Thanks again everyone for the helpful responses.
Scott Dorsey wrote:
Give it a try. If you record directly to the computer, you then just
have to transfer the video into the computer and you're ready to edit.
If you don't have a slate, just clearly say the scene and take numbers
while showing the numbers on your hands, then clap your hands together.
When you edit, use the clap to synch everything up and it will stay
locked because both the computer and the video recorder will be locked
to pretty accurate standards these days.
You limit yourself severely if you want battery power. But a battery-powered
phantom supply isn't all that expensive.
Point well taken. Ill have to look into the battery-powered phantom
supply options and see how going this route fits into my overall
budget.
Marc Heusser wrote:
I have used Sennheiser K6/ME64 (or any other like ME66 Å*) successfully
as a self (battery) powered option with Canon Cameras.
The improvement over the built-in mic is huge, people usually commenting
on the much sharper image :-)
Sennheiser also offers a budget option: the MKE300, specifically to be
mounted on the accessory shoe of the camera, and with a 3.5mm plug. I'd
assume this to be an improvement too.
It seems Canon also offers as an option a module for XLR inputs,
unfortunately not phantom powered.
I have used adapters for XLR to 3.5 mm plugs from
http://www.studio1productions.com/xlr-pro.htm successfully with very
long cables (20m), and can recommend them.
The GL2 seems to have good control (ie manual level), so the only weak
point seems to be the 3.5mm plug.
Thanks for the mic suggestion; a pair of ME64/K6 exceeds my budget but
a single ME64/K6 plus the studio1 xlr-pro doesnt, and may provide the
simplest solution to improving the sound over the cameras on-board
mic.
Chel van Gennip wrote:
For all the video's on my son's website I use a double system. It is
better to asume the audio in camcorders is bad. Bad microphones, bad
preamps, bad AGC, bad AD converters, etc. The chances you find anything
decent are minimal. If you record music, the "sync clap" is not really
needed. It is not to difficult to match two audio tracks. I normally first
take the video, ad some titles, and save the result both as video and as a
just audio track. After that I go to my DAW, import the audio track as a
guide, and align the audio from the audio recorder to this track. The
advantage of the DAW is that alignment can be more precise, video software
often is frame based, so you only can shift audio whole frames. On the
website http://www.serg.vangennip.com/www/video.html you find a lot of
results. Even in long pieces, like the 30 minute Mussorgsky Pictures sync
is not a problem. You find a seperate short (5min) sample in high-res at
http://www.vangennip.com/Serg_van_Ge...ata_3mvmt.html
Thanks for your input and for sharing the very nice performance by
your son. (Beethoven sonatas are some of my favorite solo piano
music.) There is a nice subtle stereo effect on the recording but I
only see one mic. Did you record with multiple mics or achieve this
in post?
Richard Crowley wrote:
Camcorders (and other small consumer recorders like
MD, et.al.) put ~5VDC on the mic input to provide power to
typical small electret condenser mic capsules. This may
not be detrimental to *some* microphones, but I wouldn't
risk it. I would use a DC blocking capacitor when connecting
a pro microphone to a "Plug-in power" mic input.
You can think of "plug-in power" as the low-end consumer
equivalent of phantom power except much lower voltage
and single-ended/unbalanced.
Thanks for the heads-up and clarification. Although the specs on the
GL2 do not mention the presence of plug-in-power at the mic input
terminal I can check this with a meter to be safe.