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Question

Camcorders with external mic jack

Nov 5, 2014 12:53AM PST

Hi all,

Just a quick question to anybody who may be able to help me out. Basically, I have a Sony Handycam which I am happy with, but I often need to use it for more professional jobs where I needed better sound quality.

I used to use the Song A1 at work, which comes with two XLR ports and is ideal. I have been looking at buying one of these myself because they are good quality and they allow me to use a hand held microphone. I can get one for around £500, which is not a bad price really.

However, these camcorders use minidvs, and this can often cause a few problems - ie, needing to change tapes during filming, having to download the footage in real time.

Ideally, I would like an HD digital camcorder that does not use mini dvs, and also one that has an external mic jack where I could attach and adapter and use my own microphones.

Can anybody recommend any suitable camcorders? I really do not have a clue where to start looking, there are thousands of camcorders out there and I don't have time to go through them all.

They don't have to be top of the range. Mine only cost about £200, but got told I would need an upgrade if I wanted to be able to connect the adapter via an external mic jack.

I was considering buying the Sony A1 as it was just more convenient, but I thought that I could possibly find a much cheaper camcorder that has an external mic jack, and then just buy the adapter separately.

Price range, I would say between £200 and £500. Anything above and I may as well just stick with the Sony A1 as I would still need to buy the Beachtek XLR adapter to connect to it.

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Several options, some clarifications and a suggestion...
Nov 5, 2014 8:49AM PST

1) The Sony HVR-A1 is basically the "pro" version of the HDR-HC1. The A1 comes with the (removable) XLR adapter that replaced the pop-up flash on the HC1. It also records to the DVCAM format (in addition to DV) but default is for HDV - 1080i. It also has "NightShot" (with built-in infrared emitter for monochrome vide capture in zero visible light) which most current camcorders have dropped.

2) Just having the XLR inputs (whether inbuilt or via add-on XLR adapter) may not get you to where you want to be. The camcorder should have manual audio gain control. While the consumer (refurbished) Canon HF R400 (or a new HF R500) have a 3.5mm stereo audio input that can be augmented with an XLR adapter, the manual audio gain control on the low end of the HF R series is limited to a menu toggle of "normal" and "attenuator" (for loud audio). The XLR adapters from juicedLink and BeachTek do have manual audio gain knobs, but their interaction with the two-position audio gain control can get interesting.

3) As far as I know the least expensive (non-miniDV tape) camcorder with built-in XLR audio inputs is the Sony NEX-EA50M. You already know that an XLR adapter can meet your requirements if the camcorder has only a stereo 3.5mm audio input, so I think you want a camcorder with that plus relatively granular manual audio gain control. This is where it gets out of your price range. I think we're at the Sony HDR-CX900 or Canon HF G series camcorders. They are 2x - 3x more than you want to pay.

4) There's another possibility that may keep you within budget. Rather than a BeachTek XLR adapter, perhaps a Zoom H5 will work. It has manual audio gain control, you can connect the output to the audio input of a consumer grade camcorder, plus it has two XLR mic inputs which can supply phantom power if the mic(s) need that. And you can record the audio in two places (camcorder and in the H5) in case the lack of manual audio gain in the camcorder causes issues, the "clean copy" can synch with the video when editing.

5) The current crop of AVCHD-compression camcorders recording to flash memory can be even more of a computer resource hog than HDV/firewire miniDV tape. We don't know what your plans for editing are, a fairly robust multi-core CPU, 4-8 gig RAM (more is better), lots of hard drive space (as has always been the case) and an editor that can deal with the recorded format will be worthy of discussion (hopefully a short one).

6) A little more than you want to spend, but you could use the HVR-A1 but not use tape. Vitec makes the FS-H200 (they bought Firestore, I think) and HDV format video is recorded to CompactFlash cards. It connects to the camcorder's firewire port. When transferring video to a computer, use a card reader or USB connection. I don't know if there is a PAL version available, but suspect other manufacturers across the pond have something similar.

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Sony HVR-A1 - do I have to record to tapes?
Nov 5, 2014 6:21PM PST

Many thanks to both of the above replies.
Boya84 - that was a very useful reply, thank you very much for taking the time to help me out.
Just one question about the last point you make with regards to the HVR-A1 - you say I could use that camcorder but not use tape. I wasn't aware that was possible? I thought I had to use mini dvs?

If I am able to record onto a memory card when using the A1, I would definitely use one of those as I have experience using one. I just always used mini dv tapes, I didn't know there was any way around this?

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Not a "memory card"
Nov 10, 2014 4:41AM PST

but an external memory module. Do a search for the Vitec FS H200. You cannot record video to a Memory Stick Pro Duo inside the HVR-A1 as that is used only for still image storage.

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Answer
3.5mm jack
Nov 10, 2014 12:52PM PST

Most of the higher range of consumer cams have an external 3.5mm mic socket so. if you wish to keep the XLR mics then a conversion is needed.

First I would suggest the Panasonic HC-V750EK. This is proving to be a popular and reliable choice.

I do not have the Zoom H5 (which has the XLR inputs) but the earlier Zoom H2 which I use for both recording and as an external microphone to my 750. Unless your XLR adapter has an output at mic level, you will need an attenuator lead to reduce the line level output to mic level. I use a lead made up by SECOM which plugs into the Zoom headphone/line output and into the mic input on the 750.

Both the camera and the Zoom use the SD card for recording. Both the video and audio recordings come as files which can be easily downloaded on to a PC. The fact that the input comes directly in file format means that you do not need the file separating software required for the continuous flow of video from a mini DV. In short timecode is not needed as the files are created by the camera or the Zoom.