Lectrosonics transmitter/receiver

[Kathy Smith]

Originally Posted by Dave Fisk

I have the L-Series wireless and like it a lot.

Shoot me an email to davef@dvestore.com and I can help you get dialed in.

Thanks Dave. I decided to hold off on the wireless set for now.

[David Peterson]

Originally Posted by Kathy Smith

Thanks David, any reason, other than having extra gear, you would advise me not to get mixpre? And why the Lectros and not the Zaxcom?

Because when you're a one man band doing directing/camera/sound/lighting all at once, you really need to keep it very simple and fast!

And honestly both Lectrosonics and Zaxcom is very good, although I already own a lot of Lectrosonics gear thus would have compatibility when I go with the SR series.

[David Peterson]

Originally Posted by Kathy Smith

Hi,

I'd like to buy Lectrosonics wireless portable transmitter and receiver. I was looking at the Micro Belt-Pack Transmitter and LR - L-Series Wireless Receiver. I'm not sure if I'm sacrificing anything with the Micro transmitter and would be better off getting one of the other transmitters. Is there something better than Lectrosonics? I'm not concerned about the cost, I want something of high quality and dependibility. Can someone give me some guidance here. I normally use a cable and I know that's the best but once in a while I have to use a wireless system, so it would be great to have something that is as close to cable as possible.

Thanks
Kathy

The Lectrosonics SMM doesn't have the same battery life as their other larger products, also it doesn't use the commonly available AA batteries. So you have some trade offs in exchange for its strength of having extremely small size! Teeny. I want one!

The downsides to the Lectro LR is it is rather unfriendly in bag use compared to use a SRc, so a SRc would *always* be my preference but it depends on how you'll be using it.

Other wideband Lectrosonics transmitters worth considering:

SMDWB (basically the wideband version of their very popular SMQV)

SMWB (the single battery version of the SMDWB, the SMDWB has dual AA batteries and thus the "D" in the name for "Dual")

LT (the low budget companion to the low budget LR receiver, as you can guess "R" = "Reciever" and "T" = "Transmitter", the LT/LR commonly get sold as a pair together)

LMb (the even lower budget version of the LT! You lose the app control over the transmitter which the LT and higher end ones have, and you lose the user replaceable antenna, but otherwise it is fairly similar. And LMb is the one I chose for myself recently due to its low low price)

Other Lectrosonics to consider: welll.... heaps of them! Lectrosonics has been in the business for a long time, so if you're looking for bargains you can find a lot of their older gear at extremely affordable prices on eBay. But they're still top notch wireless gear! I've been buying a lot of my wireless that way.

As for what wireless brands are there outside Lectrosonics which are top notch quality? Again, lots of choices:

Zaxcom, Audio Ltd, Wisycom, etc

Originally Posted by Bruce Watson

Then you are sacrificing a lot more audio quality than exists between a Sanken Cos-11D and a DPA 4060, so changing mics won't fix your problem.

The weak link in just about any record-to-camera workflow is the mic preamps in the camera. Any camera. None of the in-camera micpres are as good as the bottom end SD mixers. And you can get a used MixPre-D for very little these days, and it's designed for your stated workflow (camera as recorder).

But if you don't want it, you don't want it. You know your situation better than anyone.

I'd say the weakest link by far is having the cameraman doing audio! Rather than someone dedicated to the role.