I'll do some test shooting with it after I've started messing around with the switches - tomorrow, my girlfriend is going to put together a comedy video where she'll play a nun who believes that math is the root of all evil.

Gee, I love religious documentaries! <grin>

Actually, I had some unexpected free time so I tested it out myself. I tried to talk in a "soft new zealand voice" and turned on an overhead fan and a few computers to bring up the background noise.

The problem was the attenuation. Flipping the switches brought it back to -0db, I have no idea what it was set on before, but I THOUGHT that was -0db.

As I said - glad I got backup audio.

:)

Just as a point of reference, here is a bit 'o footage from a Canon HV20 with a similar on-camera mic, the Sennheiser MKE400. It's not as brutal as the google video, but notice how close the mic is? Like Steve mentioned, get the mic closer. Hotter signal ='s lower noise floor. Sure the noise is acceptable for a $699 camera, but I bet it'd sound a lot better off camera and on a boom pole away from those noisy tape transports. http://vimeo.com/463187

I don't always have that luxury (also, the last thing I want is 20 ft of unbalanced cable!) but I did get a bracket that brings the microphone about 8 inches away from the tape transport (as opposed to three)

I prefer the on-camera mics because A) I shoot documentaries, and the last thing you want is a boom in the shot of a documentary, and B) Until I "go pro" I'm stuck with shooting with one-person crews.

I have a shoot on Tuesday. I'm not doing this with the knowledge or permission of the campaign, but I live in Texas, and I'm an Obama precinct delegate. The county convention's coming up March 29th and the rules can get a little crazy - the end result is that if people don't know what the hell they're doing, Clinton could steal away some delegates, and vice versa. I want to get the instructions down on YouTube and send that out to everyone on the Texas Delegate List for Obama.

Also, it makes good raw footage for my documentary on electoral reform.

Hillary's supporters can view the video too, if they want. Same information should be relevant.