The MA-100 Microphone Adapter
an article by Geoff Amthor and Don Palomaki

I just took delivery of the MA-100 shoulder pad/XLR adapter for my Canon XL1. I purchased this mainly for the desired improvement in handling that might result from the shoulder pad (I rarely use external microphones right now).

The shoulder pad doesn't transfer much (if any) more weight to your shoulder than does using the existing flipdown support in its "mid" position extending across your shoulder. The only downside of using the flipdown support in this manner is that it looks a little odd; also you can't put too much weight on it in this position, because it will flip up under too much weight.

While the flipdown support can be flipped up against the XL1 for transport or packing in a bag, the MA-100 stays rigidly mounted, extending a couple of inches out from the rear of the XL1. This makes this rather large camcorder even larger for transport and storage.

The MA-100 has three cables that are designed to plug into the XL1 to transfer the audio to the camcorder. These cables appear to be non-removable (I didn't want to force this issue). Since I didn't want them to dangle, I tried plugging them into the appropriate audio sockets, but this forces me to leave an accessory door open on the XL1 at all times. I don't like doing this, because the door might break off and dust/dirt will get into the hatch and onto the open S-video port. Besides, the extra cables clutter up the XL1 needlessly when you don't need them. These cables should have been designed to be removable from the MA-100.

The optional CH-900 dual battery charger (which I also ordered) can be mounted on the MA-100 and can enable the use of dual batteries for longer continuous filming. This is a nice feature if you need it. I had heard that configuring the XL1 this way would shift weight to the rear -- probably true. However, what I hadn't counted on was how ungainly the setup would be (the dual charger is kinda large & heavy, and mounts weirdly). It's simply too ungainly for me to use the XL1 in this manner for regular use. I like the look and feel of the XL1, and this setup makes me feel "clunky" or "kludgy"... it's a subjective thing. The dual battery charger/holder can also be attached to your belt with a clip that is built on it.

However, despite my feelings about the use of the MA-100 solely as a shoulder pad, I do think it is well designed for adding XLR audio to the XL1. People should think of this item as strictly an XLR adapter that happens to include a shoulder pad. The shoulder pad itself is a neutral -- certainly not worse that the flipdown support, and potentially better if you want to support such things as extra batteries, wireless mike receiver, etc.

Don Palomaki adds: Here are some preliminary observations on the XL1 and MA-100 audio capability.

I used a high quality sound card (Turtle Beach Fiji) in 44.1kHz, 16-bit mode, and Cool Edit Pro software, Audio 1 input in Line in mode on the XL1. (Okay, I was lazy and did not want to redo my test .wav files in 48 kHz format. My ears are not that good anyway.)

In 16-bit mode, the -3 db points are about 45 Hz and 18 kHz. It is -6 db at about 30 Hz. Noise is well below -75 db, the practical limit of the setup I was using. Distortion is on the order of 0.2% at 440 Hz. The third harmonic (1320 Hz) is the dominant component. There was NO horizontal frequency component in the output, as is sometimes found in analog format recordings.

In 12-bit mode, the -3 db points are at about 50 Hz and 14.3 kHz. It is -6 db at about 15.3 kHz. Harmonic distortion is just slightly higher, on the order of 0.3% with the third harmonic being the dominant component, and the noise floor was below -75 db.

I tried the MA-100 also, in 16-bit audio mode. I coupled the line output of my sound card thorugh a Radio Shack 50K ohm-to-600 ohm phone-to-XLR adapter, and had the XL1 set to Audio 1 line input, manual level control (this was to test a somewhat higher than mic level input to the MA-100... the RS adapter provided about a 10:1 voltage reduction). The manual level control was set to max, which was well below maximum recording level.

The frequency response, noise, and distortion figures I measured were nearly the same, with the low frequency -3 DB point being about 50 Hz.

Also, I tried connecting a Shure Beta 58 dynamic mic to one input (R channel) of the MA-100. The Audio 1 input was set to mic mode. The other input (L channel) was left floating. Noise in the L channel was down about -60 db, and the mic was providing normal audio levels from a normal speaking voice at normal mike-to-mouth distances. Channel separation was around 40 db or so, but if the audio input to one channel was substantially overloaded, some noise and crosstalk appeared in the other channel.

In summary, the XL1 audio is good, (far better than the prosumer Hi8 I've been using), and the MA-100 appears to be rather transparent as far as distorting or coloring the sound at the levels I tested.

One likely method of use: Set for 4-channel recording. The on-board stereo microphone picking up ambient sound into Audio-1, and a wireless mic feeding one or both channels of the Audio 2 input. Use headphones to monitor a mix of the Audio 1 and Audio 2 sound.

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Thrown together by Chris Hurd