UHF Wireless for $400?
 

Any suggestions on a UHF wireless lav system for $400 or less? It will be used mainly for weddings. Are there any I should stay away from? I can always get a higher end VHF if I have to. Next question, whats the cheapest price range I should be looking at for a decent shotgun mic? Also, if you know where I can get good deals on mics I would appreciate that info as well. Thanks!

Annie C

Annie,
There are several and I'm sure others will chime-in.

Personally, I've had a Samson 32 channel diversity system ("UM32L350 Camera Mountable UHF Diversity Lavalier 32 Channel System with M32 Receiver, T32 Transmitter and Audio-Technica MT-350 Microphone") for several years and never had a lick of trouble with it, even in such a radio-noisy location as my downtown Chicago home. The only down-sides: it's plastic transmitter case, which might conceivably crack if a big 'un sits on it, and battery life is not lavish.

(I recently bought an Audio-Technica system which seems to be a substantial upgrade on both fronts...for an upgraded price, of course. I'll have my first opportunity to test it this weekend; my wife has roped me into shooting a friend's wedding ceremony...ugh, I can't believe it.)

If you look hard, you might still find some of the discounted Sennheiser Evolution kits out there for $300. Takes some hard looking but they are still out there. That's for the bodypac trans and receiver and ME2 lav.

Great wireless for the $.

Mike,

anywhere specific you can think of off hand i should look. i'm getting between a $400 and $500 price range from most of the on line stores.

thanks
annie

I'll try and find out where my buddy placed his order. He got the lav and plug-on for $500, the same price I got from B&H over a year ago. Not certain I can reach him for a bit as he's acting in a low-budget Hollywood production right now.

You should give Zotz Digital a call. They're a DVinfo.Net sponsor and have a couple good wireless kits. Their Sennheiser evolution kit is a pack reciever, pack transmitter with em2, plus an XLR-plugin pack transmitter for use with a handheld mic, all for around $500. I'm very happy with the kit myself. I think they also have a Samson kit at a little lower price point.

http://www.zotzdigital.com

That is a very good price. Exactly what I paid and what other resellers are charging around $800.

Annie, I'd recommend that you contact them and if they don't have the Lav setup and you can at all afford another $100, get the combo. You will never regret doing so.

Annie the Sampson is also a very decent mic. If you can get it at the price you want I'm sure you will be happy with it.

The Sennheiser Evolution 100 series you should be able to find for around $450. I love mine and if I find one for around $300, I will pickup a second one.

Evolution 100 System $390 @ Pro-Tape in Houston
 

Just happen to drop by Pro-Tape in Houston. They have an Evolution 100 system with omni lav for $390. Ask for Jaime (I think).

Thanks a ton Nathan. I called them last week and it was put in the mail on Friday! I'm looking forward to getting away from my VHF situation right now.

Annie C

Re: Evolution 100

Can this system support up to 4 transmitters?

Michael,
If you mean four SYSTEMS, the answer is yes.

Only one transmitter per receiver and each system has to be set at a different freq.

Glad I could help Annie. I believe you will be quite happy with Evolution 100. I too was quite surprised that Pro-Tape had one so cheap.

I will probably be back in Houston in a couple of weeks. If they have another one, I buy one myself.

B&H has the Evolution 100 for $419 right now (it's listed at $835, but if you add it to your cart you'll see the discounted price).

I'm going to get two of these, but I don't know if I should get the MA-300 XLR adapter or some other kind of mixer (Azden XFM-2?) to hook them both up. I don't have any recording equipment so I'll need to plug directly into the GL2's mic thingy.

One thing to keep in mind when purchasing the $419 package is that the XLR cable is NOT included and it may cost $30 - $40 for that cable.

Therefore I like the EW100ENG Package for $499.95 that includes the special XLR cable as well as the Plug-On transmitter, so for just $80.00 you get a lot more.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh4/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=218349&is=REG

And the plug-on transmitter is oh so very useful!

Good catch, Marty. What does the plug-on transmitter do? The B&H description is too vague to understand...

I would like to the plug on transmitter, but I already have a receiver. Can you buy just this one part, or do you hav e to get the set?

Annie C

Andres,
The plug on transmitter, converts dynamic or battery powered condenser microphones with XLR jacks to wireless operation, which is great for interviews or too use on boom/shotgun mic's etc.

Annie,
The plug on transmitter is available separate and the model is SKP100.
The Sennheiser system is available in three freq groups A, B and C. When you buy a separate transmitter to an existing system you must buy the same freq block that your current system is on, otherwise it will NOT work.

