5D External Mic Advice [Archive] - Canon Digital Photography Forums

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KoolaGirl

15th of April 2009 (Wed), 20:08

Super-Nicko

18th of April 2009 (Sat), 09:48

which lens? sounds like IS?????

your on a pod so you can turn it off - hit start early and edit out where you touch the cam.... (which youve done anyways...)

i hear alot of people looking at the rode video mic... shotgun mic, attaches to where the flash goes.. but havent used one myself... i would imagine youd want something separate for your audio recording in that scenario with a time stamped start and mix it in post - especially seeing as your vid is more about audio than video...

ErrantWanderlust

22nd of April 2009 (Wed), 19:53

I've got a Rode Videomic. It sounds really good, and it won't break your budget. But ditto to the above poster, if you're serious about sound, record outside camera.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/363083-REG/Rode_VIDEOMIC_VideoMic_Camera_Mounted.html

u02bnpx

17th of June 2009 (Wed), 14:21

But how would you attach a Rode on a 5d mk ii when the camera doesn't have a hot shoe?

Prssinglecut

18th of June 2009 (Thu), 15:03

But how would you attach a Rode on a 5d mk ii when the camera doesn't have a hot shoe?

Mine does.

Phil

Tony-S

18th of June 2009 (Thu), 15:15

But how would you attach a Rode on a 5d mk ii when the camera doesn't have a hot shoe?

Huh?

u02bnpx

18th of June 2009 (Thu), 15:51

Mea maxima culpa. Or, as Homer Simpson would say, "Duh!" I was muddled...thinking of onboard flash.

FlyingPhotog

18th of June 2009 (Thu), 16:25

Can anyone recommend a good external mic to use with the 5D? I get this crackling noise when I film. I am going to be using the mic to record mostly instrumental music (piano). Here is a video that I shot today. The sound isn't bad, it's just the crackling noise. It really takes away from the piece.

http://vimeo.com/4173949

Can anyone give me any advice on what to do/buy so that I will get better sound quality? thanks!

Music recording is a world unto itself...

Pianos are usually "close mic'd" IOW, the mic is mounted IN the piano or on a side to maximize the sound quality.

If nothing else, you want a very directional (aka "shotgun") microphone that will help attenuate surrounding noise.

IIRC, the one mentioned above is shock mounted and fits the hotshoe mount.

Tony-S

18th of June 2009 (Thu), 17:42

echo

18th of June 2009 (Thu), 19:00

Don't expect amazing sound from a budget (less than $500) shotgun mic. The Sennheiser (eg mke 300's) or Rode's will be decent but will never be excellent.

garypasz

19th of June 2009 (Fri), 00:34

I picked up a (Sony ECM-MS-908-C) really did not know how deep I would go into video but so far its been good but have not tryied it outside in windy conditions as yet.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=search&A=search&Q=&shs=sony+ecm-ms-908-c+stereo+mic+video+soecmms908c&ci=0

Prssinglecut

19th of June 2009 (Fri), 05:32

Mea maxima culpa. Or, as Homer Simpson would say, "Duh!" I was muddled...thinking of onboard flash.

No probs

I thought mine may have been special:)

Phil

Prssinglecut

19th of June 2009 (Fri), 05:34

I was thinking about going down the route of a seperate digi recorder like an Edirol / Tascam and then put the video and sound together in software.

Phil

morganhn

22nd of August 2009 (Sat), 10:48

For recording music, the place you have the camera most likely isn't the place you want to place your microphone(s)..

If you're on a budget Korg MR1, Zoom H2 or H4 would get you started.. Be sure to record in 24bit/48kHz to match your movies sample rate..
Import the files in your editing software and sync it with the sound from the camera.. (a short transient like a hand clap will make it very easy to sync)

Cheers,
Morgan

Jeremy H

22nd of August 2009 (Sat), 20:14

I'm using the Zoom H4n as others have suggested. It's a perfect solution, with stamp for post, and a couple of XLR jacks for whatever mic you'd like to use. It comes with wind screen, carrying case, tripod mount (get a cheap tripod and you're set!) and a 1gig SD card. You can obviously upgrade your card, but I get an hour at 24bit 48k with the 1gig! Pretty decent, considering one of my cams; the 40d or 5d2 came with a 32mb SD card, LOL! It's a true 4 track recorder built in, which is great...the internal mics are also very high quality and switchable to 90/120 degree recording.
I had been using the Tascam, DR-1 which is decent but without the XLR inputs.

I'd stay away from recording with the "in camera" audio. The auto gain control is a pain. The Magic Lantern F/W may be worth looking at for ya too. It gives you audio levels and a bit more control over AGC.

J

tfd888

22nd of August 2009 (Sat), 20:54

Thought you guys might want to take a look at this while on the subject of mics for the 5D2.

http://www.calumetphoto.com/item/BH1005/

It attaches like a battery grip to the body and has a small cable that plugs into the mic port.

Example image of it attached to a 5D2.

http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/camera_images_4/Canon/5d2/beachtek.jpg

Edit:
Also appears to have a function to disable auto gain control.

joove

22nd of August 2009 (Sat), 23:40

Any mic that you attach directly to the 5D's will perform well only if the sound level is pretty much constant. Otherwise, it ends up amplifying the hiss during quiet periods and you will hate it.

