Microphones for the Sony FX7

[John Gerard]

Hi,

I just got the Sony FX7. In short, I like it. I currently have the Canon L1 which has a Stereo/Zoom Mic. This Mic lets you adjust the Zoom from 90 degrees to 180 degrees. I am currently making Highlight tennis videos. This mic lets me zoom in on my subject pretty well. I would like to use it with my Sony FX7 if I can. For those that don't know this mic it uses the Camera, through a 2.5mm jack, to supply power and a 3.5mm plug.
Is this what is called Phatom power? I have no idea what the power rating requirements for this Mic? In your opinion is this mic worth using or is there a simular alternative? I have about $400US to spend. I have been reading a lot of notes on this board about Mics and the Juicedlink unit. To use the Canon Mic do I need the Juicedlink unit? Will the Mic even work with the Juicedlink unit or is there some other sollution? My brother suggested that the Juicedlink unit may make the overall camera a little on the heavy side when hand holding. So, if I don't need the juicedlink unit to power this Mic I might hold off on buying one for now. I might in the future need lapel Mics, etc. but not for now. I have been reading here about zoom Mics but none of these seem to have a zoom control feature like the Canon.
I do find that the internal mic sounds pretty clear but it does pick up everything close to it stronger. It does not zoom into ones subject isolating the background noise. Also I find the internal mic you really need a windscreen or this Mic.

If anyone would like me to post a picture of the Canon Mic let me know.

Thanks for the advice in advance,

John Gerard

[Stelios Christofides]

John

I am using this mic for my FX7
RØDE Microphones

Surge here and you will find lots of info:
All Things Audio - The Digital Video Information Network

Stelios

[Adam Gold]

Surprisingly, the on-camera mic on the FX7 is actually quite good. If you wanted to upgrade, I'd echo the suggestion to get the Rode VideoMic, which is a very good value and provides excellent sound. I wouldn't get the Stereo version, but that's just me.

Of course, to get really good sound you need to get the mic off the camera. Lavs are required for individuals speaking or singing.

The JuicedLink or BeachTek boxes are for adapting professional mics with XLR (those big 3-pin) connectors to cameras that only have mini plugs. Some of these units have batteries in them that do provide phantom power. There are many good shotgun and hyper-cardioid mics that will work with these boxes, but they may be overkill for you. Mics with mini plugs do get some power from the cam, but this isn't really what they mean by phantom power, and in fact even these mics often need internal batteries.

From your description of your mic it sounds like it has two plugs, 2.5 mm and 3.5 mm, but I'm sure I'm misunderstanding, because I've never heard of this. At any rate, a "zooming" mic doesn't really reject unwanted sounds all that well in my experience. When I shoot sports I don't even record sound.

Edit: I've been searching for any info I can find on the L1. Do you mean the old 8mm camcorder? The specs I can find only list a 3.5mm jack, not a 2.5mm, so I'm confused about how you think the cam is delivering power to the mic.

Is this the cam?

http://www.canon.com/camera-museum/c...=1991-1992&p=1

Or do you mean the miniDV XL1?

[John Wiley]

I can also vouch for the Rode Videomic, but for this application it may be better to get the audio off-camera. If you don't want to splurge on all the gear to setup a wireless mic, then you could just get a seperate sound recorder and feed a mic into it. Maybe you can get close enough that you can use an camera-mounted mic, but from your description I am gettnig a vision of you right up the back of the gradstand with a few hundred spectators in between you and the subjects.

[John Gerard]

For the Tennis videos I am one on one. Sitting right on court side. The tennis club is in a big warehouse building. Inside is can get quite noisy do to the echo type effect in the building. I would like to zoom in so I can get a more realistic sound of the individual's shots. I find the internal mic picks up everything, it sounds good but it does not isolate sounds. From what I have been reading a lot of Zoom mics do not have any user control on how much zoom like my Canon L2 mic.

