Confused: 5D MARK II - H4N or Rode?

[Muzz]

Hello everyone,

I am totally confused about what recording method for the 5D II HD video.

Have been looking at this for some time and it seems either the Zoom H4N or Rode Stereo microphone would be good for me.

H4N Would be around $600

Rode around $250

I am looking for a microphone mainly to do landscape videos - urban enviroments and an all round general purpose mic. Doubt I would be interviewing people just something to pick up the ambient noise from a location.

The Zoom looks like the better option but thats assuming its good enough to use on its own withour needing a mic aswell.

Rode looks good as its cheaper and less imposing by the time you get everything setup.

If anyone could offer a few words of advise it would be really appreciated!

Thanks,

Murray :)

[Matthew Craggs]

The Rode mic is very good and will certainly do the job. The advantage to the H4N would be 1) it doesn't have to be tethered to the camera, so you can get it into different places as you're recording, and 2) you can monitor the audio as it records using headphones. The H4N can also adequately pick up ambient noise without an extra mic. The built in ones are very good.

You may also want to check out the Zoom H2, which is a fair bit cheaper than the H4N.

[Bruce Foreman]

I had to go with the Zoom H2 over the H4 or H4n because of budget. I've found it to be an extremely useful audio tool especially since I also had to settle on the T1i instead of "wrecking" the bank account by trying to purchase the 5D MkII. The T1i has only mono audio and no mic imput or headphone output.

So I capture audio with the H2 when I need to have good audio with what I'm doing on the T1i. It's internal mics are pretty fair, most of the time for simplicity sake that's what I use. If you use good mic technique with it you won't be let down and monitoring for the sound guy (or you) is a breeze once you have it's output set for a comfortable listening level and have tested mic gain level so you know that is going to deliver.

The H2 also works great with my Rode StereoVideoMic, the resulting audio is very typical condenser mic sound. Very clean and crisp audio.

Once you get familiar with what YOU want to do with the H2 and how it responds, you'll enjoy using it. However, you cannot pull it out of the box (cold) and go out and use it without some trying and testing in advance.

It's a heckuva audio tool to have with you. Great for audio backup in case you mic connected to the cam doesn't work the way you expected.

[Trey T]

if you're doing outdoor, definitely get H4 or H4n.

if you're like me, I like to shoot outdoor, skip the mic input and just put in prerecorded sounds of nature or urban environment.

[joove]

I would say get the H4N or nothing.

The external mic plugged into the camera is going to give you sound editing nightmares if you have quiet passages mixed with noise. The internal mic sounds better to me. However, some people do like using the external mic plugged in so my experience is likely extreme.

The H4N is bulky however and might not be a great choice (Sound quality is great though). You might also want to look at the smaller Olympus (LS 120 ?).

I love the H4N. Got it mounted on the 5D using a micro ball head. While I have also tried adding a shotgun to the mix and recording 4 channel (2 from H4n and 1 from the shotgun), it is somewhat of a pain and drains the H4N's batteries like crazy.

[Muzz]

Thank you very much Matthew Craggs / Bruce Foreman / Trey T / joove :)

I ordered the H4n from ebay this morning - I thought it was the better option but made sense to ask you guys for your input.

Many thanks and happy shooting!!

Murray :)

[ChrisMc73]

This company is fond of the Rode...
http://counter.imagemechanics.com/gear/61-how-to-get-professional-audio-on-the-canon-5d-mk-ii

[hickory]

Just curious what your paying for it on ebay? $6oo you mentioned in your first post is way out of line.

BH Photo has the H4n for $349.

[Muzz]

:)

United Kingdom price is around $600 for the unit alone.

Ending up importing one from ebay via the US - $349 as you say with extras but will probably get hit by import duty.

Still makes it cheaper than buying in the U.K!

:)

[hickory]

I ordered one last nite through Amazon for $299. Should have it next Friday, fingers crossed. Let me know how your purchase pans out cost wise with import fees.

tom

[Muzz]

Will do Tom - Hope you are very happy with yours!!

I will be buying one of these to help eliminate wind noise ( The foam diffuser the H4n ships with is ok but not as good it seems)

http://www.redheadwindscreens.com/

:)

[ChrisMc73]

Nice redhead demo! Wow, that would be great here in Windy Oklahoma, where the "wind comes sweeping down the plain..."

[hickory]

Will do Tom - Hope you are very happy with yours!!

I will be buying one of these to help eliminate wind noise ( The foam diffuser the H4n ships with is ok but not as good it seems)

http://www.redheadwindscreens.com/

:)

the guy that sells those has a lot of demo's on vimeo if you search the 5dMK2 and H4n tags you'll see what i mean. seems like a pretty good product for wind noise control.

[Muzz]

the guy that sells those has a lot of demo's on vimeo if you search the 5dMK2 and H4n tags you'll see what i mean. seems like a pretty good product for wind noise control.

Thanks tom :)

That is where I bought mine from - the seller was very helpful with my questions about his H4n.

Nice vids as you say.

[promocop]

without having time code/crystal sync to the Canon, how good is the H4 in maintaing sync when dropping it on top of the vdieo in FCP? and any drifting issues?

[bpaulette]

If your firmware is updated, you won't have any problems with drifting.

Canon fixed the 30fps / 29.97fps issue, so they synch up perfectly. Even before the firmware update though, all you had to do was set the audio speed to 99.9%, and it matched up. Now, though, there's no issue at all.

The zoom is awesome.

[promocop]

thnaks. i'm buying it

[bigdogpup]

H4n for audio because it provides you with a remarkably high quality recording for 300 bucks US.
It is vastly better than the camera's track especially in low end (read "warmth" in spoken word, or "fullness" in environment or music recordings). The 5d has a cheap preamp and A/D converter that is hard to overcome. Use the H4n and get PluralEyes software for easy sync.
There is no drift in sync worth mentioning within the 12:50 clip length you can record.
The other great thing about the H4n is that you can place it physically close to your source, and lower any annoying background sound...ex: shoot a babbling brook from a roadside pulloff with the H4n placed far from the road and near the stream, pointed away from any road noise willbe better than any on camera sound.
Have fun!

[promocop]

great Thanks for the advise!