Camera audio ?
 

I have a pretty simple shoot I'm helping a friend with and have an audio question. My friend wants to boom directly into his camera. I've always recorded separately to an external recorder(tascam). My question, with all things being equal how much worse would straight to camera be quality wise?

Re: Camera audio ?
 

What camera? What mic? Generally most prosumer camers have decent mic pre's so over your typical Tascam recorder, most people won't hear the difference. If the camera can record uncompressed that would be best.

Re: Camera audio ?
 

Whats the shoot for? YouTube, home video, corporate, broadcast, commercial or even cinema, what might be suitable for some may be way off for others. 2 factors dictate what level you will work to....you / your clients expectations AND will you get used for another job.

'You are ONLY as good as your last job"

Re: Camera audio ?
 

MIke,

Yes, you can do that, if.....

The mic requires phantom power and the camera supplies it.

You have the right cables to connect the mic with the camera.

You don't need to ride gain on the person talking to compensate for their variations.

They aren't subject to occasional peaky outbursts

Otherwise, put a good mixer (human and machine) between the mic and camera.

Regards,

Ty Ford

Re: Camera audio ?
 

It will be a training video for a small company. The company says it doesn't have to be perfect since only employees will see it. The camera is a panasonic 150 and the mic is a rode ntg3. My goal is to get the best quality we can with the resources we have, even if it doesn't have to be perfect. I've seen some samples of going straight into camera and they sound better than I expected. I guess if I had more expensive sound equipment, external recording would prob be a bigger difference.

If the quality is decent enough the company will prob ask for more down the line most likely.

Thanks for all the replies.

Re: Camera audio ?
 

Feeding a microphone like a Rode NTG3 into a camera with XLR inputs is perfectly fine. As you say, you aren't shooting a Hollywood feature here.

Now, whether an NTG3 on a boom is the right choice is a different question. Since you revealed no details of what we are shooting, it is not possible to make any comments on either the choice of microphone or technique.

Re: Camera audio ?
 

The Rode NTG3 is a good mic, and AFAIK the 150 has XLR inputs and Phantom Pwr. so it should work. The 150's preamps are 'probably' as good as or close to the H4n or other budget recorders.
- Get a good shock mount. Some kind of windscreen would be a good idea too, a must for exteriors.
- The NTG3 may not be very good for 'live' interiors.. depends on the room's dimensions and acoustics.
- It's a 'simple' shoot that doesn't have to be 'perfect'... yeah right.. and probably.. 'less than a half day' .. heard that one before too.

Re: Camera audio ?
 

My first video experience included taking audio directly from a RODE NTG-3 with Blimp and Dead Cat, to a Sony HXR-NX5U camcorder. The first thing we did was V/O in a small, carpeted alcove, with an low acoustic tile drop ceiling, off of an office. That turned out excellent due to the size of the space and how acoustically neutral it was. The second set-up was in a large lobby. Not so good. It was acoustically very reflective and when played back, the audio was the classic recorded in a 'bathroom' effect. We ended-up re-doing it with a proper Hypercardioid small condenser Mic. If you are going to try and use the NTG-3 indoors, I would bring lots of moving blankets with me to help dampen the acoustic reflections. Otherwise, try to do the interviews outdoors, assuming you've got proper wind protection. And always listen to the audio on a good set of headphones while you're recording. JMHO, YMMV.

Good luck and best wishes,

J.