I have a Canon Vixia G30 and I just added a Azden smx-30 microphone. Everything works great except when I put the mic on the "auto" setting. In this setting the mic is supposed to be off and not using battery until you power the camera on and then mic turns on. However, when I turn the camera on nothing happens with the mic.
Is this an issue with my mic or with the camera ?

If by G30 you mean HF G30, the camera does not supply phantom power so the Azden has nothing to sense to make it turn on in the auto mode.

thank you for the info. I wasn't aware my camera lacked that ability.