Shock mount for ME66 on A1 that DOESN'T use the acc. shoe?
 

I came across this universal shock mount, and was wondering if anyone's used it on the A1's side clamp with a ME66 or similar? B&H doesn't have many details for it, but it looks like it would work pretty well.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...goryNavigation

thoughts?

Looks useful. Look also for the "J Mount" or "J Bar" (not sure exactly) which is similar idea but with a more versatile shoe-mount at one end, rather than a rubber-band mic shock-mount. There have been a couple of threads about it around here recently, so a search should turn up all the details.

I'm planning to put a Rode NTG1 mic into the A1's own holder - will it fit? If so, what is the reason for an extra holder (apart from perhaps better shock dumping)?

I use the Jrod and Sennheiser ME66/K6P with my Canon XH-A1.

I was thinking about picking this one up. Seems like a quicker in and out than the jrod.

http://tinyurl.com/2pr2vp

Please write a review once u get it.

Hi guys,

I prefer this option by Rycote:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...goryNavigation

It comes in three sizes (this is the smallest), and is very quick to take off the camera and put on a boom since it's threaded at the bottom.

Piotr, to answer your question, I use this thing so that I can mount a mic with a softie onto the camera. It gets the whole setup back far enough so that it isn't in frame. Having said that, I normally just have it on a boom anyway.

Thanks Tom; but does it mean it has been checked that a mic some 21cm in length (like the Rode NTG1) - when mounted directly in the A1 own holder - would inevitably show in the frame? I'd like to know that before ordering the mike:)

The NTG1 is to thin for the mounting on the XH A1, it's simply fixed though with a little bit of old wet suit or bike inner tube cut to lenth. It does pick up the zoom motor so mounting it higher up in a shock mount system should do the trick there and there's no problem of mike in shot. I got one when I bought the camera and mostly have had the mike on a stand up close and out of shot, it does the trick.

My shortest shotgun is about 29cm and only comes into shot with a softie on. So, I have to move the whole thing back a bit. 21cm is fairly short for a shotgun, and may be okay even with a softie on. I always use wind protection outdoors.

Kevin also has a good point about motor noise. Getting up and away helps on any camera.

To tell the truth, if I had an A1, I would just buy a softie for the onboard mic to capture ambient audio. With a shotgun you'll still want to get as close to the sound as you can, as per Kevin's suggestion of a stand. I even use a short boom and operate my camera at the same time, if I'm alone. It's a pain, but for me a shotgun on camera is only marginally more useful than the onboard mic. If you are interviewing people, you have to get that mic off the camera, or get the camera right into people's faces. In my experience, people don't like cameras in the faces.

With the A1, you need a shotgun if you want ambient noise and a lav, because you can't use internal on one channel and external on another.

Sorry, Stu, I wasn't very clear. I would generally record voice and ambience separately.

However, I'm surprized the A1 won't let you record from the onboard mic to one track and an external mic to the other, at the same time.

It is surprising, and a bit of a disappointment. Still, if they'd enable switching between internal and xlr mics via a custom key, wouldn't be too big a deal.

Out of curiosity, which camera in this price range allows for mixing the internal/external mic signals?

I found the standard mount to just pass through too much noise.

I removed the standard mic mount from my A1 and use the shoe adapter shock mount that came with my NTG1. It works great and I don't have the side mount taking up space in my bag. I had to use a really good carbon-tip screwdriver to get the screws out of the standard mount but it does come off. I will only put it back on if I ever sell the A1.

I agree, the standard mount is loud.

Problem with using a shoe mounted holder is I usually keep one wireless in it, another wireless on my bracket one, and a shotgun in the mic holder. I then swap xlr's between one of the wireless units and the shotgun as needed, and it is needed to grab tone often, because it's a pain to quickly switch back & forth between xlr to internal.

The XL1s, XL2, and I assume the XL H1 all allow you to record internal on one pair of channels and external on another pair - though in 12 bit audio.

I would think one solution is to get a stereo to two mono miniplug adapter. Then the unbalanced miniplug from wireless and from mic could go into the miniplug. If your mic is xlr then use the xlr from the wireless one goes into each of the two xlr inputs.

Bill in Ohio

Please take a look, as mentioned above, at The J-rod.
You can get them with 2 shoes on 1 bar to mount a shock mount and a radio receiver, which would solve your problem Stu.

Mounting shotgun
 

I do use the Rode SM5 shockmount on my A1 to mount my Rode STG-2 shotgun mic. The Rode mic is a bit smaller than the mic holder provided with the camera so I originally tried using a thin piece of innertube that I cut as a spacer. It held the mic perfectly but I noticed that at faster zoom speeds the mic picks up the noise, via vibration of the lens. Hand holding the mic. next to the camera did not pick up much zoom noise at all, so I bought the SM5 shockmount and have been very happy with it. I still notice a faint bit of zoom noise at the fastest speeds but can live with it.

I just went to B&H and tested the Lightwave MM-XL1 Mini Mount to see if it would work with the Canon XH-A1. It fits very nicely into the mic holder and allows one the option to either place the mount facing forward or backwards. The mount is well made and holds the ME-66 very securely (also quick in and out). If I purchase the Lightwave Mount I will post my first impressions.

The J-Rod seems like a great idea, but $58 seems like a lot to pay. If the price was a little more reasonable I would be all over it. Another option I found was the Lightwave MM-XL1 Mini Mount ($125 @ B&H). Once you add a mic holder to the J-Rod the price is about the same (depending on what mount you use). The Lightwave frees up the camera shoe like the J-Rod. It is a little less versatile than the J-Rod, but it feels very solid to me.

Hugh

MZSCAM shock mount for ME66
 

I bought a Sennheiser MZSCAM shock mount for my A1. It fits fine on the hot shoe and is high enough to stay out of the lens view, although I'm not sure what will happen when the Rycote softie is installed.

However, I can also mount it on a short tube inserted into the microphone mount. That would be lighter, shorter and less expensive than the J-Rod and put less torque on the plastic microphone mount.

When the softie shows up I will update this. Now I need to get some right angle connectors for the xlr cable to keep the cable out of the way.

This http://www.mklemme.com/pole/dvcam.html seems like it's eventually going to be my solution when using a ECM-673 & a cam mounted light (even thought the 673 is only a tad over 8" long)... still a bit of that dreaded cam mic shadow. It seems as if you have a choice of mounting so the orientation is a little further back (1st 2 example pics)

Bill

grrrr... dupe post :-\