Can someone elaborate on the advantages of using the Sennheiser MKE-300D over the standard version, for the VX-series camcorders? Someone said it reduced hum considerably, while the older model was pretty bad in this respect.

Where did you find or read about the "D" version ?

Steve,
I have the MKE-300 but it's not designated a "D" model. It's a nice little run-and-gun mic and I've not noticed excessive hum with it. I, too, have not heard of a "D" model. But I have heard of Sennheiser making similar modifications to mics, so this does not sound outlandish.

I read about the "MKE300D" model on the VX2100/PD170 forum, in the thread "Horizontal Mike Offset-----". The poster said that the standard MKE300 was "useless" on his VX2000. He stated that his "D" version had none of the hum that he apparently had experienced with the regular model. I posted a request for further information from this person about the "D" model. He's in England, so tommorrow he may answer.

This is heresay but i've heard negative comments about both the standard and the "D" version. i I had looked at the MKE300 and was turned off imediately by the cheap "plastic" build. For 1/3 more you could buy a professional quality Audio Technica microphone (AT835b)

Indeed, the MKE-300 is very light and not of an industrial-strength build. But that's exactly what I liked about it. It slips directly on the camera's shoe and plugs right into the external mic jack. It packs easily. No XLR adapters, no fuss. If I'm using a mic mounted on the camera to begin with, I already know it's not going to be a carefully crafted audio work.

So far as a camera mounted mic goes the MKE300 is very prone to camera noise. There is no isolation at all. You definetly do get what you pay for.

One more poster makes a reference to the MKE300D, as though this variation was a well-known item-----while the rest of us
continue knowing nothing about it.

The transfer of camera noise to a microphone is in large part done by vibrations traveling through the mount. This is why I have sections of wood and rubber in my mounts. If I used the MKE300, I'd have two of them on a wood crossbar from 8" to 16" wide. This separation from the camera by distance and the dampening effect of the wood and rubber, allow little of the operating or handling noise to make it into the sound track.

<<<-- Originally posted by Steve McDonald : One more poster makes a reference to the MKE300D, as though this variation was a well-known item-----while the rest of us
continue knowing nothing about it.-->>>

I've heard of the 300D but never seen it, nor have I seen anyone carrying it. A search of the sennheiser site nets nothing. A retailer the size of B&H mentions nothing.

<<<<--The transfer of camera noise to a microphone is in large part done by vibrations traveling through the mount. This is why I have sections of wood and rubber in my mounts. If I used the MKE300, I'd have two of them on a wood crossbar from 8" to 16" wide. This separation from the camera by distance and the dampening effect of the wood and rubber, allow little of the operating or handling noise to make it into the sound track. -->>>
The MKE300 has a plastic shoe mount molded onto the plastic mic housing, so isolating the mic requires a non standard kluge. A flash bracket with a shoe mount would work. You could decouple the shoe mount with some rubber gasket material or a chunk of mouse pad.

There are rubber isolation mounts that have 1/4-20 studs sticking out both ends. They look like 1/2" rubber barrels with the studs sticking out the barrel heads. Normally used to isolate fractional horsepower electrical motors.

You can get shoe adapters that have a 1/4-20 in them. Screw one of these isolation mounts into that and the micrphone into the other (top) side. IIRC, the 300 has a 1/4-20 socket in it's mount. Or if not, another shoe mount could be screwed on and the microphone mounted in the 'normal' manner.

These shock mounts are available in electronic surplus stores and new from places like Manhatten Supply Company
ww.mscdirect.com)

I bought the MKE300D for my VX2100 and returned it a day later when I found it to be useless due to excessive camera noise received by the microphone. Maybe a shock mount could be constructed to work with the 300D, but I instead bought the Rycote multimount and Sennheiser K6/ME66 package, with which I am very pleased. Obviously there was a great price difference, so I can fully understand that people find it more useful to fashion a shockmount for the 300D.

By the way, the 300'D' is a Sennheiser variant to reduce hum pickup from the camera. I found it didn't work for me as the noise generated from the VX2100 seemed to be mechanical, and only a good shockmount will cure those symptoms.

EDIT: First post, but have been lurking a while. Great board and a vast source of knowledge.

Thanks, Carl, for giving us some useful information about this 300D model. Do you or does anyone else have any information where the MKE300D could be ordered from the USA?

I don't know where you can buy within the US, but the following company will gladly ship to the USA:

http://www.creativevideo.co.uk/home/

Unfortunately you will then suffer our 'Rip Off Britain' pricing, as the microphone retails at £135 (ex VAT - sales tax). If you check the Sennheiser mics on the website you will see there is both an analogue MKE300 and digital MKE300D.

The D fixes a small problem encountered by users of digital cameras. The original version was built and sold before the advent of DV, but still around as DV caught hold. Users found that because DV cameras are prone to have mic sockets that also transport power, it created a hum on the mic. The D is a small change to the hardware that filters off the hum in the case of its presence.

Here is a description of these variants (http://www.dvdoctor.net/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=3;t=000186#000000) by a Sennheiser UK guy who knows these things.