HF-G10 and Mini Advanced Shoe Adapters

[Bryan Worsley]

Originally Posted by Dave Baker

......2. Find a suitable bracket and use my SVM....

I'll post a pic of the flexible arm assembly I'm using in place of an L-bracket (for handheld), when I have a mo. Works very well.

Originally Posted by Dave Baker

......it's just normal low frequency rumble, easily dealt with.

What are you using for that, out of interest?

[Dave Baker]

Hi Bryan,

If I use the SVM I shall need a bracket that fits via the tripod screw. I want to lower the mike and use QR plates for quick setup. I have a Bracket 1 Mini and over camera cold shoe adaptor, but they raise it up higher and are too big for my current needs.

Current favourite is to use the ATR25, I'll see what happens when I do some tests.

I just did a quick test using the Kdenlive Triple Band Parametric With Shelves and Kdenlive Gain. A couple of minutes and both clips I tried were sorted.

Dave

[Bryan Worsley]

Originally Posted by Dave Baker

I just did a quick test using the Kdenlive Triple Band Parametric With Shelves and Kdenlive Gain. A couple of minutes and both clips I tried were sorted.

I've got those in Audacity (with the LADSPA effects plug-in pack) but I've no idea how to use the "Triple Band Paramatric with Shelves". How did you arrive at suitable settings for eliminating the wind rumble?

[Dave Baker]

Hi Bryan,

As I said, it was a quick test so I wasn't too fussy, but it so happens that the first filter I tried worked. I set the frequency to where the cut off was required, set the gain to reduce the rumble to a manageable level, then set the slope so make the cut off sound more natural. I fiddled with the settings a bit to make it more acceptable and then applied gain to bring the overall volume up. I then copied the effect stack and pasted it to a second noisy clip, it was OK there too.

I didn't save the experiment because now I know it works, I can do it when I get to any affected clips. I simply wanted to know whether I could do it in Kdenlive, if I needed to use an external audio editor, or I needed to find suitable audio clips somewhere.

Dave

[Bryan Worsley]

Thank Dave. I'll look at that some more. "Prevention is better than cure, but sometimes we all need a Doctor". The (standard) High Pass filter in Audacity actually does quite a reasonable job at attenuating the residual low-frequency rumble (100-150 Hz freq cut off, 6db per octave roll-off) that comes through with the Stormchaser fur (over stock foam) on my Sony EMC-MS908c; I've still to test the DM-100 + Canon fur in stronger winds. And there are a couple of other High Pass variants there to try - Glame and Glame-Butterworth.

Can't say I relish the prospect of heavily investing in better/added wind protection for the DM-100. I contacted Rycote and they never made (or considered) a Mini Windjammer for the DM-100. They also confirmed that the MWJ for the DM-50 doesn't have any foam lining as it was designed to fit over the stock foams. Feasibly (just my thinking), based on the similar dimensions (as specified) of the two mics, it could be adapted to fit the DM-100 provided it left enough room inside to go over a foam set adapted from, say, a not-too-thick generic windscreen, but it would mean closing up the existing underside aperture and creating a new one further back. Do-able I guess, but it's taking a chance on the fit and it would probably be easier to make one from scratch. The Windcutter Stormchaser/foam combo for the DM-100 puts you back $75.

Anyhow, if the DM-100 doesn't work out, I may just go back to the Sony mic with Stormchaser fur for now, and see what more could be done to improve the wind protection. Staying on topic - I can see a little improvement just moving it off the (all metal) CMS-FLAT mini hot shoe adapter up onto the flexible accessory arm. I will post some pics shortly.

Interesting that you are favoring the ATR-25. Is that purely from an ergonomic perspective? Still, at least with the HF-G30 you have the option of applying the internal Low Cut filter when attaching an external mic to the MIC terminal.

[Dave Baker]

The ATR25 has a better performance than the DM-100 and it is only marginally heavier, therefore it can happily sit in the cold shoe of the HF G30 without affecting the balance like the SVM does. Also it will help with camera battery life, having its own power source rather than taking it from the camera battery like the DM-100.

