In another thread, Chris Hurd wrote...

The Sennheiser MKE-300 will not fit in the Canon MA-300's mic clamp. That microphone has its own mounting foot for attaching directly to a camera accessory shoe. You could mount this Sennheiser mic on top of the Canon MA-300 as there is an accessory shoe up there, but it kind of defeats the purpose of the MA-300. This Sennheiser mic does not connect via XLR by the way.

I have discovered this the hard way. I bought the MKE-300 and the MA-300 for my GL2, thinking they would work together. Incomplete research on my part. Now I find that the MKE-300 plugs into the mic input on the GL2 and records only to one channel. Could it be that I am using it incorrectly? Better question: Is anyone aware of a way to make the MKE-300 take input into the 2 channels available on the GL2 during recording?

And if the MA-300 is the way to go (I am beginning to think so), would you kindly suggest a shotgun mic in the $300 range that will sit in the MA-300 clamp, plug into the L-R XLR inputs on the MA-300, and will have its own windshield, etc? What kind of wiring will be required please? I will go up to $400 if I can also plug the mic on a boom as I plan to also shoot drama soon. I work on docus and events now.

Thank you for your time.

The MKE-300 is a mono mic with a mono mini phone plug. It just naturally feeds its output to the left channel only, and the input to the right channel is shorted.

You can copy or pan the left channel to the right in post, or you can visit Radio Shack (or other fine electronics/audio store) and obtain a mono-to-stereo adapter for a couple dollars.

Thank you for your response Don Palomaki. Its always a good idea to ask those who know much more...

I will look into the Mono-to-stereo adapter suggestion as a quick fix. Thank you.

For the long term, however, I hope someone will have a moment to help with the second part of my question: I would like to make the MA-300 usable too using its balanced signals.

Briefly: A couple of windshielded shotgun mic suggestions ($300+) that will use the available clamp, and the name of the wire that can be used to connect the mic to the MA-300 L-R inputs (will shoot drama).

Pardon me if I have used some pro terms incompetently. I'm no sound guru :)

Thank you.

Audio-Technica 835b
Azden SGM-1x or 2x

Both come with windscreens I believe.

There are several threads on shotgun microphones on the Now Hear This part of DVinfo including a pointer to an article on shotgun mics on the LAFCPUG web page.

Thank you. Will follow the leads.