DSLR Archive - Pixelfriedhof

An affordable clip-on microphone for good video sound on the DSLR

megaadmin — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 07:35:25 +0000

Anyone who wants to record speech for video productions often has to struggle with audio quality problems: built-in microphones record lens noises, freely positioned audio recorders record ambient noise or produce too loud noise. For interview situations I can recommend a cheap clip-on microphone for less than 25€.

Anyone who moves even slightly in space during a video recording or changes the angle to the camera filming will notice that the quality of the voice recording suffers from any movement. In order to compensate for this, a lot of effort is required when editing the video or already during shooting.

For many of my video recordings I use a gimbal for Smartphone or DSLR. It enables me to have smooth camera movements and the flexible movement of the camera in space. Videos become so much more alive and realistic. The eye of the viewer does not get tired so quickly.

At some point I just got fed up with varying volume levels or a changing sound image just because I wasn’t standing in one place during a video recording, or the camera moved slightly around me.

First attempt: separate audio recording with audio recorder

The first alleviation of these symptoms was achieved by no longer using the audio track of the moving camera, but by recording the audio track with a recorder positioned firmly in the room. For this I used the digital recorder Zoom H2n (Amazon Affiliate Link). The Japanese manufacturer “Zoom” builds excellent components in the audio field. The devices convince by their functionality and a perfect operability via the clearly arranged user interface.

Special offer

ZOOM H2n Handy Recorder – Tragbarer Digitalrekorder mit 5 Mikrofonen und Surround-Sound – Ideal für Musik, Interviews,...*

Square and rectangular shapes maximize spaceefficiency
Exotisches Design

This meant that the impairment of the audio quality caused by the movement of the camera in the room was already a thing of the past, but the result was not yet perfect:
Volume fluctuations due to my own movement in the room I still could not prevent. In addition, the recorder sometimes recorded unwanted ambient noise and produced too loud a noise.

Voice recording via clip-on microphone on the lapel

When it comes to the quality of audio recording, there is one rule: “Closer is better”. So I started looking for a suitable microphone to attach to my clothes or lapel. Such “clip-on microphones” are predestined for recording speech. The microphone moves with me in the room, always has the same distance to my mouth, even if I move or turn away from the camera. This is what I was looking for.

The prices for these microphones go up to thousands of Euros for applications in television and sports. I did not want to spend that much. I wanted to spend a maximum of 100€ for one microphone.

I ordered almost 10 microphones on the Internet and finally found one for 25€ (yes, really no joke).

Boya by-M1 Omnidirektionales Kondensator-Mikrofon, 6 m Audiokabel, für Digitalkameras, Videokameras, Smartphones, Schwarz*

Super Sound für Präsentationen und Video-Aufzeichnung.
Clip on Mikrofon Design für Smartphones, DSLR, Camcorder, etc.

My favorite became the 25€ lavalier microphone BY-M1 from BOYA (Amazon Affiliate Link), which I bought at that time under the brand name “Tonor”.

I discreetly attach the microphone to my shirt collar, connect it to the audio input of the Zoom H2n digital recorder and put the latter in the back pocket of my jeans. Not only does it look professional like TV, but it also produces a surprisingly good and interference-free sound. The recording can begin.

Those who want to do without the use of a digital recorder can of course also plug the BY-M1 from BOYA (Amazon Affiliate Link) directly into the audio input of the camera, even if the freedom of movement is then of course somewhat limited by the cable connection.

You can also get an impression of the microphone and the problems described above in the following video:

Ihre Daten werden erst beim Abspielen des Youtube-Videos an den Dienst übermittelt. Your data will only be transmitted to the service when you play the Youtube video.

All the links in this text are Amazon Affiliate Links, and by clicking on an affiliate link I will earn a percentage of your subsequent Amazon purchases. However, this circumstance does not influence the background of my product recommendation. This product recommendation is independent, honest and sincere.

Bei allen genannten Links handelt es sich um Amazon-Affiliate-Links. Durch einen Klick auf einen Affiliate-Link werde ich prozentual an Euren darauf folgenden Amazon-Einkäufen beteiligt. Dieser Umstand beeinflusst aber nicht die Hintergründe meiner Produktempfehlung. Diese Produktempfehlung erfolgt unabhängig, ehrlich und aufrichtig.

Der Beitrag An affordable clip-on microphone for good video sound on the DSLR erschien zuerst auf Pixelfriedhof.

Zoom H2n as an external microphone on the DSLR

megaadmin — Thu, 16 May 2019 18:48:55 +0000

With the right settings, Zoom’s portable recorders can be used as an external microphone to DSLR and system camera. The unit can be attached to the camera using a hot shoe adapter.

