Re: DSLR with good audio?
 

Actually, I can capture "good" sound with my directional Azden MX-10.
There are some longer and more expensive shotgun mics that can pickup "better" from even further away. Of course, a dedicated sound system is "best".

Re: DSLR with good audio?
 

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/panasoni...pressions.html

I just got the TASCAM dual mixer/PCM recorder unit. The link is to my first impressions.

Re: DSLR with good audio?
 

No adapter needed for this mic with most DSLRs, attached mic cable terminates in 1/8" mini stereo jack. My son has one of these he used with his HV30 and it actually sounds good when placed close to the talent. However I've not tried his on any of the DSLRs I had (gone mirrorless now with GH3 and GH4) and I would not use it with any camera that had AGC.

I will second William Hohauser's endorsement of the Tascam unit, I have the model previous to the one he referenced and with a stand mounted shotgun mic (AT 897 or Sony ECM 672) placed close to the talent but off to one side out of the frame I get good audio patched into the GH3/GH4 with two tracks recorded on an SDHC card in the Tascam (one of the tracks is a "safety" track running -6db below the main track.

Re: DSLR with good audio?
 

I guess different people have different ideas about the definition of "good" My definition is if it works for what you do, it's good.

For classical performances where the main cam is at the back of the hall, in-camera/on-camera audio is useless. So I don't use it.

Re: DSLR with good audio?
 

This post has been going on a while, but is interesting,and likely should be in the audio section for more feedback. But I thought, after reading it, I'd add my .02. The OP originally asked whether you could get adequate audio through a direct feed to the camera. My answer, after trying a lot of things is, "it depends". It depends on what your end result is going to be used for (one of the posters alluded to this). Out here in the Pacific NW I rarely can afford a sound person on my clients' budgets, all work is going to go to the web, and I have to shoot fairly fast. Not for large screens in theaters. So I've experimented with a variety of mic inputs and have found, amazingly enough, that some modern combinations can work fine for that kind of delivery. My 5dMkiii has much improved sound over either a 7D or earlier Mkii. Have I failed sometimes? you bet.

I can close mic using a *wired* lavalier or wireless lav directly in, and get, *if I'm careful about wind and levels* a pretty decent audio feed.(samples below). I also prefer to have either a SD mixpre-d for riding levels without hassle, or a Tascam DR60 so that I can get a second recording that comes in two channel and one of the channels is -10 below the other. So I end up with *three* recordings, one on the camera and two at different levels in the Tascam. This has been a great boon to my solo shooting efforts. Tascam has also brought out two new models, and they are *cheap* but fine quality for interview work. Good on Tascam for doing this! They do eat batteries though. So bring plenty. Zoom quality has never impressed me, having driven an H4 into the ground in less than two years. They look pretty though! When I need better quality sound I go into at least a Marantz 661 if not SD.

While these recordings are not meant to be Academy Award material, when I posted them to the audio threads Ty Ford said that he thought that things had improved with in camera sound since he had done his testing and thanked me for posting them. So I feel I can reshare them for the OPs' thoughts, if still relevant.

I assume that the GH4 and other new cameras can do at least as good a job as the 5dMkiii. But you will have to try them out yourselves. And just a final thought, I usually now use my C100 as it's a better video camera than any of my DSLRs. By the time you put all the add ons to a GH4, you can lease a C100. Sound quality is excellent and it also can record a second track at -10dB lower.

These recordings are only to show my results and give food for thought, not to try and say they are the answer or better than using a second sound system, such as an SD with someone knowledgeable running it. I *always* prefer having an audio guy with me, but often it's just impossible. If I was working in Seattle, then it would be likely to find someone.

This first sample has some room echo even with a lav on the guy, as it's a big empty room. I can't imagine that with that much hard surface I would have done better with anything other than a lav on his shirt. Would a boomed shotgun do better? The second is more indicative. And again, there was no wind that day.
(please be kind about the titles, it was a fast job, the titles were chosen to be easily readable by budget minded politicians looking at an embedded web video page. I'm in the process of updating the whole thing for a December deadline)

Re: DSLR with good audio?
 

william-

any updates on using the dr60 in the field?

thanks in advance.

be well.

rob
smalltalk productions/nyc

Re: DSLR with good audio?
 

While we wait for William's feedback, I've not used the new mode Tascam 60d mkii but have used the older model 60d for the last year, (the model just going out of production). To add a bit to his comments at the link he provided, I have used mine in the field on a 5Dmkiii, but I usually end up mounting it on an arm off the tripod rather than under the camera. (both my tripods have screw on accessory arm mounts, which I highly recommend). He is correct that it's a bit bulky combination, and sometimes I add the battery pack to the 5Dmkiii so it is not a good fit under the camera with the battery pack on. The mounting unit is plastic and much less solid than the SD Mixpre-d. The MIxpre feels like a professional design, but the Tascam feels like plastic that will eventually break. But the price difference is so great that you just have to accept that. I would be interested to know if they changed that mount.

On my C100 I also screw it onto an arm off the tripod. I do not mount it under or over the camera, though I suppose I could mount it on top.

Other than that, the specs seem very similar and the only difference I can see in the specs is that they are now adverstising the pre amps.

The one thing that I do notice on my 'older' unit is that the standard levels for mics is very low, even with the gain all the way up. Recently I had to switch to a higher gain switch to boost the volume coming from my shotgun, which did add a small amount of hiss.

All in all, it is interesting that I have not used my mixpre-d much since getting the Tascam 60d last year. Given the price that Tascam is bringing these very capable units in at (check out their newest 4 xlr in under mount unit the 70d) is under $300 even for the 'high end" version, I would suggest to SD that they look at designing a recorder into the Mix-pre.I much prefer their pre-amps, but if I have to grab something for interviews etc, it's much simpler to use the Tascam unit and have the external recording done without grabbing another recorder.

The other unit my sound engineering friends are really seeming to like is the DR680. For the price it's well worth buying if you need more than 4 XLR inputs. A friend that does professional recording felt the preamps were good enough to compete with the gear in his studio. But I feel it would have been a better design feature to simply redesign the 680 with it's more professional front panel controls to be smaller and mount under the camera, rather then the 7D design with the less professional front panel knobs. I assume chip miniturzation has improved enough since the 680 was designed that it would be possible.

Re: DSLR with good audio?
 

Suddenly I have not had any calls for my GH3 with the TASCAM unit however two weeks ago I used it has an external recorder for a choir concert in a church with two ENG cameras. Plugged a stereo mike into it and got a great recording.

Re: DSLR with good audio?
 

I worked recently with a Nikon D7100, I plugged a lav into its mic input and it sounded fine, perfectly usable for most scenarios.

Any Canon DSLRs with that same ability (getting USABLE audio by plugging straight into its internal mic jack)?

Re: DSLR with good audio?
 

Sorry to not follow up but work has been heavy until now.

I have used the TASCAM 60D for several 2 camera interviews now and it's worked great. Using an audio splinter I originally got for the ZOOM recorder I sent the output of the TASCAM to both cameras, a GH3 and a GH2. This made synching the cameras for multicam editing in Final Cut Pro X a cinch. The tone button is an excellent feature or you can program it to generate a brief tone at the beginning of a recording. The unit is really helpful and the ZOOM recorder, while still good for some situations, is going out of the shoot kit and into a drawer.