Hey,

I have a canon xha1 and a pd170. On the a1 there is a swith which allows for auto levels for audio which works very well. I shoot weddings so when I have the mic pointing at the speaker the camera changes the level depending on if the sounds are high or low. Question is....is there an auto setting for audio with the pd170? I have played around with AGC but my understanding is that it just bumps up the audio. Any ideas on auto levels?
Thanks

By default, the pd170s are setup to Auto Gain Control. If you go into the menu on the pd170 you can select the audio to manual. Then use the wheel to select and adjust the manual settings.

You will need to monitor it during receptions because if you are really close to the speakers you will peak even on AGC.

Jon

That is why, when you work with only one microphone, you send the signal to both channels and set one channel to auto and one to manual, setting the manual channel no higher than 1/3 of a bar.

Then in post you can grab the channel that has the best sound. The manual channel won't be overpowered by most loud sounds. The auto channel will catch the whispers.