Integrated microphones often have their weak points

The microphones used in SLR cameras or system cameras are often not necessarily the best of breed. The dynamic range and the clarity often fail us, because the microphone is placed too far away from the sound source, and in the worst case the built-in microphone also captures camera noises, such as focus buzzing.

That’s why I bought a Zoom H2n recorder some time ago, which I now use to record speech and motion sounds.
The recorder has high-resolution microphones and an SD card slot where the sound recordings are stored. I am amazed by the sound quality!

Special offer

ZOOM H2n Handy Recorder – Tragbarer Digitalrekorder mit 5 Mikrofonen und Surround-Sound – Ideal für Musik, Interviews,...*

Square and rectangular shapes maximize spaceefficiency
Exotisches Design

Using the recorder as an external microphone on the DSLR

One day I was sitting in the office editing one of my videos. I muted the sound track of the camera and instead placed the sound track of the recorder under the video. The idea came to me to save this step in the future if I would only use an external microphone on my Nikon D500 (Amazon Affiliate Link). I thought for a moment whether I had a suitable microphone lying around and at that moment I thought that I might also be able to use my Zoom Recorder “H2n” as a microphone.

The “Zoom H2n” recorder only has to permanently output the recorded noise via the headphone socket. Therefore we go to the menu of the recorder under the following path: Input -> Monitor -> ALWAYS ON

All you need now is a 3.5mm jack cable with two angled plugs to connect the headphone jack of the recorder to the microphone jack of the DSLR.

deleyCON 0,5m Klinkenkabel 3,5mm AUX Kabel Stereo Audio Kabel Klinkenstecker 90° Gewinkelt für PC Laptop Handy Smartphone Tablet...*

deleyCON Stereo Audio Klinken Kabel // 2x 90° gewinkelt // Für AUX Eingänge 3,5 mm Klinken Stecker zu 3,5 mm Klinken Stecker
Hochwertig vergoldete Kontakte // Flexibles Kabel // 3,5 mm Klinkenstecker mit 90° Winkel

It is also important that we first level the “Zoom H2n” manually and then level the camera manually.
From now on our DSLR video recordings get a clean audio signal from the mobile “Zoom H2n” recorder.

Attaching the recorder to a camera with a flash shoe adapter

The Zoom H2n recorder has a 1/4-inch thread on the bottom. If you buy a flash shoe to 1/4-inch adapter, you can mount the Zoom Recorder on your camera.

Neewer® Zwei (2) Packung mit Haltbare Pro 1/4 "Montageplatte für Stativgewinde auf Blitzschuh*

Dieser Adapter ermöglicht die Geräte mit Standard 1/4 "Gewindebohrung auf Blitzschuh-Steckplatzzu installieren. Es verfügt über 2...
Es kann NIKON SC-28 Blitz das VH2000 Kamera Blitzschiene Griff installieren. Es kann YONGNUO CTR-301P Blitz Fernauslöser auf...

My first choice as a Lightroom alternative

I’m gonna do some advertising. I’ve been dealing with all kinds of image editing software for months, comparing a lot, testing a lot and finally choosing RAW developer and Lightroom alternative Luminar 3.

Have a look and try the free trial version. Just click on the banner:

Bei allen genannten Links handelt es sich um Amazon-Affiliate-Links. Durch einen Klick auf einen Affiliate-Link werde ich prozentual an Euren darauf folgenden Amazon-Einkäufen beteiligt. Dieser Umstand beeinflusst aber nicht die Hintergründe meiner Produktempfehlung. Diese Produktempfehlung erfolgt unabhängig, ehrlich und aufrichtig.

Der Beitrag Zoom H2n as an external microphone on the DSLR erschien zuerst auf Pixelfriedhof.

Use camera support system and tripod plate at the same time without changing the adapter plate

megaadmin — Sun, 17 Mar 2019 18:28:54 +0000

For a long time I wanted to buy a carrying system for my camera, but one thing I didn’t like at all: I didn’t want to have to screw another adapter plate to the camera every time I changed from tripod to carrying system or vice versa. Now I found a suitable solution without having to screw it on and off. With this solution, you use an adapter plate permanently screwed to the camera for both the mounting in the tripod head and for the carrying system. Time-consuming and annoying retooling is no longer necessary.

Screwing on and unscrewing the adapter plate is annoying

I shoot almost 40% of my photos with a tripod. Especially with HDR and long exposures there is no other way. For this reason, an adapter plate is permanently screwed under my Nikon D500, which allows a quick attachment to the tripod head. Depending on which tripod I use, I either have to change to the adapter plate of my travel tripod or to the one of my heavy Cullmann Magnesite tripod. Already these two variants annoy me. Mounting the different plates takes time, is fiddly in the cold and I simply can’t act fast enough.

