pretty big task. Professional sound recording equipment needs as much setup as professional video to get the best results. That's why it's usually a two man job on professional crews.

When it comes to recording onto DSLR they would be a huge improvement over the either crappy or non existent on board mic.

indough

cant wait to get my hands on one of these

http://www.rodemic.com/news/announcing-the-videomic-hd-the-worlds-first-digital-recorder-video-microphone

also records to the camera diectly so it will be easy to sync up using pluraleyes

ScumLord

How does the compression work with DSLR? Your trying to record HD sound and picture on the card that probably has a set bandwidth it can record at.

Just going from compression online once you jump up to HD video you'll often find the higher picture quality comes at the expense of sound quality.

It's something I've wondered, if you want really good sound do you have to have external sound recording equipment so you have the space and bandwidth for it without having to sacrifice either sound or vision to get both to fit onto the one media?

Galvasean

That new one linked above has to option to record onto microSD card, so it can technically record sound separately to the video (you will need to sync). It's another step up in terms of videomic technology alright, but still lacks that flexibility. You can have the best mic in the world, but if it's stuck to your camera you are at a severe disadvantage when compared to using a soundman with a boom pole. That said, with this new one you can plug in a lav mic too which makes up for it somewhat.

indough

personally i wouldnt use it attached to the camera, and yeah it records audio separately as galvasean said. kind of like the current videomic but with something like a zoom recorder built in (although its quality is yet to be seen), except that this is able to record into the camera and onto the sd card simultaneously thus making the sync easier. but as i said the proof will obviously be in the pudding

ScumLord

Is it recording the sound through a separate channel to the video though? Even though they may be separate storage devices if they both have to go through the same channel your ultimately going to be restricted by the bandwidth of the channel rather than the possible speed of each device.

It's probably not an issue, your separate mic only records in mono and I know my camera has stereo mics built in so there's room for higher quality sound on the separate mic.

Galvasean

indough wrote: »

(although its quality is yet to be seen), except that this is able to record into the camera and onto the sd card simultaneously thus making the sync easier. but as i said the proof will obviously be in the pudding

If it is (as claimed) from 'the same DNA' as the NTG3 it should be very good quality indeed.