Sony camera mic?

[sn-films]

I posted a note about a gun/zoom mic that we're using on our current feature. If that's what you're looking for, its the Gun/Zoom Microphone (ECM-HS1) on Sony's site.

http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTE...6CwAAADxunXS7X ZM

[spaceham]

that's it exactly, thanks. how has the mic worked out for you or anyone else that may have tried it so far?

[spaceham]

A coupel weeks ago there was a post concerning a camera mic. Someone, can't recall who, put up a link to a mic produced by Sony. What was the mic called and what was the link?

[sn-films]

The mic works great. We recently finished a feature length DV project, and we used that mic for all of our outdoor dialog scenes.

Prior to shooting, a couple of us went out and did some tests with it to get a feel for what the mic could and could not do. I had two people sitting on a log have a conversation at normal levels about 20 feet away from the camera. With the built-in mic, the voices were audible, but there was an f*ckin' crow that wouldn't shut up that made the dialog difficult to understand. With the Zoom mic, I could make out the dialog clearly, and could barely hear the crow. Pretty cool stuff. It has a better frequency response compared to most built-in mics, so if you have an actor with a deep gravely voice, it REALLY comes across.

However, there is a HUGE draw-back to using this mic. Because of the way its mounted, and because the mic is more sensitive than the built-in mic, it makes the camera chasis "hot". It took me a couple days to work out what was happening to the audio on my hand-held shots. I kept hearing this "thunk, thunk, thunk..." everytime the camera moved. Eventually, we worked out that it was the camera battery shifting! We ended up using a little piece of cardboard to keep the battery from shifting and all was well.

I would highly reccommend this mic, but as with any new equipment I would strongly suggest taking sometime to play with it before you shoot any real footage for a project.