Topic: panasonic "zoom microphones" -suitable for loud shows?

[ilduclo]

I'm looking at either the Panasonic 3oo or 5oo minidv. Will I be able to record audio of fairly loud metal bands ( say, Isis, or High on Fire) without getting distorted audio? I heard about one of the Panasonics that would manage this, but lost track of that thread

thanks, this is a great board and resource.

ildu

[kuuan]

As taper you won't be happy with the built in mic.
On the GS500 you can set the mic level, there are three choices, fully auto, manual set with AGC, and fully manual. On manual very likely you will be able to set the level low enough to avoid distortion.
The GS300 does not have the mic level adjustment.

Both do have a stereo mini mic-in for external mics.
If you want to use mic with XLR connectors you'll need an adaptor, videographers like to use Beachtek: http://www.beachtek.com/products.html

Both cams do not have any headphone jacks to monitor the sound, but some found workarounds, see: http://www.pana3ccduser.com/showthread.php?t=9535&page=2&pp=10

You can also read reviews of them here: http://pana3ccduser.com/article.php?filename=Review:-GS300-and-GS500-3CCD-Camcorders
at the same site which is entirely dedicated to the Panasonic 3CCD cams.

If you need the haedphone jack try to get hold of a GS400 - a discontinued model which arguably is the best consumer miniDV cam produced ever.

[BlackLab]

you can also use an external pre-amp and then use your choice of mics. More stuff to stealth in if no taper is in the house for you to dub with.

[kuuan]

there is no way to by-pass the internal preamp of the cams when plugging external mics into their mic-in. If you use an external preamp you would have to attenuate first. Recording load sound sources you may have to attenuate even without external preamp.

[BlackLab]

wasn't trying to bypass internal pre-amp - I was trying to lessen signal level before it got to cam.

I actually got idea a few months ago from another thread here in a different Forum and it does seem to work. I filmed with and without pre-amp and brought WAV into SoundForge and levels lower with less clipping. I ahve a GS-250 and dont have same control as a GS-500 and was looking for a way to improve my audio

[kuuan]

wasn't trying to bypass internal pre-amp - I was trying to lessen signal level before it got to cam.

I actually got idea a few months ago from another thread here in a different Forum and it does seem to work. I filmed with and without pre-amp and brought WAV into SoundForge and levels lower with less clipping. I ahve a GS-250 and dont have same control as a GS-500 and was looking for a way to improve my audio

oh yes, this makes sense, using the external preamp to attenuate to aviod clipping, distortion.