Does anyone have any experience with the Canon DM50 mic with the HV30. It is not cheap and I am curious to know if there are other mics of similar pricing which may be better for an on-camera mic.

RonC.

I bought one fo my HV30 and had to return it. It was picking to much of the sound from the tape mechanism. I came back to my old Rode Videomic wich I use on a "bracket" and with the Rode Dead cat, far better for sound quality but not as ergonomically suited to the HV30 as the Canon mic.

Thanks Robert. That's more or less what I expected as it has been around for a while & they haven't done anything to improve the mounting with the newer improved cameras.

RonC.

I use Sennheiser MKE400 with my HV20 and I am very happy with it. It has a flexible rubber base that prevents transmission of camera noise. The sound quality is good, it has a switch to pick up distant sounds, and a switch to filter wind noise. The only downside compared to the DM50 is that, it is not stereo and it can not take advantage of the hot shoe.

Sennheiser Worldwide - MKE 400, Camera Microphone, camcorder microphone, directional microphone - specifications (http://www.sennheiser.com/sennheiser/home_en.nsf/root/professional_wired-microphones_camera-mics_502047)

P.

Thanks Pedanes, but yes I need stereo and good mounting. Do you know if there are simple mic shock-mounts available for using standard stereo electret mics as this would allow much more flexibility, - choices etc. I have looked at the mounts on the Azden mics but these are far too hard.

RonC.

I have the DM50 for my HV30 and it is excellent. I don't pick up any sounds from the camcorder or its tape mechanism at all.

Interesting enough, I bought a HF11 with the DM100 mic, but since the mic base was directly overhead the zoom rocker, it picked up all the clicking sound from the zoom rocking back and forth ... really bad. I returned the whole thing.

Not a problem with the HV30 and DM50 though as the rocker is on the side.

A problem I just ran into-

I bought the DM-50 a couple months ago because it had the stereo options & I wouldn't have to worry about battery power or cords w/ it's advanced hotshoe.

Now I'm looking to use an on-camera light in conjunction w/ the DM-50 (waiting for my LP micro to get here, hoping I won't return it when it does) which I thought would be easy enough w/ the shoe-extender brackets out there, but realized that the DM-50 won't work on them because of the advanced shoe capabilities.

So now I'm looking at getting another on-camera mic. I'm happy I have the DM-50 for the reasons stated above, and that I'll be able to use it on a second cam when I get one, but it's definitely a bump in the road.

My son bought an Azden SM 10 stereo mic for his HV30. Partially because of price but he says it is quite a bit better to his ear than the built ins.

It is somewhat uni directional with some side rejection. Also has a thread socket in the bottom of the shoe mount which means he has off camera use flexibility stand mounted or suspended from a boom on a stand.

With my Rode SVM I have been getting by using a 16' stereo extension cable from Radio Shack that seems well shielded. No hum problems so far with about 5 projects done with that system. So it should also work with the Azden SM 10.

Price at B&H is $72 and change.