Portable recorder for interviews under $500
 

I have a 5dmkii and need a portable recorder for interviews. I'm bewildered by the choices from the ZoomH4 to the products by Tascam, Edirol, Sony, Olympus, Marantz etc.

I'd also like to know whether i can plug in the lapel mic from my Sennheiser radio mics, or would i get a better recording from the onboard mics that come with these recorders?

Sorry, i realise this topic has been covered ad nauseum, but with new products arriving all the time, i'm confused about which way to go. I'm currently leaning towards the edirol or Olympus as they're a fair bit smaller than the Zoom and i will take this recorder travelling.

Any thoughts?

I have the Olympus LS-10 (the LS-11 would be the same).

Yes, you definitely *can* plug your microphone that comes with a Sennheiser evolution system directly into the Olympus LS-10 (11). I have done it with my LS-10 and it works fine. The Olympus does supply the plug-in-power that the mic. requires.

Though please be aware it will record on left channel only which you will have to sort out in post.

Thanks for that John.

The Olympus is smaller and cheaper than most of the competition, so it's definitely a maybe. Doubling up the audio and making stereo pairs is a doddle in FCP so i'm not bothered about only having one channel.

The Tascam DR-100 is a very nice machine as well. They are going for right at 300 bucks or so if you look around.


Nicole

If you want portable, I just got one of these Yamaha | Pocketrak CX Digital Stereo Audio | POCKETRAK CX | B&H and I am well pleased with everything about it.

If you're going to get a recorder specifically for use with the Canon 5D Mark II, I'd recommend getting one with an output that you can send directly to the camera. Some models like the Sony PCM-M10 use the headphone out as a Line out, so look closely if you want the ability to monitor the audio while shooting.

I'm using the Tascam DR100 with the DVcreators Line to Mic Cable at DVcreators.net - this cable has a built-in -50dB pad.

Here's a recording with the Tascam


To defeat the AGC on the Canon 5D Mark II, take a look at Magic Lantern Firmware Wiki

Just to add to Guy's comment, if you can send a mic-level recorder to camera, you can save some time syncing the audio with this -
PluralEyes
Singular Software

I haven't used it myself, but know some people that have and it looks very cool so long as the audio you're sending to camera is decent.

For a recorder I use an H4n and love it.

with the manual gain control of 5D now, feeding the 5D input via the TASCAM/Zoom H4n with a PAD cable should solve the issue isnt it? We should get pretty good audio am I right?

Keep in mind as Guy said about some recorders, the H4n also uses just a single output for headphone or line out. The original H4 had two independent outputs. It's something to think of if you're sending the output to another device. It's the only change from old to new on the Zoom that I don't care for.

I am also looking for such a device. Not sure what to look for... Olympus, Tascam, Zoom, Edirol, Yamaha... so many players in this market.

I want to record interviews in high quality which I can use in my documentaries.

Hi Guy, the recording is pretty impressive and I'm hoping to do the same for my zoom H4n (less the monitoring option). Its great that the 5D2 has manual gain control now, which I think would solve the issue. Correct me if I'm wrong.

One question I have, is you will need to be recording with the Tascam in order to have the audio in the 5D2 right? I shoot events/weddings mainly so I'm worried about scenarios where the recorder is not recording, and there would be zero audio (dead meat). I guess this workflow is better for controlled situation right? The beachtek or juicelink soln still has place somewhere.

I'm liking the Sony M10 right now.

Sony PCM M10 recorder


Ty Ford