Hi Again,

I'm still trying to find just the right mic for my use (mostly one-man operation, but working on several projects where I'll have a crew of two or three), so I'd like to get a mic that I can mount on the hotshoe of my Canon Optura XI as well as adapt for boom pole use.

I just discovered the Rode Videomic yesterday and it sounds like a great mic for hotshoe use. My question is has anyone converted this for use on a boom pole? I'm sure it can be done with a little bit of trickery, but I guess I'm more interested with it's performance in that scenario (as well as if anyone has any tips in general with this mic.

I've been looking at the AT897, but I'm afraid that even though it's slightly shorter than most shotguns, camera mounting it on my XI will be clumsy and will definitely have a better chance of showing up in the shot.

Thanks for any insight.

Jason

Apparently Rode has an accessory boom pole specifically for the Videomic. If you go to their website and watch the video they talk about it.

http://www.rodemicrophones.com/videomic_desc.asp?menu=videomicMenu

The Videomic has threaded connections for 1/4" and 3/8" screws. You can thread it onto a tri or monopod or to a standard boompole.

I mount the Videomic and the AT897 onto my Panasonic GS120, DV953 and GS400 without problem so I don't see why the AT897 wouldn't work for the XI. For the AT897, I use a K-tek KCAMSSM http://www.mklemme.com/pole/ksm.html accessory shoe shock mount.

I've been looking at the AT897, but I'm afraid that even though it's slightly shorter than most shotguns, camera mounting it on my XI will be clumsy and will definitely have a better chance of showing up in the shot.
You would be amazed at how low and "forward" you can put a mic on the cam before it shows up in the frame. I use an AT897 with a homemade, "modular" shockmount that looks a lot like Guy’s K-tek on my GS400, and it does not appear in the frame even in the low profile configuration (mic close to the camcorder). (I use this low configuration only when ambient sound covers the camera motor noise.)

This is all great info. Really appreciate your help. I'll let you know how it works out. Thanks.