Audio Cut Out on New Rode NTG-2
 

I have a new EX1 and NTG-2 and have batteries in the Rode for power. Last night, the NTG-2 worked great but this morning, it was having problems. The windscreen and dead cat were both on this morning due to the wind, and it seems stronger gusts(20mph) of wind would cause the audio to completely dropout. The 2nd channel was using the internal mic and it didn't have any issues(I also had a Rycote wind muff for the EX1's internal mic). I checked the cable, put mic parallel to wind and even switched channels.

Is this normal for shotgun mic's to dropout? Or do I need a blimp?


Thanks

Could it be that the low, near inaudible, infrasonics from the wind caused the camera's preamps to overload, its limiters to kick in, or an auto gain control to drop the level? Did you remember to have the high-pass (low-cut) filter engaged so as to reduce the level of the very low frequencies?

I suggest you duplicate the scene. Set everything up in a large room indoors with a 12" oscillating fan at various speeds about 3 feet ahead of lens. Go carefully, start at the lowest oscillating speed, but first set the levels with some speech from 2 feet out.

Also a good way to hear how good your wind protection is and hear the difference working at 90degrees to the wind with a shotgun. Don't overdo it with strong blasts, none of the rigs like that.

If you still have problems, record and post a sample.

Cheers.