I'll have to do some 'normal ENG stuff' next week (not a concert or anything..) and the director insits in 'stereo'. We'll be just a 'two-man team', what means: No sound engineer and therefore no point in operating a SQN-4S or sophisticated microphone sets.

What do you think? Would it be okay to record atmos with the onboard stereo mic? Or should I better rent an external mic like Sennheiser 418S for that? And would it fit on the A1?

Thanks,
Jan

Should give what most users would find to be reasonable ambient sound for the area near/front of the camcorder, with cardoid pickup along axises at 45 degress to directly in front of the camcorder, but har to say whether or not that meets your needs. Do a test before the shoot to see if it meets your needs/expectations. But keep in mind that it is not a $2000USD MSRP mic, and it is on the camcorder, not at the talent.

Personally I think the sound of the on-board mic is exceptionally good (for a "free" mic). Previously I would NEVER have considered gathering NAT-SOT using a built-in microphone (I use a BeyerDynamic MCE-86 'cause I love the warm Beyer sound and it's a LOT than the nearest Sennheiser equivalent). But several times I have worked with just the built-in. (Not for narration, interviews, or presenter to camera, I might add.)

I like the onboard mic but you should have a backup mic, i got oktova and it works well