No External Mic for LX100 No Problem says Tascam DR-70D

[maxotics]

Was shooting some stuff with some Azden dual wireless mics (330LT) and kept getting popping on one set.  Dave Dugdale gave up on the Azdens after a few minutes so in frustration I ordered two sets from Audio-Technica System 10 (chose over Rode system and Sony because they output both balanced and un-balanced--which I might want for a professional camcorder situation).  While I'm on B&H I figured I'd get the Tascam DR-70D so I might get one channel from the Azen and the two from Audio-Technica.  I was about to put the Azdens up for sale then figured I'd give them one more fiddle.  I moved the frequency on one to the opposite end of the other and, voila, they now work perfectly.  I know, why didn't I do that in the beginning?  

Lying in bed I wondered, how difficult to slate the LX100 to the Tascam?  Turns out, it isn't difficult at all.  I've half-heartedly tried to sell the LX100.  Something keeps drawing me back to that little camera.  The 4K from that small size downsamples to crystal clear 1080.  Anyway, the short of it is the Tascam DR-70s have internal mics and, with the LX100 (or any camera) firmly screwed into it, tapping on one will create a SLATE sound in both.  The Tascam also has a slate tone you can send to any camera with an external mic input.  I plan to use that with the A7s.  

BTW, B&H got me the stuff in a day.  Amazing company.  They often include free stuff with purchases.  With this, I received some Sony audio software.  

Another interesting thing I learning in doing this is with the Sony XLR-K1M, you can set the gain to one thing (say low) in one channel and (high) in another channel coming from the one shotgun mic.  How cool is that!  It's a similar thing you can do with the Tascam.  Once you set the gain of one mic properly, you can record another "low" so that if something really loud happens, you have some audio that you can use, which isn't distorted.

Thank you to Andrew for running this blog where I can share this tip!  

 

 

[sgreszcz]

 I've half-heartedly tried to sell the LX100.  Something keeps drawing me back to that little camera.  The 4K from that small size downsamples to crystal clear 1080.

I was thinking of swapping mine for a Sony RX100iv, but I love the manual controls on the LX100, the lens is good, the OIS works great and the picture quality is fantastic (except for the funny face colour that I get sometimes).  The only things that are missing for me is a better EVF, a tilt screen, and more pronounced focus peaking as I find it difficult to see sometimes.  

To get around the no mic input, I use a Shure VP83F shotgun with built-in recorder.

 

 

[maxotics]

I was thinking of swapping mine for a Sony RX100iv, but I love the manual controls on the LX100, the lens is good, the OIS works great and the picture quality is fantastic (except for the funny face colour that I get sometimes).  The only things that are missing for me is a better EVF, a tilt screen, and more pronounced focus peaking as I find it difficult to see sometimes.  

To get around the no mic input, I use a Shure VP83F shotgun with built-in recorder.

Same boat.  I'd love to standardize around Sony.  At about 50mm, the LX100 has really nice bokeh, better than the smaller sensor RX100iv of course.  I wish it had HDMI out during recording, but mine doesn't even do playback anymore.  I believe the HDMI connector is poorly designed, because the pins that are supposed to snug-up against the male input have now pushed all the way out on mine, preventing me from inserting a cable.  So watch out for that.  I'd send it back to Panasonic but they take forever and often just want $300. 

One of the things I wish Panasonic had done on the focus peaking is make the distance bar on the screen accurate through the entire zoom range.  I notice if I focus at 3 feet, say, when it is between red and gray, it changes when zoomed in.  In short, I can't use the scale to mentally calculate where my focus is.  

On the face color, I find any changes to the dynamic range curves create havoc, as they should, because LOGs essentially borrow from Peter (dark tones) to pay Paul (bright tones).  I now use Standard, Neutral or Portrait--which are perfectly fine.

On my video yesterday, I realize today hitting a coin against the Tascam or camera would do the trick.  No need for silly tweezers.