Topic: economical external mic options for camcorder? $150-ish

[guitard]

Everything I do is tripod shot or low action hand held so it's never been an issue for me.

I'm a "stealthaholic," so I can only rarely use a tripod.  Although I have been using a clamp-pod when the situation is right, and that works out very well.

[stantheman1976]

What kind of clamp do you use?  I need to find something like that.

[guitard]

The pic below doesn't really depict the way you would use it for a stealth shot at a show, but you still get the idea.  I have found the optimal way of using it is to clip it to the front of the seat I'm sitting in between my legs.  Obviously, if people are sitting in front of you and the seats are not on much of a slope, their heads are going to be in the way.  Once you get the hang of it, you can loosen the locking nut just enough so that you can move the cam around (up/down and to the side) - but it will still remain in position when you take your hands off the cam.  If you are in a thick or padded seat, you probably won't be able to clamp it onto the seat.  You'd have to opt for the arm rest.  Obviously, clamping it to the arm rest doesn't provide nearly as much stealth as having it between your legs though.  You can also swivel it side to side a bit by pulling on the grips (surprisingly - you can get a fairly smooth pan this way - but there's no up/down adjustment with this method).

I bought it here:  http://www.trophytools.com

[KurtMichaels]

SSIA pretty much - for a Canon HV20 live music purposes

If you got some final news on this, please let me know. I've got a HV20 too - and looking for stealthable < 200$ mics.

[ozarkbilly]

someone on the HV20 forums suggested the use of a Zoom H2 as an external mic, using the onboard mics on it.  I had actually thought of that around the time of my initial purchase of the cam, but wasn't sure if it would work or not.  Apparently people have tried it and it does indeed work, and you get the benefit of a recorder for audio use as well when video is a no-no.

[nomotrouble]

I just bought a sony hdr hc9, ordered a pair of mics and a pre amp from church audio. I will mount the mics in my shirt collar as i do for audio, keep the pre amp in my pocket, and run a wire to the mic jack on the camera. That shd do it.

[beefstew]

just bought this for $19 from sound pros when they had the sale a few days ago
http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/ATR25
http://www.audio-technica.com/cms/wired_mics/0288c41b918b13b4/index.html

i'll post up some samples when i get it

ELEMENT    Stereo Condenser
POLAR PATTERN    Dual Cardioid
FREQUENCY RESPONSE    70 - 18,000 Hz
OPEN CIRCUIT SENSITIVITY    -50 dBm +/- 3 dB, 1 kHz at 1 Pa
IMPEDANCE    600 ohms +/- 30%
WEIGHT    2.8 oz (79 g) without cable
OUTPUT CONNECTOR    Screw-in 1/8" (3.5 mm) stereo (female)
CABLE    Stereo-Stereo camera cable 8 in. (0.2 m)
Stereo-Mono recording cable 10' (3.0 m)