If you ever have had the need to connect professional balanced XLR microphones or wireless receivers to an HDSLR you have probably discovered there are only two ways to do so. Either use a patch cord with a T-pad and suffer a considerable amount of signal loss or use an active device such as a juicedLink which will put a ding in your wallet and being active adds noise to the audio chain.
Then, as I recently discovered is the Shure A96F.
http://www.shure.com …/a96f-camcorder-interface
I came across this device at a trade show and while I trust the manufacturer, I was a tad bit skeptical about the simplicity of the device, however after trying it out, I discovered it worked not only quite well it did so without the addition of any kludging.
Basically what Shure did was to take an old product line matching transformer and add a 3.5 mm TRS plug to the combo, the transformer does a true impedance change and does so with very little loss.
So far I have tried it with an EV RE-50ND dynamic handheld microphone, an elderly Shure SM-11 lavalier and our AT-1800 series wireless and it works flawlessly inputting those sources into my Canon 60D and being passive doesn’t add noise nor need power.
The not needing power part can come in real handy for those wishing to run light and decreases the possible points of failure, which when working out in the sticks gets a lot closer to the top of priority list.
And with an MSRP of just under $70, it is light on the wallet.
Wayne
