Configure the MA-100 with ENG Wireless Mikes
an article by Frank J. Prinzel

While getting aquainted with and integrating the XL1 into our ENG rotation we were pleased to find that we could still use our Lectrosonic 185 series wireless microphone systems. They have performed faithfully in varied and extreme conditions of use for nearly eight years and we didn't know initially if we could surface mount them to the XL1.

Hopefully you can see how we did this in the photos. It's fairly obvious. I would reccomend a larger single piece of velcro be attached to the MA-100 rather than the two strips here. There are some protruding screws but they posed no problems as far as making good contact with the receivers velcro material.

It's a bit of a tricky maneuver but is workable. You need to watch the door covering the rear A/V connections. Close it half way. Apply Velcro to the Battery Plate and make sure the XLR connector is farthest from the camera body.

We shoot in Stereo 1+2 mode using Stereo 1 for natural sound and channels 1 and 2 of Stereo 2 for two discreet wireless channels of audio. So far the audio has been of very high quality. I perfer to use the on board auto limiter as it is very subtle and dosen't pump or breathe and seems to provide protection from extreme transients.

My two cents on other matters XL1: Focus is still a bitch. It's a dead give away that you're using auto focus. I've tried using the momentary contact autofocus button on the lens to find a focus but it's not reliable and it's slow. The viewfinder adds to the problem, not as sharp as our B&W Panasonic 800's. I don't know about anyone else but I steam my viewfinder up alot and that really doesn't help matters.

I feel that the small chips tend to suffer in high contrast situations. The color saturation and integrity is good, the video appears free of noise.

I'm going to see if I can locate a small pair of ultra mini speakers ( actually they are mic transducers ) that I once saw at a Dollar Store and see if they can be adapted to provide an on camera monitoring set up. The ones in mind were a one piece unit with a stereo mini plug protruding from the plastic casing on the bottom. I'm not much for wearing earphones and if my hunch is correct, this will be ideal. I'll keep you posted.

Frank J. Prinzel
AV911
Voice, Music & Video
Production Specialists
St. Petersburg, Florida
http://members.tripod.com/~AV911/

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