Bad XL2 mic at DVinfo.net

Keith Paisley · January 16th, 2005, 10:25 PM

Hello everyone, been lurking here for a while and have benefitted from a number of threads and the search engine. Thanks for the great resource. I picked up an XL2 in November and have used it very sparingly (just enough to get to know it). I took it on its first shoot last weekend at the Detroit Auto Show and was dismayed to discover that the onboard Canon mic was malfunctioning (it had been working perfectly when I used it previously). The left channel was barely registering any signal at all. Using the manual gain controls I was able to sort of balance it out, but i really had to crank the gain up on the left channel and dial it way back on the right channel. This is surprising and disappointing to say the least.

I like the camera a lot, particularly being able to shoot in 16:9 at 30p, but I sure hope I don't have to ship the whole thing back to get the mic fixed (I ordered online). Has anybody else had a similar problem and been able to get the component replaced rather than returning the whole camera?

rgds

Rainer Hoffmann · January 17th, 2005, 04:32 AM

Did you isolate the failure? Try another mic. If the sound is recorded correctly, then your mic is malfunctioning. Otherwise the problem is in the circuitry of your camera. In that case you obviously would have to send in the camera.

Keith Paisley · January 17th, 2005, 08:36 PM

yeah, sorry, I should have mentioned that i tested it with another stereo (lav) mic and it worked fine.

<<<-- Originally posted by Rainer Hoffmann : Did you isolate the failure? Try another mic. If the sound is recorded correctly, then your mic is malfunctioning. Otherwise the problem is in the circuitry of your camera. In that case you obviously would have to send in the camera. -->>>

Richard Alvarez · January 17th, 2005, 08:51 PM

Keith,

A stereo lav mic in the xlr input would not reveal a problem that might lie in the Shotgun mic input up front.

Just a thought.

See if you can beg/borrow another XL2 shotgun mic and test it on camera. IF all is well, then send in the mic. If not, send in the whole rig.

Good luck.

Don Palomaki · January 18th, 2005, 05:24 AM

If you can, try the suspect mic in another Canon. It may be that the audio mini- plug was not fully inserted.

Stereo lav - what make/model?

Keith Paisley · January 19th, 2005, 09:03 PM

I called Canon's 800 number and they asked me to send the mic back, so I sent it in yesterday.

To clarify, the stereo lav mic I tested was an old Radio Shack I had laying around. It has two separate lav condensors that merge into an unbalanced stereo wire. It was the only other stereo mic I had handy that I could test with quickly.

I unplugged the Canon mic and plugged the stereo lav in to the front mic input. Unfortunately I didn't have access to another XL2 body or mic, so I couldn't have conclusively tested. I was reasonably satisfied with the results from testing with the stereo lav, though.

January 16th, 2005, 10:25 PM	#1
Keith Paisley Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 190	Bad XL2 mic Hello everyone, been lurking here for a while and have benefitted from a number of threads and the search engine. Thanks for the great resource. I picked up an XL2 in November and have used it very sparingly (just enough to get to know it). I took it on its first shoot last weekend at the Detroit Auto Show and was dismayed to discover that the onboard Canon mic was malfunctioning (it had been working perfectly when I used it previously). The left channel was barely registering any signal at all. Using the manual gain controls I was able to sort of balance it out, but i really had to crank the gain up on the left channel and dial it way back on the right channel. This is surprising and disappointing to say the least. I like the camera a lot, particularly being able to shoot in 16:9 at 30p, but I sure hope I don't have to ship the whole thing back to get the mic fixed (I ordered online). Has anybody else had a similar problem and been able to get the component replaced rather than returning the whole camera? rgds

January 17th, 2005, 04:32 AM	#2
Rainer Hoffmann Major Player Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Syke, Germany Posts: 249	Did you isolate the failure? Try another mic. If the sound is recorded correctly, then your mic is malfunctioning. Otherwise the problem is in the circuitry of your camera. In that case you obviously would have to send in the camera. __________________ Keep rolling Rainer

January 18th, 2005, 05:24 AM	#5
Don Palomaki Wrangler Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Northern VA Posts: 4,487	If you can, try the suspect mic in another Canon. It may be that the audio mini- plug was not fully inserted. Stereo lav - what make/model? __________________ dpalomaki@dspalomaki.com

January 17th, 2005, 08:36 PM	#3
Keith Paisley Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 190	yeah, sorry, I should have mentioned that i tested it with another stereo (lav) mic and it worked fine. <<<-- Originally posted by Rainer Hoffmann : Did you isolate the failure? Try another mic. If the sound is recorded correctly, then your mic is malfunctioning. Otherwise the problem is in the circuitry of your camera. In that case you obviously would have to send in the camera. -->>>

January 17th, 2005, 08:51 PM	#4
Richard Alvarez Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: San Mateo, CA Posts: 3,840	Keith, A stereo lav mic in the xlr input would not reveal a problem that might lie in the Shotgun mic input up front. Just a thought. See if you can beg/borrow another XL2 shotgun mic and test it on camera. IF all is well, then send in the mic. If not, send in the whole rig. Good luck.

January 19th, 2005, 09:03 PM	#6
Keith Paisley Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 190	I called Canon's 800 number and they asked me to send the mic back, so I sent it in yesterday. To clarify, the stereo lav mic I tested was an old Radio Shack I had laying around. It has two separate lav condensors that merge into an unbalanced stereo wire. It was the only other stereo mic I had handy that I could test with quickly. I unplugged the Canon mic and plugged the stereo lav in to the front mic input. Unfortunately I didn't have access to another XL2 body or mic, so I couldn't have conclusively tested. I was reasonably satisfied with the results from testing with the stereo lav, though.