Railfan Technology > External Mic Question

Hello all,
A couple months back, I bought a Canon Vixia HF R50 camcorder with 57X zoom. I have been very pleased with the picture quality and sound quality when there is little to no wind. I asked the local camera shop what the best possible options would be for an external mic and they said that for this type of camera that I would experience no change in the sound quality and to just use the noise suppression setting on the camcorder itself. I did and I was not impressed at all with the sound quality. I am looking for a reasonably priced mic that will cut down on wind noise. I would like to stay within the price range of $100-$150. If I have to, I will go above that but I would prefer to stay within that range. I am pretty new with the photography aspect of the hobby so any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
-611Doug

Doug,
They are discontinued so up you'd have to find one aftermarket, like on eBay, but the Audio Technica AT25 is a stereo condenser mic that works great, I have one for external audio in the field.

Great mic for the money.

You will need to find or fashion a windscreen for the mic, and perhaps a desktop mount to set it on the ground. I found I got the best results just laying the mic on a tuft of grass near the tracks.

Here's one on eBay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Audio-Technica-ATR25-Stereo-Condenser-Microphone-/201122002586?pt=US_Pro_Audio_Microphones&hash=item2ed3ce369a

The only way to keep any microphone quiet in the wind is to cover it with a windscreen of open cell foam or synthetic fur, like Rycote. Fur works better than foam outside. For train video, avoid shotgun mics because the high directionality has some undesirable side effects. I would look for a directional stereo mic, using a pair of cardioid elements or one with a mid-side array and decoding. Most all of them will require a battery of some kind, since they are condensers.

Take a look at the Rode VideoMic. It is offered in two packages, one with the "fuzzy windbuster kit." Or buy the "dead kitten" wind shield separately. B&H carries all of this stuff. Rode makes studio microphones, so this should be good.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/04/14 09:23 by radar.

radar Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The only way to keep any microphone quiet in the
> wind is to cover it with a windscreen of open cell
> foam or synthetic fur, like Rycote. Fur works
> better than foam outside. For train video, avoid
> shotgun mics because the high directionality has
> some undesirable side effects. I would look for a
> directional stereo mic, using a pair of cardioid
> elements or one with a mid-side array and
> decoding. Most all of them will require a battery
> of some kind, since they are condensers.
>
> Take a look at the Rode VideoMic. It is offered
> in two packages, one with the "fuzzy windbuster
> kit." Or buy the "dead kitten" wind shield
> separately. B&H carries all of this stuff. Rode
> makes studio microphones, so this should be good.

I have to agree with the Rode VideoMic as well. It is absolutely fantastic - produces great audio, and with one of the "dead cat" wind screens, it cuts the wind noise down a ton...without affecting the noise of the train headed towards you.

Jim Lipnitz
Morrisville, PA
Big Jim Video Productions