Built-in mic seems loose?

[Jonathan Shaw]

Jason,
If you can see the wires that isn't normal. Reckon its a trip to Canon, unless you fancy trying to take it apart and tighten it. I would take it to Canon though

Jon

[Don Palomaki]

The nominal range of motion (up/down) of the front end of the microphone is about 1/8 inch (~3mm). Much more than that indicates a problem.

DIY attempt to repair the mic may void any remaining warranty.

The are a number of small screws visible in the handle assembly. But not clear if additional internal need to be removed to open the handle, as was the case with the GL1.

[Chris Hurd]

Originally Posted by Jason Toth

I know the mic should have some play cuz its on a rubber shock mount. BUT mine is drooping downwards... I can see the internal wires that connect the thing. Anyone know how its mounted and a quick fix w/o Canons help?

If it's drooping downwards and you can see the wires inside, then you have a problem which needs to be serviced. And there is no quick fix that I'm aware of. Your camera really needs to go to a Canon factory service center for a proper repair.

The onboard mic *should* be loose, but *not* drooping down.

[John Gyovai]

I will post a pic, but mine is drooping for sure and getting worse.

update:
Here is a picture or at least a link to a picture. Not sure how to do this on this forum:
http://www.dvinfo.net/gallery/showimage.php?i=786&c=2

[Chris Hurd]

Hi John, thanks for uploading to our Image Gallery.

Hmm, to me it's borderline... it *might* be a little too loose. Mine will flex that low if I move it by hand, but won't go quite that far just sitting there on its own. Will try to get some pix up shortly...

[John Gyovai]

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.

[Chris Hurd]

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.

[Jared Teter]

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.

[Robert Wide]

Originally Posted by Michael Scherr

It seems as if I packed my to tight for travelling. Coming home i recognized a unfirm microphone. It doesn't seem to be brocken but it is loose. There is a gap of about 0.5 mm at the rubber piece between the microphone body an the hand grip. Did anyone suffer the same damage and fixed it on his own? Is this an Achilles' heel of this wonderful piece of technique?
)

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

[Miguel Lombana]

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

[Will Schryver]

Originally Posted by Miguel Lombana

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.

[Don Palomaki]

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.

[Miguel Lombana]

Originally Posted by Don Palomaki

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

[Don Palomaki]

The play amounts to shock mounting of a sort.

[Chris Hurd]

Merged several "loose mic" threads together.