Some quick little things.
The little Zoom H1n mic, has so far gotten me out of trouble twice. Running it separately, it has recorded sound for main and B roll footage, that replaces the main footage sound I did not manage to get! Still getting my act together here, I had some issues with pressing the shutter button and stopping, not starting recording (already was, didn’t see it). Sound is good enough to fool many.
At the school singing comps, the H1n managed to be the only continuously recorded sound of the whole event. Live streaming failed to be consistent, no other sound was recorded and my camera mics/Rode shotgun were well out of comfortable range. The H1n on a little stand up front handled it all. The limiter in particular is very efficient. Apparently the recorder is best used higher than “5.5” on the dial to avoid increased floor noise and the limiter is very good at natural clipping control (thanks Julian Kraus).
I got the Neewer CM-14 today ($24au) and I swear, the thing is better to my ear than the Rode Videomic mini (3 times the price). It seems to have more resonance, crisper high end, less handling noise and a cleaner sound floor, where the Rode is a decent mid range mic (both plugged into my H1n). If the two had a love child (one can only hope*), it would have the perfect range. It also came with several accessories and fits the Rode ones as needed.
The Neewer picks up a little more peripheral sound than the Rode, making the Rode better as a longer range, directional shotgun mic and the Neewer a better boom or interview mic, especially if I place it between two people or a small group.
The Neewer’s only short coming, the semi soft shock bracket, is eliminated by the cheap Smallrig boom bracket, which the Neewer mic is ideally long and symmetrical enough to fit in. The Neewer seemed less handling sensitive when I tested them together (Neewer best>Rode>H1n), so maybe that bracket is ok.
Every decent mic has it’s uses. The Rode would be better for a woman’s voice, avoiding too much high end and unnatural resonance, where the Neewer sounds great with a male voice. Neither is objectively “right”, although the Neewer impresses most, especially for the price. The H1n is in a different class, with different strengths. I feel now that I have several options available, which is cool. Ironically, If I had bought the Movo as intended, I would have two deeper sounding mics, which would be less versatile.
The whole rig. The Rode goes in the day bag, the Neewer in the full kit as the boom/backup option to the H1n. There are 1, 3 and 10ft cables, spare AAA Eneloop batteries for the H1n and various other bits. The dead cats are segregated to avoid shedding (breeding?). If needed the Smallrig bracket (above) comes along attached to a small boom pole.
Using the AEL flip switch function three on the EM1’s (thanks Robin Wong) to toggle between video and stills is brilliant. First day I found out about it, I adapted immediately and it made life so much easier.
Finding out I should only be using mechanical shutter for higher ISO shooting to reduce noise and get rid of the green caste is also a revelation. I had put it down to the funky light at the respective venues, but apparently it is part of the electronic shutter process. Again thanks, Robin Wong. ed. I do not see this issue with any of the EM1’s.
Tried to set up some specific AF patterns on the EM1 and they seem to be really making a difference. A double line would be great, but I went with a 1x5 line (for birds), 4x1 tall line (for things in tree lines or crowds), 3x7 wide rectangle (cars etc) and a 7x3 tall rectangle (football players). Always jealous of the G9’s options and now I have them with Olympus AF.
The Neewer mechanical Gimbal is good. It took a few minutes to balance (mostly involving reducing the weights to match the camera), but the MS-1 setting on the EM1x is probably even better and easier to control.
*although I would like to avoid a tribble like multiplication of the dead cat’s I have accumulated.