Boom mics for Sony AX2000..

[Neil Vitale]

Any good boom mic recommendations that we can pop into the front of the camera's mic hold that work well?

I thought it might be nice to have that as a backup for situations that it would be to cumbersome to carry around a wired mic. And it'd look more pro to have :)..

thanks :)

[Edward Carlson]

I assume you are looking for a shotgun mic. A boom is a pole used to hold a microphone. A boom pole plus a microphone is a "boom mic."
In that case I would suggest a Røde NTG-1 if the camera supplies phantom power, or an NTG-2 if it doesn't. Røde also makes a pretty good boom pole, but I like K-tek's poles more. They are, of course, more expensive.

[Jay West]

Read up on shotguns recommended in the posting here as any of the well received ones described here will give good service on the camera and on a boom. (I assume you are looking for a mic that will do both.)

I have an NX5 which does have phantom power. I had looked at an AX2000 before choosing the NX5 and my recollection is that the AX2000 uses the same mic block. The way to tell quickly is to look at the switches on the back side of the XLR block under a flip-up plastic cover. The bottom setting for both sides should read "mic = 48v." If it does, the AX2000 supplies phantom power.

One extra bit of kit will be required for many shotgun mikes, and that is a a rubber or vinyl spacer of some kind. The mic clamp has an inside diameter that is larger than than the barrels of many shotguns. What I have done with my NX5 and Canon XHA1 is to buy some inexpensive "o" rings at the hardware store's plumbing supply section. I slip them over the barrels of my AT 877 shotguns. I think it was something like a #95 or 96 o ring.

[Neil Vitale]

whoops, my bad.. I thought they where both called boom mics. but yeah, a shot gun mic is what I'm looking for..

[Steve House]

Originally Posted by Neil Vitale

whoops, my bad.. I thought they where both called boom mics. but yeah, a shot gun mic is what I'm looking for..

I assume your objective here is to record human speech (dialog, interviews, standups, etc). You should be aware that camera-mounted microphones are almost always useless for such applications. Often audio newcomers are under the impression that shotguns are "telephotos for sound," magnifying and capturing sounds from a distance. Alas, such devices are physically impossible. Shotguns are directional, capturing sound from where they are aimed and reducing sounds coming from the sides. But they are no more sensitive and have no better ability to capture fainter sounds than any other microphone. The nominal working distance for a short shotgun, the most common type of shotgun and the type usually seen on a camera, when recording speech is roughly 24 to 30 inches from the speaker's mouth. This is much, much closer than you'll generally want to place the camera for good looking visuals.

On-camera mics are valuable for recording general scene ambience and, in an electrornic news gathering situation, a general sound track for rapidly breaking news where the urgency of bringing home the story outways any quality considerations, get something on tape at all costs even if it sounds like cr*p. But even the top-shelf 'guns commanding premium prices mounted on the camera won't give a good quality result of speech in most situations and will not replace a hand-held reporter's mic, a 'gun on a boom held near the speaker by a boom operator, or a hard-wired or wireless lav on the subject.