Hi all,

Maybe I haven't dug back far enough in this forum. But I can't seem to find a discussion about the Z7's stock mic versus any alternatives.

I have considered the Rode NTG1 as well as the Sennheiser ME66, but does anyone have any experiences with these two on the Z7?

Can anyone recommend an alternative mic?

Is the stock one actually quite OK?

Any help would be appreciated.

Hi Jonathon, I have the rode NTG-1 but actually prefer the stock mic as it is nice and sensitive is tight and sounds really good.
Look at the Craster item on the Inortheast tv site and the vox pops with the scotish people near the end were done on the stock mic on the Z7.
All the pub site stuff was done with the stock mic with audio switched to auto, there are some disco scenes with 600 watts blasting out and there is not one hint of distortion.
I have done an A/B test with the rode and the stock mic on my pro tools set-up and once again I prefer the sony mic.

OK it isnt a 416 or a 66 but it does a very good job and I have added a rode windgag to the one on my S270:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/GaryNattrass/DSC01623.jpg

P.S The Two guys were on radio mics, no gun mic in the world would pick up them with high force in the background!

I have been very surprised with the sound quality of the stock z7 mic. It's actually very good.

Thanks guys - that's really helpful.

I guess I stick with the stock mic for now then!