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-   -   Cheap wireless audio & lav mic? (https://www.dvinfo.net/forum/wedding-event-videography-techniques/531919-cheap-wireless-audio-lav-mic.html)

Nigel Barker May 22nd, 2016 01:17 PM

Cheap wireless audio & lav mic?
 
My wife has been asked to film a chef doing some cookery lessons. We have moved house & the old Sennheiser G3 gear seems to have been lost on the move. Does anyone have any recommendations for some cheap wireless units? I can't justify the cost of new Sennheiser gear but recording pieces to camera is more straightforward with a lav mic recording direct into the camera (she will be using an AX100). I seem to recall that someone (Roger?) said they've had bought some very cheap wireless gear from eBay that was surprisingly good quality.

Nigel Barker May 22nd, 2016 04:28 PM

Re: Cheap wireless audio & lav mic?
 
It was Roger who posted & it was the Boya BY-WM5 which cost him about £50 per set. http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/wedding-...radio-lav.html Does anyone else have any experience? There are several models

Bruce Watson May 22nd, 2016 05:36 PM

Re: Cheap wireless audio & lav mic?
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Nigel Barker (Post 1915020)
I can't justify the cost of new Sennheiser gear but recording pieces to camera is more straightforward with a lav mic recording direct into the camera...

Wireless is a last resort. I routinely film my cooking instructors using a 5m XLR cable to their lavs. Works like a charm, and much better sounding, more reliable, and way cheaper than wireless.

That said, when I have to go wireless I don't use anything any cheaper that the Sennheiser G3s. That's the baseline for reliability. Less reliability = more takes, and no one is happy about more takes.

Chris Harding May 22nd, 2016 05:53 PM

Re: Cheap wireless audio & lav mic?
 
Hi Nigel

Yep that's Roger and he has two of the Boya WM-5 sets and says they work very well. I've seen a boundary mic on the counter top in cooking shows too as the chef is usually right there but it does also give louder than usual audio when they are chopping stuff. Quite a few USA shows seem to use them.

Wireless with a neatly hidden lav would still be my choice though!!

Nigel Barker May 23rd, 2016 12:11 AM

Re: Cheap wireless audio & lav mic?
 
I've just ordered a BOYA BY-WM5 from Amazon. At £69.85 they are a fraction of the price of the Sennheiser G3 kit so must be worth a look & if it doesn't suit then I can send it back for a refund.

Unfortunately my trusty little Yamaha C-24 audio recorders got lost in the move too so I am in the market for a new recorder but again I am looking for cheap & cheerful. Are there any recommendations? I did have a Sony dictaphone that worked surprisingly well fir had price & had much more ergonomic controls than a Zoom or the C-24. Finally any recommendations for good cheap lav mic?

Nigel Barker May 23rd, 2016 12:30 AM

Re: Cheap wireless audio & lav mic?
 
I see that Rode now do wireless gear. Their RodeLink product is less than half the price of the Sennheiser gear & includes the excellent Rode lavalier. This looks like a good alternative to the G3 at a much more affordable price. I'll see how the Boya performs but if it's not good enough then I'll try the Rode.

Chris Harding May 23rd, 2016 04:37 AM

Re: Cheap wireless audio & lav mic?
 
The Audio Technica is also a nice unit too and around the same price ..called the System 10 and worth looking into ... Let us know your professional comments about Boya ... Roger didn't seem to have any issues on the technical side and they have a neat talk back function too!!!

Nigel Barker May 23rd, 2016 09:37 AM

Re: Cheap wireless audio & lav mic?
 
Both the Boya & The Rode use 2.4GHz channel hopping which is totally different to the UHF of the Sennheiser. From all accounts interference is not a problem at all & in a head to head review the Rode came out way ahead of the Sennheiser. I'll see how the Boya sounds before I go for the Rode though. The Boya was just £50.99 from Amazon & arrives tomorrow.

The audio recorder that I have just ordered is the Sony ICD-PX333 which is the one that I previously owned. The quality is acceptable & it's very very easy to use with nice big buttons. I've also ordered an Ultradisk 4016 nav mic as I also had several of these previously & they are great quality for the price.

Donald McPherson May 23rd, 2016 09:44 AM

Re: Cheap wireless audio & lav mic?
 
Here's the Rowa dual .
But decide for yourself around £150


Nigel Barker May 23rd, 2016 11:06 AM

Re: Cheap wireless audio & lav mic?
 
Here is a review of the Boya BY-WM5 He gives it a reasonable test & it looks & sounds good. In th interests of transparency I should state that I found another review where the guy just said it was crap without any very methodical testing but complained of dropouts & that it didn't work when he plugged in the nav mic from the RodeLink


Kyle Root May 23rd, 2016 11:44 AM

Re: Cheap wireless audio & lav mic?
 
I got this Audio Technica wired mic with like a 20' cable for about $40 from B&H a couple years ago. Excellent mic (for the $40) and no interference worries!

I use it for promos and such where I'm dealing with talking heads (like shop owners who aren't good on camera) doing minimal movement and I don't want to risk having interference... because do-overs get to be a pain.

Dave Farrants May 23rd, 2016 12:02 PM

Re: Cheap wireless audio & lav mic?
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Nigel Barker (Post 1915045)
The Boya was just £50.99 from Amazon & arrives tomorrow.

Appreciate the heads up - that's £20 down from the normal price it's been for months - just ordered mine, it arrives tomorrow!

Nigel Barker May 23rd, 2016 12:07 PM

Re: Cheap wireless audio & lav mic?
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave Farrants (Post 1915060)
Appreciate the heads up - that's £20 down from the normal price it's been for months - just ordered mine, it arrives tomorrow!

