Hi there,
my first post and I apologize if this has already been asked. I have a XL1s and I'm in need of an external microphone for it. I don't know what's available or how it is hooked up to the camera. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

Michael

There are different microphones for differnt purposes. Lots to chose from, and making a recommendaiton without further information is risky at best.

Do you need stereo or mono?
Run-and-gun or staged shooting?
Wireless or wired?
What type of venue and talent/progam material?
Does the mic serve as a prop as well as a mic?
How much/little ambient sound do you want?
And most important, what is your mic budget?

Some mics will require an XLR adapter, others (usually loweer cost models) can connect directly to the XL1s.

Many thanks for the reply. I work in a school so most of the recording will be done in classrooms.

Do you need stereo or mono? - Stereo
Run-and-gun or staged shooting? - staged
Wireless or wired? - not sure
What type of venue and talent/progam material? - Classroom
Does the mic serve as a prop as well as a mic? - not sure what you mean
How much/little ambient sound do you want? - the less the better
And most important, what is your mic budget? - unfortuantely I can't ask the school for a budget until I get an idea of what's available.

Michael

Since you need stereo, the choices are somewhat limited if you want it in one mic rather thtan two separate mono mics. Consider the AT-825 or At-822 asa single point stereo mic.

For good voice capture mics need to be fairly close (within a few feet at themost) of the speaker.

By prop I mean a mic such as one that is hand held by an intervfiewer, e.g., a news person, that is seen in the image and contributes to the overall visual effect.

If the intent is to record performaers (voice) moving in a stage with maximum mobility, and good voice is esential, putting wireless on each person with a speaking role is a good way to go. If more than 4 people, running it through mixer witha person managing hte mix, whihc mics are hot, etc. can give you good sound. You will want UHF wireless mics that can cooperate in the same space (on different frequencies) and not interfere. Sennheiser, CSony, Azden, etc. offer models in the generally affordable price range. Someone else will he to chime in on them.

You may need an XLR adapter as wek, perhaps a MA-100 or MA-200.

I've done a wee bit of digging into what's actually required at this end. It turns out that the recording is just of a static group of students in a classroom. This would probably suggest that only a mono mic is required, wouldn't it?

If you do not neet the stereo/directional information in the raudio, mono works, or if it wil not be used in a stereo playback environment.

If the students ate at a table, a boundary mic might be a good choice.

For mono shotgun, the Sennheiser ME66 is quality and very popular. Some folks like the Audio-Technica line at a somwewhat lower price point.

Browse through the forum to get more ideas.

Ok I have the same camera and I also need a mic.

I am filming a race this summer and need to do some interviews of the drivers and navigators.
The stock mic is fine for when the racers zip by, but I need a semi-pro set up for the interviews. I think I have the xlr adapter MA 100 I think.

Do you want it to look like an interview, with an interviewer and a visible mic? Or more like discussion that folks are evesdropping in on?

Without a doubt a professional interview.
The guys will be in race suits, side by side.
An overhead might be OK or hand held.

You may want a hand-held wireless then, to avoid the issue of cables runing from the interviewer to the camcorder. Costs a good bit more though.

The last factor is your budget.

At the low priced end look into the products from Azden, for mid priced consider Samson, Sennheiser, or Sony. And Lectrosonics is the high end product I see most often discussed.