My first recording session (Family camping trip near a windy beach) with a Rode Stereo VideoMic attached to the 5DII was a revelation. When people were speaking it recorded beautifully, it rejected wind noise pretty well and all that. However, when no one was speaking, all I could hear was this really loud hiss.

In vegas, when I imported the file, it showed the audio signal waveform constantly busy. No quiet periods at all. I had to listen carefully, record where voices started/stopped, create an envelope, suppress the non-voice signals and all that. An absolute pain! Half way through, I just sped up the playback and replaced the audio with a music track!

External recorders is the option I finally settled on. However, I would love for canon to provide manual gain. I use the Zoom h4n mounted on the 5D and only much later do I realize that I pressed record just once, or that my XLR power was off (I sometimes also add a Rode NTG-3 to it for 4 channel recording). A pain. The audio however comes out great so it is worth it in the end.

THe other option that I have purchased but never tried is to use a binaural microphone stuck in your ears attached to a recorder in your pocket. That makes it steathy but turning the recorder on/off would give it away :-) I think. Haven't tried that yet.

Pearlallica

30th of August 2009 (Sun), 22:01

yeah, i agree with joove. I purchased a popular rode mic for my 5Dii and I was STRUGGLING to find the value in it. Ok, so it was external and eliminated most of the mechanical and bumping noises. But that seemed to be it. I exported the audio from the stock mic and compared the exported audio from the mic'd recordings and I just couldn't justify its worth. So I returned it and got my 400 bucks back. Now, when I shoot (primarily home video) I am just mindful of how I handle the camera.

BTW, I'm in piano as well (mastered the same chopin ballade in your video) and I did a lot of recording as well. If it were me shooting a video, I'd borrow two of my brother's best microphones (he runs a music studio), take the top off my baby grand, boom stand a mic for both low and high ends, and record the audio to a computer. Before performing your video, play a single now with ff staccato followed by silence. The note would register as a spike on your waveform and you could sinch your video's audio (which you'd mute) with your mic'd audio visually.

GergReltub

2nd of October 2009 (Fri), 14:58

I'm going with the Rode Video Mic on my 5D Mk II just to capture people talking, etc. For a music video, I'd hire a sound guy to cover that end of it.

CircleR

2nd of October 2009 (Fri), 16:40

I'm going to try out the zoom h4n to see if it'll work for my needs.

I looked at the Rode Video Mic, but it seemed to look pretty bulky on top of the camera. I thought it might intimidate the people being filmed :)

sebmour

2nd of October 2009 (Fri), 21:51

I have a ROde mic but I have just purchased a Zoom h4N yesterday. I can tell you not to go in the direction of the rod mic. Sound honestly is not great with such a mic.

Zoom H4n is honestly a dream machine for us!

GergReltub

3rd of October 2009 (Sat), 10:37

The H4n is the ideal recording solution, but it is only part of the process when it comes to synching the audio with the video.

The footage from the Canon 5D is exactly 30 fps. A typical FCP timeline is set to 29.97 fps. So the audio from the H4n will eventually go out of sync.

But there is a plugin for Final Cut Pro from Singular Software www.singularsoftware.com called PluralEyes. It is a standalone application that will sync your dual-system audio automatically. The first step is to record audio directly to the 5D Mark II. The better the quality the better the results, so if you have a Rode, that would be good, mucjh better than the built-in mic. Then in the Final Cut Pro timeline add the 5D MK II footage and its audio, and then the H4n audio to its own tracks. Launch PluralEyes and click "Sync" and all synch issues are resolved.

It's also great if you are using multiple cameras. It synch's them all together. There is a video on the singularsoftware site that illustrates it all.

DetlevCM

22nd of July 2010 (Thu), 05:48

Can anyone recommend a good external mic to use with the 5D? I get this crackling noise when I film. I am going to be using the mic to record mostly instrumental music (piano). Here is a video that I shot today. The sound isn't bad, it's just the crackling noise. It really takes away from the piece.

http://vimeo.com/4173949

Can anyone give me any advice on what to do/buy so that I will get better sound quality? thanks!

Röde Videomic Stereo - should be nice for music - its a brilliant microphone to my ears - obviously, there are better professional ones... but you don't want to spend thousands.
Only issue you might have - you want to be within 2-3m of the music.

costademaria

26th of July 2010 (Mon), 16:31

you can attach the mike on a camera bracket instead directly to the camera. of course some other accessories like dedicated dampened microphone mount will help even more

DetlevCM

27th of July 2010 (Tue), 03:20

you can attach the mike on a camera bracket instead directly to the camera. of course some other accessories like dedicated dampened microphone mount will help even more

I believe all camera microphones have a shock mount - at least the Sennheiser and both Röde ones have.

costademaria

27th of July 2010 (Tue), 04:01

I believe all camera microphones have a shock mount - at least the Sennheiser and both Röde ones have.

yes some which are meant for video have but if you go deeper in the audio world like me you will be surprised to see that for every occasion there is a different best mike, also many people like me do their microphones and preamps themselves. the audio is a whole separate universe

DetlevCM

27th of July 2010 (Tue), 04:04

yes some which are meant for video have but if you go deeper in the audio world like me you will be surprised to see that for every occasion there is a different best mike, also many people like me do their microphones and preamps themselves. the audio is a whole separate universe

Well, but deeper in the audio world it also get's much more expensive - and ideally you end up with a team too... one to hold the camera, one for the microphone.

I think for most people a microphone meant to mount on the 5D MK II is best - also because they are reasonably priced (below 200€)