Okay, so the plug-on transmitter is NOT used with the Lavs, but with other mics that would normally have to be tethered to the camera?

>>>>Re: Evolution 100

>>>>Can this system support up to 4 transmitters?

- yes. Very easily as it is very easy to change the frequency of the transmitter and receiver.

The Sennheiser EW100 is the way to go, offering the best value and most performance for the money. I own two and have had them for over 2 years. Still use them every week.

- don

<<<-- Originally posted by Andres Lucero : Okay, so the plug-on transmitter is NOT used with the Lavs, but with other mics that would normally have to be tethered to the camera? -->>>

Correct.

One thing you need to know, that you can NOT use both transmitters "Bodypack and Plug-on" simultaneously.

You CAN, however, use two or more receivers to pick up the same sound from one mic transmitter with the EW100. Simply set your receivers to the same frequency as the mic transmitter.

You can also use the plug-in transmitter with ANY number of EW100 receivers this way as well.

You can also adapt the plug-in transmitter to work with a lavalier mic simply by plugging in the lav into the plug-in transmitter. You can also adapt the standard EW100 transmitter input to accept an XLR input (mic or line level).

I have used this to my advantage many times such as creating a wireless 'stereo' transmitter', sending one mic to more than one camera, etc.

Very easy to make or buy input and output adaptor cables for the EW100 series wireless.

Not to mention that the Sennheiser EW100 series wireless kits have a great deal of range and are made out of very durable metal instead of plastic.

- don

You can buy the plug-on transmitter from the 500 series and it will work very nicely. It will also supply phantom power which the 100 series does not. The only thing that won't work is that the transmitter battery level will not read out on the receiver.

The Evo 100 ENG just got a very nice review in AVVMMP magazine.

www.avvideo.com

The only things they didn't like are issues that wouldn't bother me:

Omni capsule; they prefer cardioid. Actually, I prefer omni on a lav, cardioid for handheld.

Hefty size for plug-on transmitter. Hey, worth it if it's for ruggeder quality.

Unbalanced output. Hey, it's only going a little bitty distance, since it's going to be riding on my camera. At least it has the XLR plug.

B&H (a sponsor here) has them in stock at $499, I'll be ordering one this week.

Check out.
AKG PR40 UHF diversity receiver about $299
SO40 snap on transmitter
PR40 Micro pen transmitter with built in omni lav
PT40 pocket Transmitter

Hello there --

I know that this thread is ancient -- so I'm not sure if I should post this here, or just start a new thread. But one thing that Don mentioned caught my eye -- which was the fact that you can buy or make a adapter cable for the Senn transmitter (sk 100) -- which then lets the transmitter take in line/Mike inputs.

"You can also adapt the standard EW100 transmitter input to accept an XLR input (mic or line level)."
--Don Berube


What is this cable? Is it the CL 2 -- 1/8 to female XLR transmitter cable ?


See I've got a new pd 150 and am trying to outfit it for sound -- so, I have been thinking about getting the Sennheiser ew112p system and then buying the CL2 1/8 to female XLR transmitter cable so that I might be able to use the standard Sk100 transmitter (that comes with the ew 1 1 2p) as a "cheap version of a plug in that can accept XLR microphones" (instead of getting the actual skp100 and the eng package).

So, guess my question is -- will that work?

Will I then be able to use my transmitter with any microphone that can plug into the female XLR cable?

Thanks for your answers.

Also, what is the difference between the ew 100 g2 and plain old ew 100 systems prior to g2? Is there any real difference in quality or transmission? I am thinking about trying to find a used system -- but wanted to make sure that there were not any problems I should be aware of.)

Thanks everyone!

I don't really think you could improve on the old Evo 100 for signal quality...I have had nothing but great results with mine at some crazy long distances.

But the new one has a few nice ergonomic/operational improvements. The body pack chassis is almost an inch shorter than the old one, which is always a good thing in field production. And it boasts >8 hours on a pair of AA battteries, which is almost twice what I get on the 9V batt in the old version.

And of course, attaching a cable between a mic and an SK100 does not make it a plug-ON, like the SKP100. You wind up with still a hand mic attached to a cable (with a little box at the end), and not a one-piece wireless hand mic, which is what any XLR-ended hand mic becomes when the SKP is fastened to it. A definite difference in user-friendliness, I don't know if that would be acceptable to you.

Thanks Mike -- that clears up things for me. I'm still not sure which way I'm going to go (I'd like to do the ew 100 eng system, but money being a limiting factor, of course:-( ),

I may just try and make do with a "dangling cable hand microphone" for now and go with the more basic ew112p.

Thanks again,
Albert