Hi Chris.

I thought it would be good to post some pics since this seems like a common topic. In my case, it was tighter when the camera was new. It was still a little loose, but reading the post on DVinfo I understood it to be normal. It now seems to be on the road to "too loose." Still works and I will not worry about it too much especially since I don't really use the on board mics.

...and I think I will keep the glue in the drawer.

Here's the range of travel in the onboard mic shock mount.

See video at http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showpost....0&postcount=26

If yours does this it is normal.

Chris is correct a little bit of play is normal. However, I slowly started to notice that on two of my A1's the play in the microphone was getting larger and larger until it actually broke off exposing the two ribbon cables and one wire. I was able to order the 50 cent part that broke from my Canon dealer and I decided to tackle the repair myself. It was actually much easier than expected and took me about 1 hour because I was being extra careful not too "get in too deep" and leave myself an out in case I decided the repair was getting too difficult. If anyone needs help on this repair send me an email and I will do my best to walk you through it. I did have to purchase a phillips #000 screwdriver for the fix.

I think that the microphones were weakened by the pelican case that they were stored in. After a closer inspection I determined that the cases were just a little too small to properly hold the A1. So I will be purchasing larger ones.

My daughter 'touched' the mic when I filmed her skating over the camera....(stupid action to let her do that in the first place...). Then I noticed that the mic (which I knew was a little bit loose as it should on beforehand) was hanging a little bit downward and wiggled a little bit bit more than before (vertical). In rest position you can look just between the rubber and the handgrip into the inside of the microphone (0,5-1 mm).
Phoned Canon and they told me that if the sound of the mic is OK I better leave it like this because there is a risk that reparing the mic will worsen the problem and some wiggling will always be present since this was designed to wiggle (as statd before). So I leave it this way and will protect the mic from rain/dust with a 'dead cat'.

Robert

Loose On Board Microphone
 

Have a need for someone to check this, I have had my A1 for about a year and today I grabbed it to use it for a quick shoot and stripped off the accessories like the shotgun and wireless so the cam is stock. For whatever reason I checked the onboard factory mic and it's loose, not to the point that it swivels all over but it does move quite easily under touch. I would have to say that at the point where it attaches to the camera body, the mic moves upto 2mm and you can see the gap.

Is anyone else experiencing this, and is there a way to tighten this down?

Miguel

I think what you're seeing is the way it's supposed to be. The mic does move a bit within its shock mount. Mine does, anyway.

There are several threads on this subject.

Expect the tip of the mic to move up/down by about 1/8" from center position. Where the mic attaches to the handle you can expect the joint to open/close some what as well as the tip pivots. However, a gap that you can see through into the handle/mic internals and wiring would not be normal.

Thanks I didn't run a query on the site for an open thread because I never thought that this would have been common, I feel better now and, no I cannot see wiring, but found it odd that there is that much play.

Thanks again,

Miguel

The play amounts to shock mounting of a sort.

Merged several "loose mic" threads together.

So I send my A1 back to Canon since the internal wiring could be seen (1-2 mm), they checked the whole camera and found that all functions, including the mic movement, were within the range of the specs. Even though the wiring was visible. The mic is working well so I decided to leave it this way and covered the 'joint' with black isolation tape to prevent damage by rain / dust etc. Still able to move the mic but it feels a little bit tighter now, imo more comfortable. No effect on the sound.

RW

My Mic really does wobble up,down, left and right. It is more than, it can flex as in shock mount, it is loose. Can you tell me how to secure it.?
Lew

If it doesn't actually audibly rattle, it's probably not loose. It should move quite a bit.

still odd though
 

You can actually see a very slight gap between the rubber shock mount at the handle. I just moved up from a GL2 to a used XHa1 and am a little nervous about my new baby. Canon's manual is a little sparse, any suggestions on where to find a user friendly practical how too?
Lew

Once again -- the mic is supposed to be loose -- it should flex up and down, and it should rotate a bit clockwise and counter-clockwise. That's intentional, by design. We don't offer a "how-to" on how to change this, because we firmly believe the old axiom "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." If you're still not sure, then the *only* recourse we recommend here is to send it in to a Canon factory service center. Again... it's supposed to be loose; it's supposed to wobble and flex. Hope this helps,

The loose microphone on my XH-A1 has given me something no other camera has, my own stickie at DVinfo! (I'm honored...Thanks Chris...Lol)

While I agree with the minimal movement for shock absorption, the play on the mic I have is beyond that. It's actually got a slight downward slope and a noticeable/sizable gap where it meets the handle. It will somewhat flop back and forth if I turn the camera upside down and then right side up. Enough to actually MAKE A NOISE while recording. Totally counter productive to the supposed shock absorption it's intended for.

Loose Mic
 

So after reading 7 pages of this discussion I was pretty surprised no on had actually just troubleshot the loose mic. While shooting in China we noticed the mic starting to droop more and more until one day it stopped working. Before any of you start in with "why are you treating the camera like that" I will tell you my crew is very careful with equipment. Shooting on location like that has its wear. Anyway we simply removed the two screws on the base arm below the start stop button, the two screws under the eye piece (which allows access to the control ribbon plug in the back. Then remove two screw under the control ribbon plug are removed allowing the whole handle to be removed. Once you have the handle off there a several screw mounted underneath the handle. Remove those and the handle assembly comes apart. The Mic wires are simple ribbon that slide into a slot plug. The shock absorber is assembled using two plastic plates held in place behind the handle casing. Unless these plates break apart the mic WILL NOT FALL OFF. We replugged in the the ribbons and everything was back to normal. To say the least we have a few wraps of gaffers tape wrapped around the base of the mic now to ensure the play does not lend to loose mic ribbons again. I hope this helps.

