I am looking for a simple adapter to plug an XLR mic into my DV953 camera. I know that alot of people use a portable mixer or a beachtek device. I am wondering if anyone uses something smaller, simpler and cheaper, like the Shure A96F? It would be great if it kept the signal balanced over the XLR cable.

I did this with some stuff from RadioShack. They have a female XLR to 1/4" male adapter (transformer type). I added a mono 1/4" in-line jack (female), and soldered a prefabricaed mini (1/8") plug cord (cut to ablout 10" in length) to it. That gave me what I needed for about $14, works great too. This allows me to run my Shure SM58 dynamic mic into my Marantz PMD221 cassette recorder.

Cheap and dirty. $9.50 and it comes in 1 ft, 5 ft and 15 ft lengths

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=158476&is=REG

Matt,
I have a miscellaneous collection of adapters: original BeachTek, Glensound, Studio 1, the Shure cable you mention, an Equipment Emporium (http://www.equipmentemporium.com/audiofor.htm) cable and a host of custom made cables. Oh, there's also Sony's XLR connector with 48 V phantom power that goes into their so-called 'intelligent shoe'. These came with the PD100, but are also available as a separate item.

For many purposes the simple cables are good enough. An elastic band round the mini-jack to dissuade (never 'prevent') it from falling out, velcro round the XLR connector so it can be fastened to the top handle or hand strap for strain relief.

Inside the standard XLR shell mine have a 47 microfarad (other people use 22 or 33 microfarad, I understand) capacitor between pin 2 and the 'live' cable (which then goes to the tip and ring of the mini jack) to block the mic power coming from consumer equipment (applies to DATs, MDs, cameras etc).

Best,
Helen

Velcro tie wraps are cheap. I always stick a pile (nested stack?) of them on the velcro strips on the flaps of all of my bags(portabrace) cuz I'm old , feeble and blind and an never find them when I need them. This way there on every bag.

I also have a wide piece of the velcro double wrap around my camera handle to secure any cable.
Every mic or equipment cable has a velcro wrapper looped on it as well

Thanks for the input. It seems like everyone has their own way through this passage of water.

I like the price of the Hosa cable adapter (cheaper than I could make on my own), but is it adequate for running a 25ft. cable indoors to a battery powered Rode NT-3? I am assuming that the Hosa cable would leave the entire length unbalanced. Would their be any advantage to going to the Sure transformer type adapter?

Use the adapter cable for the last few feet and install the xfmr to balance the majority of the run.

Please forgive my ignorance.

What is the xfmr?

I can use the hosa adapter at the camera, then the xfmr, then the 25ft. xlr cable, then the mic. This will make sure the mic and 25ft. cable are balanced and the only unbalanced part is the 18" hosa adapter.

Sorry about the tedious details, this is the first time I have dealt with this stuff.

Matt,

Xfmr is an abbreviation for Transformer. In most cases in the audio connections world, the transformer is being used to convert from or to line level from (or to) mic level.