I would like to use the Canon L2 Mic. Do you know of a way to do this? In the feature I will purchase some lapel mics etc. if I need them for interviews and the like. Also, I don't want to have to cary around a mic on a boom pole if I don't really need it for my purpose. The Canon Mic really works well the little I used it. The question is how well it would work on the FX7?

John Gerard

[John Gerard]

Yes, you are not mistaken it does have 2 plugs. I assume it uses power from the camera to power the mic. No external power. I will try to up load 4 photos that show the Mic and camera. I also have the camera manual if you want to read up on any of the Specs. This camera was manufactured Febuary of 1992. This is a Hi-8 Svideo camera that can use standard 8mm tapes. Also, you might be able to get some pics by searching ebay. Also you can find some info. at Professional Industrial Video Equipment | Industrial Video Equipment | Southern Advantage. The pics show the stereo volume control that is supposed to have independent Left and Right adjustments. There is a Stereo/Tele switch on the Mic.
I could use some more explanation of phantom power. If I use this mic I believe I would need some way to power it. I don't need a big Juicelink box if there is another alternative?

Thanks,

John Gerard

Originally Posted by Adam Gold

Surprisingly, the on-camera mic on the FX7 is actually quite good. If you wanted to upgrade, I'd echo the suggestion to get the Rode VideoMic, which is a very good value and provides excellent sound. I wouldn't get the Stereo version, but that's just me.

Of course, to get really good sound you need to get the mic off the camera. Lavs are required for individuals speaking or singing.

The JuicedLink or BeachTek boxes are for adapting professional mics with XLR (those big 3-pin) connectors to cameras that only have mini plugs. Some of these units have batteries in them that do provide phantom power. There are many good shotgun and hyper-cardioid mics that will work with these boxes, but they may be overkill for you. Mics with mini plugs do get some power from the cam, but this isn't really what they mean by phantom power, and in fact even these mics often need internal batteries.

From your description of your mic it sounds like it has two plugs, 2.5 mm and 3.5 mm, but I'm sure I'm misunderstanding, because I've never heard of this. At any rate, a "zooming" mic doesn't really reject unwanted sounds all that well in my experience. When I shoot sports I don't even record sound.

Edit: I've been searching for any info I can find on the L1. Do you mean the old 8mm camcorder? The specs I can find only list a 3.5mm jack, not a 2.5mm, so I'm confused about how you think the cam is delivering power to the mic.

Is this the cam?

Canon Camera Museum | Camera Hall - 8mm Camcorders

Or do you mean the miniDV XL1?

[John Gerard]

I for got to add the camera museum site you listed it the correct camera. The Canon XL1 is a later model.

John Gerard

Originally Posted by Adam Gold

Surprisingly, the on-camera mic on the FX7 is actually quite good. If you wanted to upgrade, I'd echo the suggestion to get the Rode VideoMic, which is a very good value and provides excellent sound. I wouldn't get the Stereo version, but that's just me.

Of course, to get really good sound you need to get the mic off the camera. Lavs are required for individuals speaking or singing.

The JuicedLink or BeachTek boxes are for adapting professional mics with XLR (those big 3-pin) connectors to cameras that only have mini plugs. Some of these units have batteries in them that do provide phantom power. There are many good shotgun and hyper-cardioid mics that will work with these boxes, but they may be overkill for you. Mics with mini plugs do get some power from the cam, but this isn't really what they mean by phantom power, and in fact even these mics often need internal batteries.

From your description of your mic it sounds like it has two plugs, 2.5 mm and 3.5 mm, but I'm sure I'm misunderstanding, because I've never heard of this. At any rate, a "zooming" mic doesn't really reject unwanted sounds all that well in my experience. When I shoot sports I don't even record sound.

Edit: I've been searching for any info I can find on the L1. Do you mean the old 8mm camcorder? The specs I can find only list a 3.5mm jack, not a 2.5mm, so I'm confused about how you think the cam is delivering power to the mic.