Most camera carrying systems come with their own adapter plate, which is used to attach the camera to a strap, belt or strap. That would be the third different adapter plate in my photo backpack. If I imagine that during a nightly walk at the marina in Abu Dhabi I would first have to unscrew the adapter plate of my carrying system in order to then screw on the adapter plate of my travel tripod, it shudders at me.

I wanted to install an adapter plate on my camera, which I can then clamp in the carrying system and both tripods without having to change anything.

Which adapter plate fits both in a tripod head and in a good carrying system?

What I was looking for was a standardized adapter plate. So I searched for “Adapter plate tripod camera norm” at Google. This way I came across a standardized format called “ARCA” or “ARCA Swiss” for the first time.
I then searched for these two names at Amazon and found a suitable storage system, which uses exactly this kind of adapter plates: The “Peak Design Capture Clip v3” is a carrying system for attaching the camera to belts or rucksack straps and promises a quick mounting and dismounting of the camera.

Keine Produkte gefunden.

Mount the camera on the tripod despite the carrying system adapter plate.

As a travel tripod I use the “Rollei Compact Traveler No. 1 Carbon“ because it is very compact and lightweight to stow on air travel. Due to its low weight, it is also suitable for carrying on belts or backpacks, even on longer hikes. The stability of the tripod is still sufficient for me, only with strong wind the tripod comes to its limits. Acuh in terms of arca compatibility I was lucky with the “Rollei Compact Traveler No. 1 Carbon“. Actually, I was already looking for an alternative tripod head for the travel tripod, but when I looked at this again in detail at Amazon, a feature of my tripod on the Amazon product page caught my eye. Rollei writes that the “[…]360° magnesium panorama ball head with camera quick-change plate (Arca Swiss compatible)[…] is. Bingo. At the latest now I knew that I was on the right track.

Rollei Compact Traveler No.1 Carbon Schwarz, 145cm Kamera Stativ Leichtes Reisestativ mit Kugelkopf Arca Swiss Kompatibel...*

【Leichtes und Tragbares Reise Kamerastativ】 Das Compact Traveler No. 1 Stativ wiegt nur 0,98 kg mit einem Packmaß von nur 34 cm....
【Stabiles und Langlebiges Carbon Fiber Tripod】Das Stativ besteht aus hochwertigem und robustem Carbon mit einer maximalen Tragkraft...

Now the question remained, how to get my big, heavy “Cullmann MAGNESIT 525M CW25“ compatible to the ARCA adapter plate. The 3-way tripod head mounted on the Cullmann was not very reliable anyway, as the screws often loosened by themselves and I would like a ball head much better because of the smaller packing dimensions. So I started looking for an ARCA compatible ball head. I came across the “Andoer TB81X Stativ Kugelkopf“ and ordered it for testing.

Andoer TB81X Kugelkopf Stativkopf 360 Grad Panorama Kugelkopf für Stativ Einbeinstativ Slider DSLR-Kamera (3pcs Schraube Adapter...*

Material: Der 360-Grad-Kugelkopf aus hochwertiger Aluminiumlegierung ist in einem präzisem CNC-Verfahren hergestellt worden, sehr...
Stativ-Kugelkopf: Der Kugelkopf-Durchmesser beträgt 36 mm, max. Belastung: 8 kg. Der Durchmesser des Bodens beträgt 49 mm, hat eine...

Even ARCA adapter plates differ from each other

After receiving the “Andoer TB81X” I noticed soberingly that the supplied adapter plate of the “Rollei Compact Traveler No. 1 Carbon“ fitted into the “Andoer TB81X“, but not the other way round. The adapter plate of the “Andoer TB81X” is not square, but slightly elongated, which is why the inclusion in the travel tripod is not possible. No problem, as long as you always carry the square adapter plate of the travel tripod on the camera. This doesn’t harm the secure hold of the camera in the tripod head.

A few days later I received my “Peak Design Capture Clip v3” and unpacked it. I attached the supplied adapter plate to my Nikon D500 and even before I tested the carrying system, I had to find out if this adapter plate really fits into all tripod heads. The result pleased me, because now it was possible for me to snap the camera into the carrying system after remaining or to set it into one of my two tripods, completely without the conversion of the adapter plate. Ingenious.

The whole thing explained again in the video

Ihre Daten werden erst beim Abspielen des Youtube-Videos an den Dienst übermittelt. Your data will only be transmitted to the service when you play the Youtube video.

Der Beitrag Use camera support system and tripod plate at the same time without changing the adapter plate erschien zuerst auf Pixelfriedhof.