my on cam mic is horrible . any good short shotgun mics, I have the audio technica 875, buts its longer than I want on there, have tried it. any good quality ones that are shorter?

Hey. I just ordered an AT875 on your recommendation here:
http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/sony-xdcam-ex-cinealta/517084-external-mic-ex1r.html#post1800310

You are not allowed to back off it. :-)

I actually got it for the exact same reason of wanting something shorter (than the NTG-1 I've now moved to my boom). The AT875 is in fact the shortest one I found in this price range. The issue I think is the shorter you go, the less rejection. Ergo the closer you get to what the built-in mics do.

One thing I did that improved the issue of shotgun length on the EX1r was to replace the built-in holder with the shoe mount from DMaccessories. That does three things:

1) Makes the mic holder removable for smaller packing and for when you don't need a shotgun
2) moves the mic further away from the handle for getting your hand in there to carry the camera
3) moves the mic and deadcat that much further away from the lens to keep the hairs out of frame on wide angle

I assume you have a right angle XLR connector to help on the back end side of things. If not, a nice coiled one keeps things tidy. I love the removable shotgun mount as it makes the camera much shorter in all my cases (both around town and travel).

Les did u get the dm accessories adaptor that is a shoe?
Don't remember if the Mic comes with a shoemount to slide the Mic on

Yes I got the shoe. I adapted and old Lightwave mic mount from my XL1s. You need to add a mount of your own choosing.

Problem with my on cam Mic was if I was doin a play,the audio would b inconsistent
It wouldn't sound same

Problem with my on cam Mic was if I was doin a play,the audio would b inconsistent
It wouldn't sound same

When you say on camera mic do you mean a the AT897 mounted on the camera or the built-in mics of the EX1R?

The builtin mics used in a play from the back of the room will capture a lot of air and room noise. The sound will have a lot of reverb. Been that way forever.

Using a shotgun on the camera from the back of the room will help a little. The AT897 is probably the worst that way. Generally, the longer the shotgun the more rejection. A shorter shotgun is going the wrong direction.

The right way to record a play is to use a feed from the mixer and add your own mics as needed up close for things not mic'd (like the orchestra). It's not easy and takes effort in post.

Yes the built-in mics.I had a feed to the board as is standard when I shoot plays,
But they had a problem with my feed,I was getting the music fine
But wasn't getting the actors that were mined.
I had no choice but to use the built in Mic in post,
Its not that great.thus was a new digital board,their old Mackie
I had zero problems with.

I got the Sanken CS-2 partly because I've had good luck with Sanken for other mics, and partly because it's a shotgun that's nice and short:

SANKEN MICROPHONE CO .,LTD. | Product [ CS-2 ] (http://www.sanken-mic.com/en/product/product.cfm/8.1001450)

Here's a shot of my PMW-200 with the Sanken CS2 attached:

Regards, Malcolm

Try a wireless mic. I put an Omni lab on a small plastic stick - reminds me of a lolly pop stick - tape that to front center stage and put the lav on this "tiny mic stand". It isn't noticeable by the audience and you'll get the dialog. You may have to try other placement options if the play has loud foot noise or if the actors are using the front of house and might stomp on the mic. I have seen others use a boundary mic center stage.

You may pick up noise from the air handlers so remember to record some of the room and you can remove some of this noise in post - if that is an issue.

I wouldn't even consider a shotgun mic because they are not designed for this type of use.

There are other threads for mic'ing plays. To put this one back on topic:

I shot some corporate video on a factory floor. I was very pleased to not see the mic in any shot, K-Tek deadcat and all even tho I used the Sony wide angle converter for the EX1. The sound was great too.