External Mic

[deckitout]

I am in the early stages of learning Video (very early)

 

I have just upgraded my EM5 to an EM1 I am also in the throws of trying out a GX7 as my second body. 

 

However, I have noticed in my initial footage of family stuff that the sound is a little tinny and there appears to be quite a bit of background noise.

 

 

Now I presume some of this can be improved in post, however I have the option of exchanging the GX7 for either a G6 or GH3 which I understand have external mic options. Is this going to be worthwhile option for me

 

Thanks  Phil

[dishe]

Yes and no.

There's no way you should expect anything decent to come out of any camera's microphone. That being said, many argue that the weak preamps commonly found in DSLR sized bodies aren't worth using either way- and the only way around this is to shoot with an external audio recorder (zoom, tascam, etc) which you can then sync up with the camera's audio in post. 

 

It happens to be that the GH2 had decent preamps compared to other small camera bodies, and the GH3 even offers a headphone jack to monitor the quality (the first of their lineup to do that). But even still, I find myself relying on my Tascam for audio since I have more control and it is just more reliable.

 

There have been times I routed audio directly into the camera when travelling light, but I'd be fine with the GX7 because I don't think I'd miss the jack so terribly much.

[deckitout]

Thanks for your feedback

 

As a beginner I wasn't really looking to use an external audio recorder at this point.

 

I was wondering if a third party mic that fits onto the hot shoe is a decent improvement over the built in mic.

[jgharding]

If your camera has an input, the Rode Videomic pro is pretty good!

[deckitout]

I'll be using a GH3 and EM1, thanks for this it looks reasonably priced as well.

 

Phil