External microphone for Camcorder

[Paul64]

Hello, not been here for a while

Can anyone recommend a reasonably priced camcorder and plug in external microphone robust enough to take some knocks in the field? It is important for me to gain both good image quality and sound too. There is nothing more irritating that watching a video on Youtube where the wind dominates the audio. That said I don't want to pay big bucks for a semi-pro camcorder with a fixed external mic, but rather a cheaper affordable one with a mic that you can plug in?

Thanks in advance! Paul

 

[Paul64]

Just noticed that I have posted this in the wrong department Could one of the admins move this to the photography section please?

 

[ganstey]

I hunted for a similar microphone a couple of months ago. The best I found was a Hama one. Although it comes with a 'sock' it still suffers from wind noise. I made it slightly better by loosely wrapping some teddy bear fur around it, but that didn't solve it to my satisfaction. I think I paid about UKP25 for it. There then seemed to be a jump to about UKP200 for a bottom of the range professional mic.

Be interested to see if anyone comes up with something.
G

 

[Nagual]

Not sure if this helps at all, but a few years ago I was looking for an external mic to add to my panasonic camcorder. I ended up watching ebay like a hawk, as every so often some crackers appear. I ended up with a shotgun style one (sort of directional kind of thing )which needed a phantom power supply ( basically external power via batteries )- luckily they are cheap enough. This certainly helped. Wind is still a problem, even with home made windsocks for it, although it does reduce it a lot. Something to consider too, is the noise made by the camcorder, the constant 'bzzzzzz' can make some recordings a pain to deal with, using an external mic will stop this of course, also using a DAT recorder too, allowing you to have the camera fixed or some distance away, and the mic either on you or near to you. This gives you a lot of flexibility regarding how you want to frame your shots.

 

[Paul64]

Thanks for your replies. I was thinking about something like this made by MKE but it's still more than I want to pay. I like the idea of this as it can also be fitted to a boom pole and moved about independently of the camera. Just out of interest have you have any experience with the new DSLR's with movie mode? It could be a good compromise if the quality is good as could also be used for photos too. I know some of the Canon DSLR's have an external mic port, which could make this a cost effective option worth looking at.

Cheers, Paul

 

[drewdunnrespect]

panasonis hs 700 hundred has an external mike fitting and is about a thousound pound and the mike well i havent looked in to that yet

 

[Paul64]

panasonis hs 700 hundred has an external mike fitting and is about a thousound pound and the mike well i havent looked in to that yet

Thanks, just checked it out on Amazon. Looks like a nice bit of kit and a bit cheaper there too

 

[No Idea]

er.....

We often take video while on our boats.

I havent bothered yet on our latest cutting edge waterproof £67 cam corder, but to stop the wind noise, I will be gluing a piece of high density foam over the speaker hole.

Thats making sure I dont get any glue in the hole lol