K6/ME66 distortion problems, but only on EX1 (not on Z1U)?? - Page 5 at DVinfo.net
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Sony XDCAM EX Pro Handhelds
Sony PXW-Z280, Z190, X180 etc. (going back to EX3 & EX1) recording to SxS flash memory.

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Old May 14th, 2008, 04:06 PM   #61
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Arild Pedersen View Post
This Rane pdf-document discuss the pin-1 XLR problem. Anybody checked if pin 1 is connected to chassis on EX-1?
Here is the link:
http://www.rane.com/pdf/ranenotes/Gr...%20Devices.pdf
It would seem to be. With a Rode NT3 connected there is less than 1mV potential between pin 1 and camera chassis. However between pin 2 and pin 1 and pin 3 and pin 1 voltage reads 14V i.e. phantom voltage is 28V under load. That might be too low for some mics.
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Old May 14th, 2008, 04:08 PM   #62
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Originally Posted by Bob Grant View Post
It would seem to be. With a Rode NT3 connected there is less than 1mV potential between pin 1 and camera chassis. However between pin 2 and pin 1 and pin 3 and pin 1 voltage reads 14V i.e. phantom voltage is 28V under load. That might be too low for some mics.
Bob can I get that in English?
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Old May 15th, 2008, 12:06 AM   #63
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Originally Posted by Akira Hakuta View Post
Bob can I get that in English?
I'll try!
Pin 1 on an XLR is the Shield, that's the copper braid around the two signal line in the cable. It's optional to connect it to the connector's shell which will typically cause that to connect the devices chassis. In the case of the EX1 as the two things are at the same voltage I'd say they are connected in the camera.

The rest is about the phantom power that the camera supplies to the microphone. Nominally it's supposed to be 48V. Most mics are happy enough at way less voltage than that (like 20V) although not all. Some say they need 48V +/- 4V. The EX1 might be compromising the performance of some microphones if it's not capable of supplying enough phantom power. I tend to doubt it myself but todate no one seems to have done any actual measurements. Perhaps someone with more experience with various mics than me can comment on the significance of what I've measured.
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Old May 15th, 2008, 12:20 AM   #64
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I think that a conclusive test on whether the distortions from certain mics are related to the phantom power from EX1 or not coud be comparing results with a mic on its own battery to the same on the camera's phantom power, in the same settings/environment. Of course, viable with mics having this option (like NT-G2).

Anyone willing to perform such test?
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Old May 15th, 2008, 12:39 AM   #65
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Anyone checked the camera with a Sennheiser MKH416?
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Old May 15th, 2008, 07:28 AM   #66
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Originally Posted by Jonathan Bland View Post
Anyone checked the camera with a Sennheiser MKH416?
I haven't been able to get my hands on a '416 yet, Jonathan, but I'll keep trying. Also, here are a few sites to bookmark for anyone who is interested in improving their audio. The first one is hosted by Rycote (free registration), and it's a compendium of mic data where you can select and compare any two mics to each other:
www.microphone-data.com
For example, it shows the ME66 as needing anywhere from 12 to 48v and it draws 2.2mA of power. I compared it to my Senn MKH60 (which worked fine with the EX1) and my mic is 48v only and draws 2 mA. So, based on those similar specs, it would seem to follow that the ME66 "should" work fine. YMMV

Here's another link to a valuable page on the Sound Devices website where they also talk about the power needs for various mic brands:
http://www.sounddevices.com/tech/phantom.htm
These guys build some amazing products. One of my next audio tests will be to use my SD722 recorder and my MP2 as mic pre's and feed the line level output into the Sony to see if I can get a quieter recording out of it. Sony doesn't exactly go out of their way to make quiet mic pre-amps for their camcorders.

Finally, another page worth bookmarking for wiring questions is this one:
http://www.rane.com/note110.html
This page will show you how to wire almost anything to anything and it's a great reference.
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Old May 15th, 2008, 09:47 AM   #67
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FWIW, I tried the ME66 with both the K6 and K6P (the former being battery powered), and in both cases, I still had this distortion problem.
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Old May 15th, 2008, 09:54 AM   #68
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Did you try it both in the "48v" and "Mic" positions? Can you post a clip of the noise?
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Old May 15th, 2008, 09:56 AM   #69
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If I understand this correctly.....
All I might have to do is open up the mic cable connector.....
and solder the ground shield to the neutral pin......
something I did a week ago with another mic when I had a buch of static start to show up.

I want to go with the MKH 416 and ready to order it today but don't have time for delays.

Any thoughts?
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Old May 15th, 2008, 09:57 AM   #70
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I did try it in both positions. I'm not quite sure how to post a clip of audio...
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Old May 15th, 2008, 10:39 AM   #71
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You shouldn't have to solder anything to anything if you have a normal XLR male to XLR female cable.
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Old May 16th, 2008, 12:40 AM   #72
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Ran the MKH Sennheiser 416 for an hour tonight.
Couldn't find anything strange.

Anything specific I should try?
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Old May 16th, 2008, 04:34 AM   #73
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I have had no problems at all with my Senn 416 - it sounds great - as always.
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Old May 16th, 2008, 09:18 AM   #74
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Um.... Yeah.
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