mounting mic and light
 

Hey. I was wondering if anyone could tell me if there is any way I can mount both a lav mic and a light onto my pd170. Thanks in advance for any input.

You can grab a cheap flash bracket from ebay for under $10 that will screw into the tripod mount on the PD170 and will then give you a cold shoe for the light (which alos puts it off to the side a bit) and then mount the lav where you normally would on the PD170. The flash bracket also has a thread in the bottom to put a quick release plate on if you want to put the whole thing on a tripod and the bracket itself can greatly reduce camera shake if shooting hand held.

Courtney-use the hot shoe for your light.....buy an xlr cable about 3 ft in length this way you can secure the lav to your belt. I do this all the time, it free's up the cam of unwanted weight...not to mention you end up with all sorts of things hanging of your PD....you begin to look like a "vidiot"

But if you really just want to mount em both to the cam as I do you can pick up a triple shoe mount made by NRG. I know they have em on the EVSonline site somewhere.

Okay - I gotta ask. A lav mic is designed to be used on the subject or pretty darned close to it - up close and personal. Why mount a lav on the camera (or on one's belt as Joe suggested)? If you can't put the mic physically on the subject, you shouldn't be using a lav at all, IMHO.

The mic goes on the subject, when we say "mount the lav to the cam" we're talking about the reciever unit.

Ahh, thanks - 'cause there are hard-wired lavs used as well and it confused me a moment. To me "lav" is strictly the type mic pickup unit and it could be used either hard-wired to the camera or mixer or feeding a wireless transmitter.

Well sure, it's that to me too, though sometimes whatever works in the convention of discussion isn't always symantically precise!

here we go again.....OK, i beleive the original poster meant the "receiver" which can be heavy and bulky while attached to a handheld camera.....you know, a wireless system. so he was asking where to place it...not the lav itself, they weigh nothing....this is how i interpreted the question.

MightyWonderCam
 

Videosmith in Philadelphia puts out the MightyWonderCam Mini Rover, an arm extends to the left of the camera (in most cases) with a rubber handle and then a plate on the top that you can velcro a lav receiver. You have to work around it sometimes because of the LCD issue. Works on a PD-150/170, FX-1 and Z1. Look for the Mini Rover and mini Mate bracket. They also sell quick releases.
Here's a url:

http://www.videosmith.com

better than the L adapter which mounts to the tripod mount, i found was a Y shoe adapter. I use this to mount the reciever, the light and still run my shotguns. Theyre not side by side, so theres a slight elevation on one side and the design is actually quite brlliant without making the camera set up look stupid

The light is SLIGHTLY off centre, but i actually prefer that... i like playin with light and shodow.. mind u the Y adapter cost me $75 so its a bit of a rort, but in this game everything is a rort..

Not critcizing, just 'splainin' my confusion...