External Mic

[Kevin Carter]

For the HDR-HC3
it mentions an external Mic.
Cant find photo or any info on this?
Does anyone have any links?
Does one use boom or is it just a bigger mic?
Does it double or triple quality of sounds? thanks.

[Chris Harris]

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...ist&sku=396836

I found this model from Sony, the ECM-HST1. I don't know anything about it though.

[Kevin Carter]

thanks Chris, it's a start and I use BH.
Now:
anyone...
it just goes on top of the HDR-HC1 / ?

and it improves sound? night and day? hardly at all?

[Fred Foronda]

I'm on the same boat as you my friend. I just want a better audio. Just to pick up whoevers speaking a lot clearer and more in front. I have narrowed these two:http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...cessory_detail
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...cessory_detail

[Kevin Carter]

Cool Fred:
Actually I just got the camera and just did one casual test and it sounded fine to me, but an editor I met said, 'what can you do to optimize sound'
ok,
I read reviews on
ECM-HST1
and one guy said it does not improve sound a bit, just raises your mike.
But the
ECM-HGZ1
you just posted looks like a whole nother animal
anyone use it with the HDR-HC1 / ?

[Kevin Carter]

dang review for it are not so good.
one guy mentioned he'd like to get a Sennheiser, but could that even go on the sony, would it matter? one guy said it did improve sound.. but you have to know how to use it.

[Stu Holmes]

You can't attach a non-Sony mic to the HC3.

- Not unless you perform a modification to a mic that will fit onto the AIS-shoe and then wire in another mic. Details on this mod have been posted somewhere or other i think.

But as for straight plugging a Sennheiser mic onto the HC3 without resorting to a soldering gun etc, can't do it as there's no MIC IN socket unfortunately.

[Kevin Carter]

thanks Stu:
what's your opinion.
for just shooting off the cuff, can sounds be improved from in camera mic?

Not even complaining about it, just curious

[Stu Holmes]

Originally Posted by Kevin Carter

thanks Stu:
what's your opinion.
for just shooting off the cuff, can sounds be improved from in camera mic?

Not even complaining about it, just curious

Hi Kevin.

Sorry its taken me a few days to check back.

I have the ECM-HS1 and its not bad at all. Definitely an improvement on internal mics for my Sony cam (not an HC3 but a DV cam).
The ECM-HZ1 is basically a pretty similar mic to my ECM-HS1 so if you do want to get another mic i'd try that one. (HGZ1).
Keep it on "gun" mode though. In "zoom" mode it just blends the sound from internal mics with the ext.mics dependent on your zoom setting.

I'd think that for outdoors the HGZ1 would give better results than the internal mics probably about 80% of the time. For indoors stuff it may be a little more 50/50 - it really depends how close the subject matter is and how "spread out" the sound sources are. Generally if the sound sources are more spread around the room and are closer, the internal stereo mic will probably be fine. The HGZ1 being a short shotgun mic will be more 'targetted' in its directionality and so will isolate whats in vision better generally.

Its not too expensive so i'd think worthwhile picking one up. No mic will give great results in EVERY situation - you just have to learn when to use an ext.-mic, when to use internal mic etc.

A mic like Rode Videomic will sound really quite a lot better than all of the above, but as i said, there is a connection problem with that with the HC3. you need a MIC IN socket and HC3 hasnt got one. Other small DV and HDV cams do have MIC IN sockets.

Try the HGZ1 is my advice.

[Kevin Carter]

Well this is mostly recording voices of people right in front of me without a boom. I just tested my Sony and it's pretty good actually out of the box.

You think these mics, will show coniderable improvement?

[Martin Pauly]

I bought an HC3, along with the Sony shotgun and wireless mics. Looking back, I think I should have saved the money for the two mics, because since then I have invested heavily in completely separate professional audio recording gear (dual system). The Sony shotgun is a marginal improvement over the HC3's built-in mic, but no competition for professional mics. I actually find the wireless mic quite usable, and I use it occasionally when the sound source is far away from the camera and the highest quality is not needed - it's so much more convenient than a double system.

So, while a little bit of improvement can be obtained from the Sony mics, don't look at the HC3 to record professional sound.

- Martin

[Kevin Carter]

Martin
tell me about the wireless mic?
why is it good?
is a lav?

[Martin Pauly]

Originally Posted by Kevin Carter

tell me about the wireless mic?
why is it good?
is a lav?

It's a small self-contained unit, about the size of a 9 Volt battery, that contains the omni-directional mic and the transmitter. It has a small clip to attach it, but it's certainly much more difficult to hide on a shirt or collar than a small lav that's connected to a bodypack. The quality for voices is decent; I have not tried to use it for anything but voices so I can't tell you anything about music or other sounds. Situations where it has been really handy include taping my young daughter (I can clip the mic to her coat or pants and get a good recording of what she says even from far away) or when recording a group of people sitting around a table (where I just put the mic on the table in front of everybody). The latter situation would of course be better served by a wired mic, but since the HC3 doesn't allow that...

- Martin