Glad to help. Here's the link for anyone else in the UK (or Europe as they will ship to the continent for about £6) https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Dave Farrants May 23rd, 2016 11:14 PM

Re: Cheap wireless audio & lav mic?
 
Interesting.....that link is back up to £69 today.

Nigel Barker May 24th, 2016 12:02 AM

Re: Cheap wireless audio & lav mic?
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave Farrants (Post 1915089)
Interesting.....that link is back up to £69 today.

£69.95! Apparently Amazon prices can fluctuate wildly. There is obviously some clever algorithm that tweaks the prices to maximise sales/profit. There are several websites that will track prices for you so that you can buy when the price is low. According to this one £50.99 is the cheapest price for the Boya BY-WM5 in the last couple of months & the highest has been £69.95
BOYA BY-WM5 2.4 GHz Wireless Lavalier Microphone for Canon/Nikon/Sony DSLR Camera - Black (B00RGF6AJ2) | Amazon price tracker / tracking, Amazon price history charts, Amazon price watches, Amazon price drop alerts | camelcamelcamel.com

Roger Gunkel May 24th, 2016 05:25 AM

Re: Cheap wireless audio & lav mic?
 
Hi Nigel,

Thought I would briefly drop in to say that I am still using my Boyas after several months and still having no problems at all.

The Boya supplied lav mics have a tip and 3 ring plug rather than the usual two, but it is very easy to make up an adapter lead. I use a wide variety of mics with mine, including Shure SM58 and SM57 for hand held, plus various lavs and omni directional mics. The Boya lavs are actually pretty good and I use them at weddings. The talkback facility is useful if you are using talent and the headphone out is great if you are filming with a dslr with no headphone socket There is also an output level control on the receiver to match the input to the camera.

I restrict the range to about 40ft which is fine for most situations and avoids dropout. You will also find the system surprisingly lacking in noise for such a cheap setup. Not sure of battery life, but I would normally use for ceremony and speeches and change them for each wedding, although there is a low battery warning light if you are pushing it.

Roger

Dave Farrants May 24th, 2016 10:14 AM

Re: Cheap wireless audio & lav mic?
 
I'm impressed and keeping mine. Sennheiser's they're not, but for £50 (£57 as I bought the Rode Mini Jack to male XLR with them) they are worth it.

Mine were 'clean' with no noise, they didn't break up, they just totally dropped out if the distance was too great, they worked 3 rooms away upstairs but not 2 rooms away downstairs but that could be down to the 3 Wifi routers I have scattered around.

Sound in on my JVC HM700 via mini jack / XLR was clean with enough gain. The earbuds are about as useful as a chocolate teapot for me, too large and uncomfortable so I used a pair of Senny earbuds but I can't really see a need for me to use them as such when I'm monitoring with either the ear cup on the JVC or using pro headphones.

After reading the reviews I did wonder if these at £50 were return/repairs but they looked new and 'factory fresh', I'm guessing some units are either Monday morning / Friday night units which is why some people have called them useless and sent them back, but for me £50? - a good buy.

Roger Gunkel May 24th, 2016 10:30 AM

Re: Cheap wireless audio & lav mic?
 
Hi Dave,

I thought the same as you when I bought the first set, worth a punt but probably unreliable. The first one was so good for the price that I immediately ordered a second which has been equally as good. I don't use them through walls as that can lead to dropout, but line of sight has never been a problem.

Roger

Darren Levine May 24th, 2016 12:26 PM

Re: Cheap wireless audio & lav mic?
 
I've been growing to love my sony aw4 set. they're not billed as anything professional, but in my bit of time using them for my blog videos, i've really come to love the size and simplicity. perfect? certainly not. but for some uses it's brilliant. last i checked it goes for around $160, i picked up an open box for 120ish.

Matt Thomas May 24th, 2016 12:46 PM

Re: Cheap wireless audio & lav mic?
 
I have one set of the Boya, and while I thought they are good for the price, I prefer the sound of a lav straight into a Zoom.

Not sure if it is because of a different mic, but I couldn't get any other mics to work on the Boya. Roger, when you said you made an adapter for mics, how did you do it?

I would get another set though. I need a budget & decent handheld microphone system now.

Nigel Barker May 25th, 2016 02:13 AM

Re: Cheap wireless audio & lav mic?
 
I too am very impressed. They are a bit 'plasticky' but there is no arguing that the sound quality is excellent. I found no interference at all when I was testing in a room full of computer equipment including several 2.4GHz WiFi devices. It would be interesting to do an A/B comparison with Sennheiser which I always found had a a lovely rich quality possibly due to the decent mic.

The tip and 3 ring plug looks the same as that used with a smartphone & would explain the crap YouTube review where the guy complained that it didn't work with a Sennheiser mic as he clearly didn't notice the different plug. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ultradisk-4...ultradisk+4016

I really have only ever used wireless mics line of sight so if the range is less than the Sennheiser that's no big deal. The shorter range will however mean that you miss out on those recordings where the groom still has the mic on while visiting the toilet or the memorable story posted on this forum a while ago when the videographer was following the bride & groom to the reception after the ceremony & they consummated their marriage in the back of the car.

Roger Gunkel May 25th, 2016 03:14 AM

Re: Cheap wireless audio & lav mic?
 
Matt- As the mic supplied works very well it was clearly just a wiring difference. I simply bought a cheap tip and 3 ring lead from eBay, stripped one end off and then worked out which wires gave the correct signal from a standard mic lead by touching the bare wires, to the plug on the mic. Soon as I got the audio signal, which took a few seconds, I then soldered up the lead to a standard mic socket. I can now plug any of my mics in.

Nigel- I'm pleased that your findings are identical to mine, so although the cases are a bit plasticky as you say, at that price I will put up with a bit of plastic. At least it is not a financial disaster if you leave a transmitter somewhere.

Roger


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