Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I bought this Rode VideoMic Pro Compact Shotgun microphone to go with my Panasonic TM900 camcorder since I travel a lot shooting interviews etc. I needed something that was light and compact in keeping with the scale of the TM900. I had very bad experiences with the Sennheiser MKE300 - wow has that company gone downhill. The Sennheiser had a constant hum and static and I couldn't get enough volume out of it.
I have the Rode Videomic which is good but is too big for the TM900 and I've found it unwieldy for traveling (somehow its Z shape and those rubber bands don't give me a lot of confidence).
The Videomic Pro however is almost a perfect match for the TM900. It fits well into the bracket and there's no problem with fitting the plug into the camera's mic socket (which is set at an angle). I also fitted a larger ring wide angle adapter(the EXII HD7X46)and this does not interfere with the mic.
The audio from the mic is great - it's quite sensitive but reducing to -10DB is generally adequate for normal interview situations - relatively quiet room, one subject facing camera and mic. Setting the internal recording level to 0 seems to do the trick. For quiet voices you can up the mic to 0db or +20db. I have not had occasion to use the latter yet.
The mic also has a high pass filter (HPF) which cuts rumble. I am not sure if this cuts wind sound significantly but will try that later.
The mic does not seem to pick up motor noise from my camera but then I don't do a lot of zooming when I'm filming (and when I have, the mic hasn't picked it up). Like my other Rode mic, it is also suspended on "rubber bands" but this time only two (and they give you spares). The rubber bands can detach quite easily so it's something to be aware of.
I like the inclusion of a LED light to tell you that the mic is on and also to tell you if the battery is ok or not.
I did NOT like the difficulty of inserting the battery. You have to futz around with the front cover which latches onto a groove under the actual barrel of the (foam covered) mic itself and then push up to latch the bottom. The diagram in the instruction book conveniently omits the actual mic! I guess it's always difficult the first time and maybe I'll get used to it. Anyway it's lucky that one good battery will last for around 70 hours (at least that's what Rode claims) so I hope I don't have to change the battery a lot.
Also for this price it would have been nice to get a case of some sort but no such luck. Anyway I use small Pelicans or soft foam bags for packing.
I haven't tried them yet but this mic can also be fitted to a boom, and there is a pistol grip for it. The bottom has a screw thread so you can put it on a stand but you will need an extension cord to reach the camera as the cord that is attached to the mic cannot be removed and is short.
The mic weighs 0.18 lb (86 g) and its dimensions are 1.69"x6.02"x3.74".
Conclusion: if you need a small and light mic for a similarly scaled camcorder, this is a great purchase. I'm very satisfied with it and it does a good job.
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Rode VideoMic Pro VMP Shotgun Microphone
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