That's because it's purposefully designed to be that way for a good reason... in other words, it doesn't need troubleshooting. It's *supposed* to be loose! I thought this thread bore that out.

Using a shotgun mic
 

The A1's built in mic design is actually very good. As others have said, it is built "loose" as a shock absorber, so it doesn't pick up every little sound.

If you attach a shotgun mic in the holder, be ware, it will pick up most of your movements. I would love to be able to record XLR on one channel and the built in mic on the other (mono), however the A1 doesn't seem to allow that, which can be a draw back when you are recording a mono line out, and you want BG from your camera mic. But if you use the shot gun mic XLR in one channel, you can still record a line in on the other channel.

The newer versions of these cameras, the XH A1S and XH G1S, can do this.

that just makes it worse
 

Really eh? Well that makes me feel much worse! Oh well...

The intention wasn't to make you feel bad, but to let you know what the new "S" models are
capable of doing. You could always sell off your older A1 and put that money toward an A1S.

how about shotgun mic holder on A1s, Chris?
It seems very loose, too.
I get the built in mic part. That's really good to have.
I checked the screws and they were all tight.
I searched the forum, but there weren't any thread about loose shotgun mic holder.
Thank you for all your help, Chris!

JJ

Hi J.J...............
 

If it's loose (the mic holder, that is) and the screws are done up tight, somethings broken.

However, you could simply be seeing the normal flex of the holder clamp assembly. It is quite flexible, by design. If it didn't flex, with a good whack it would have to break.

If it's flex, forget it. If it's loose, it's back to Canon.


CS

I am pretty sure it's flexible, but man.. it's extremely flexible... I put shotgun mic AND the wireless mic receiver, so I thought I was putting too much on it... It's not loose.. The screw is really tight.. so i assume it's flexible... very.. very.. flexible...
my old A1 is not that flexible and that's why I was concerned a little bit.
Thank you!

jj

Loose Mic
 

I have 2 xha1's.....I have spoken to Canon....this is the way it is to absorb vibration.

It may be good feature this shock-mounted mike on A1, but the price for it is that it is very fragile too. The mike on my A1 got gradually so loose that in ended up in my hand completely separated from the camera body.

Pavel

Did this just happen naturally? You weren't storing the camera with any pressure on the mic, or trying to rest anything on top of it that was attached with rods or the hotshoe or anything?

Loose mic - Removing the handle assembly- I did it !
 

Hi All,

There has been so much said about the 'loose mic'...
Mine too started drooping, it seemed to droop more and more.
It never stopped working, but always worried me, till today
curiosity got the better of me.
I read John's post a few months ago - John, thanks for the information about the procedure to remove the handle assembly, it helped me alot.
I removed the handle assemblembly, to see what was 'really going on'.
I would have liked to offer photo's, but alas no still camera.

PLEASE NOTE: I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS PROCEDURE.
(Unless your mic. is broken and you cannot have it repaired)
Therefore, I will offer no further information here about actually opening it all up

What I do want to add is the following:

Firstly... As Chris says: It's Supposed to be loose !
(A big thank you to Chris for always offering spot on advice and information about a
huge variety of topics).

So, you see... between the back of the mic and the front of the handle,
there is a ribbon cable connecting the mic to the pc board inside the handle.
One gets the impression that a 'drooping' mic would put pressure on the ribbon cable,
but obviously Canon are smarter than that.

The ribbon cable has quite a bit of 'slack' on the handle side before it enters the
ribbon connector, so even a gap of a few millimeters (between the mic and handle)
would not put strain on the connection.

The rubber itself is mounted very 'loosely' (I'm not sure why - but I guess the less rubber
in contact with both the mic and handle would transfer less 'noise' from touching any
part of the camera') to the microphone.

So after all, there is nothing to worry about.

I am thinking of putting some black silicone between my extended gap
(between the mic - rubber - camera) to take up the slack and hold the mic. more
straight.

I hope this adds to your clarity and removes doubt.

Thanks to an amazing forum of XH-A1 users all around the world
which I read every day.

From the tip of Africa
Shawn

Re: Built-in mic seems loose?
 

Contrary to many statements along the lines of "it's supposed to be loose," my XHA1 was way too loose. The wires were showing, and it seemed just a matter of time before the mic would be separated from the camera. Using the input of John Berquist from an earlier post, I took the thing apart, and found a broken plastic insert that was meant to (loosely) connect the mic to the handle. I purchased the plastic insert from these people Performance Audio - Your Source for Professional Audio & Video Gear (copy and paste). Actually, I purchased 2 of them as the flimsy piece is likely to break again. Total cost, with shipping, for the 2 was about $12.

If I were to do it again, I would probably purchase the part from Canon's very good parts department. I've subsequently purchased other parts for some flash units from them. And I would also purchase a packet of the screws from them, as the heads of the tiny phillips screws are easy to damage. The story has a happy ending, and everything worked when I was finished. The most difficult part of the entire project was getting the screws out.

Len

Re: Built-in mic seems loose?
 

Yes indeed, if the wires are showing, it's too loose! Thanks for this report Len and I'm glad it was a happy ending.

Re: Built-in mic seems loose?
 

I took my camera apart and rebuilt the microphone. I wound up drilling through the base of the microphone and mounting it on the camera with a pair of tiny bolts. I'm sure the isolation is nowhere near as good, but I almost never use the microphone, either using external mics or a board feed via the XLR inputs. I just didn't want my camera to look like a clunker.