RØDEVideoMic On-camera Shotgun Microphone with High-pass Filter and Pad for Filmmaking, Content Creation and Location Recording

I have recently gone through six different microphones to get the sound that I require. I am pleased to say that this microphone is awesome.. good robust microphone.. absolute great sound on setting one. Just exactly what I was looking for and to be honest I should have done this from the beginning instead of going through multiple mics.I'm very impressed with the sound quality so if you are looking to buy a microphone at low cost price than this is definitely the microphone you need to buy?Five star ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The main reason I purchased this microphone was that it is unidirectional, and hence ideal for recording music in a relatively noisy environment. I have found that this works very well as evidenced by the video filmed with a Panasonic SD90 outside a pub at a music festival, with quite a lot of noise going on at either side of the performer. Unfortunately I can't give you a link to the video, as external links are not allowed in Amazon reviews. However if you Google "Sue Stevens Laddie 2012" you should come across a YouTube video titled "Dear Laddie, Sue Stevens, Bromsgrove Folk Festival, July 2012". If you can find this video have a look and see what you think. If you are wondering why I didn't jsut upload the video to the "video review" here, I tried, but it just didn't work.The directional microphone needs to be used with care. For example if you are interviewing someone who points out something of interest behind you, it's no good panning round as they continue to talk, as their voice will fade away!The other reason for purchasing this microphone was to improve sound quality and to lessen the effect of wind. The sound quality of the built in microphone of the Panasonic camcorder was pretty good, and so it was difficult to recognize a significant improvement in general recording, but it did noticeably overcome problems of recording in a light breeze.The microphone is attached to a mounting system that is designed to cut out camera and it is questionable as to how long the rubber loops will last. However another reviewer has made the point that these can easily be replaced by inexpensive O-Rings and so this is not a problem. The microphone is relatively large and dwarfs my camcorder, but at least it's not very heavy and so again not much of a problem, as long as you have a bag that it will fit into. Finally, the only real problem that I have had is to forget to switch it on. I would strongly recommend that once you start filming for the day switch it on and leave it on. The pp3 battery is supposed to last for more than 100hrs, and so the cost of doing this far outweighs the cost of losing valuable footage!

This mic seems to be good. I definitely get a fuller sound than I do from the on-board mic on my camcorder. The problem lies, I believe, mainly with Canon cameras. I have the Canon M52 camcorder, and as this is a video mic, I expected things to be sweet, but I was disappointed. There is a distinct hiss under all my recordings using this mic with the Canon camcorder (search the two of them for why this is). If I film in a noisy environment, the hiss is un-noticeable (so far, anyway), but when you film someone talking in a quiet environment, the hiss makes the footage quite unusable! I've looked into the problem and I haven't been able to find a solution for my camera, although there are solutions out there for DSLR cameras; it didn't work with mine.I've decided to keep the Rode Videomic, because, as I said, it records (seemingly) well in a noisy environment, much better than the on-board mic, and I've now purchased (after much research) a separate recording device. No one said audio for video was going to be easy, I just thought it would be. It can be complicated, expensive, and time consuming trying to get it all to work the way you want it to, as different situations are going to call for different set ups, but that's part of the fun, and definitely a major part of the learning process.As for build quality, it is excellent, the Rycote Lyre Mount works, and, as this is by far the most important thing, it does look very good in the camera rig, especially when it's sat on top of a camera grip!

I have used this for a couple of projects now and the quality has been great. The dB pad switches could be made more accessible, as you have to remove the 9v to get to it and then use something small to flip the switches, but I don't mind them being out of the way. You just need to remember to set them before filming! I previously had a Sony ECM-B10, but that only connected via the hotshoe mount, which obviously doesn't work when you have a cage and top handle. The form factor of the Rode and the fact that it uses a standard mini jack connector makes it a much better option to adapt to different rigs. It's lightweight and not too big, nor too small. Sound quality has been fantastic and much better than I had expected. It even saved me in a pinch for an interview shoot when I had incorrectly set the gain level on a Rode lav mic.