Is this the cam?

Canon Camera Museum | Camera Hall - 8mm Camcorders

Or do you mean the miniDV XL1?

[Adam Gold]

Wow, that is a *very* interesting mic. I'm not really an expert but I've never seen one like that.

Unfortunately, no mic mounted on (or near) the cam will do what you want. Well, maybe one of those big parabolic dishes the networks use for NFL coverage, but they cost more than a house. I think even the best shotgun or hyper would still pick up the echoing from the indoor venue.

If your current mic truly does take power from one plug and send sound through the other, I don't think it would work on a cam not designed to do that. Maybe some sound pros will chime in with suggestions.

[John Gerard]

I did not find any useful footage that showed what I was taking about to post. This discusion makes me rethink what I am after. I am still doing research and thinking what I am really after. What do you think between the Rode VideoMic and the Rode NTG-2? There is a lot of youtub video on the Rode videomic but not much on the Rode NTG-2.


John Gerard

[Martyn Hull]

For MY FX-7 and other cams i have the rode video and stereo mikes,the stereo mike is far superior for sound quality for me,

[John Gerard]

I was listening to some of the footage I took over christmas with headphones pluged into the FX7. It sound great in that test. I can really hear that someone is farther away from the camera but in some situations like nature filming this would not be a bad thing. Although I have not heard other mics to compare. I can only compare it to what I have which is the mono mic on my Panasonic VHS-C camera. The sound from that camera was not bad it picked up ok strong signal. but nothing special. No way to monitor the sound and it is not a stereo mic nor a shotgun mic.

The mic on the FX7 I notices that when I turned away from the person speaking the mic picked up the speech in the appropreate channel. This makes for a very nice stereo effect. At times I like that some sounds are fainter this gives the illusion of distance. I did find that I really need a dead head if I am shooting in the wind at all. I also found that I can turn up the gain/volume pretty much as high as I want and I get no distortion. The voices/ sounds were still really clear but in this situation I can really hear the camera sounds of zooming, etc. Because this camera picks up the sound closed to it, stronger. I am not sure I felt this using the Panasonic built in mic but then it did not have a level control option. I always wanted better sound on that camera. The Panasonic does not have any external mic jack.

John Gerard

[Mike Beckett]

In a quiet room or even outdoors when there is no noise, my V1 (FX7's big bruvver) is the same - a mic on top of the camera will pick up noises like zooming etc. It's quite simple really, the camera is actuially making these noises, so the mic will definitely pick them up.

You could try using a mic on a shockmount (Rode SM- series) which will move it away from the camera noise a bit. The only real way to get the noise down is to move the mic off-camera.

When I was doing my last UWOL shoot (OK, I missed a few) I was in bird hides. So I poked my camera lens out one of the flaps and used a 10' cable and poked my NTG-2 out the other flap - the sound was great.

[John Gerard]

I only have taken a few hours of video but from the stuff I have listened to I do not here any camera noise except if I increase the recording volume way way up. This is understandable if one understands the type of mic, ect. being used. I did not notice any hum or hiss or anything like that on the FX7 even at high volume.

John Gerard

[John Gerard]

I am back again researching which mic I should buy. I looked again at Rode's site and these are some of the ones I am considering. I realize that some of these my not be quite what I need for the Tennis taping but I wanted to learn more about them from a few users.

The Mics are...
M3
NT4 - I wonder if the NT4 (a stero mic) might work if I use the NT45-O Omni head.
I have not found any reviews with this combination. Then I could use it as a stereo mic and a directional mic.
NT5
Maybe the NT55
NTG-2 - This might be my best bet. How does it compare to the others and the Rode Video Mic.

I would like it to be directional.

[John Gerard]

Hi,

After looking up the term Omnidirectional and Cardioid, the NT4 Rode also makes the NT45-C adapter. It turn the NT4 into a Cardioid Mic so I think. But does that do the same thing as a shotgun mic?

John Gerard