The other big advantage is, it is ready to go with no extra expenditure, I just made a small modification to the DIY shock mount to accommodate the different cable run, no cost, now I am waiting for suitable windy conditions for a test run. As I recall the home made Dead Rat, made to fit over the supplied foam, works well, but it's a few years since I last used the mike.

Dave

[Bryan Worsley]

A couple of pics of HF-G10 with the flexible arm and Sony ECM-MS908c attached (with Stormchaser fur)





Just one of a variety of possible configurations, this one with the mic set fairly low. So that's the 20cm (7.8") version of the Skier flexible arm screwed into one (1/4"-20 thread) of two threaded holes on the left side of the Manfrotto 577 Rapid Connect Adapter, normally used for storing the optional 1/4"-20 and 3/8"-16 camera mounting screws.

Skier 7 9'' Magic ARM 1 4" Screw Flexible Holder 15mm Rail ROD Video Camera DSLR | eBay

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/241139-REG/Manfrotto_577_577_Rapid_Connect_Adapter.html

Looks a little "Heath Robinson" (Brits will understand) I know, but it works very well for handheld and tripod and is rock solid.

For attaching the Sony mic holder to the arm, I just used a few threaded adapters that I had to hand. I might replace them with a better mini-ball head and/or shoe adapter, depending on the configuration. I have the 501PL mounting plate set back a little in the adapter base which keeps the locking lever on the right side out of the way when holding by the hand grip. Mounting the arm on the right side is just a simple matter of attaching the mount plate to the camcorder the opposite way and attaching the arm to the other (3/8"-16) thread hole on the side adapter base. I haven't tried it yet - just needs an inexpensive 1/4"-20 to 3/8"-16 adapter to attach the arm, like:

Giottos 1 4 3 8" Tripod Monopod Convert Screw Adapter | eBay

[Bryan Worsley]

Originally Posted by Dave Baker

The ATR25 has a better performance than the DM-100.....

I've never used one but, from reports/reviews, I had the impression that, whilst reasonable quality for the price point, it has a rather 'quiet' output and with that is prone to gain noise/hiss. To my ears, the DM-100 has around the same level of background hiss as the inbuilt mics when set at the same manual level.

[Dave Baker]

I bought the ATR25 for use on my GS250 which had only auto gain on the audio, a real pain! I have not used it since I stopped using the GS250, so have not used it on any of my cameras with manual gain.

It definitely has a much better frequency response than the DM-100, the rest I shall find out when I get time to test it properly. So far I have recorded just one clip, solely for the audio, to make sure it still works and matches the camera input.

Yes, dear old William Heath Robinson, what a fertile imagination he had. His devices were certainly wilder and whackier than your flexible bracket! I think your bracket looks pretty good.

If you stop to think about it, when you look at the gear cameramen use and the way it is scattered around the camera, brackets to hold lights, mikes, follow focuses, monitors etc., cables everywhere, now that really is beginning to look Heath Robinson!

Dave

[Bryan Worsley]

Originally Posted by Dave Baker

Yes, dear old William Heath Robinson, what a fertile imagination he had.

There were are couple of working examples of his contraptions in a Manchester shopping precinct that fascinated me when I was a kid. There have been lots of imitators (Ruby Goldberg etc) and his devices were an inspiration in Nick Park's Wallace and Gromit animations, not to mention Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang (showing my age) - but he was the original, and a visionary in some querky way:

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/image...kinecartop.jpg

Love this one - "Signal Invention - intelligent method of overcoming difficulties of taking one's own photograph"

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/image...0388cafb7d.jpg

Originally Posted by Dave Baker

I think your bracket looks pretty good.

Nothing new of course:

http://ww.dealwinwin.com/wwwimages/p...0433215997.jpg

But it's a solution and I already had the Manfrotto plate to hand.