Any way to get ext. Mic into Panasonic HDC-SD9? Or recommend another 1080 camcorder?

Question

My girlfriend is an actress and wants a camcorder to make shorts and possibly even a low-budget feature. She can spend approx $1k max... the Panasonic looks perfect, but has no audio mic input.. can this be hacked i.e. though an AV jack? Or external system? Or can anyone recommend another camera that shoots 24fp @ 1080i/p? Tape/HD/chip is all ok.

Answer 1

No. There is no external mic connectivity for the Panasonic HDC-SD9. Not only that, but the AVCHD compression will be terrible - especially for editing. As with any video, you can always get the audio in using a field recorder like those from Zoom, M-Audio, Marantz or Fostex, among others... but that is one more piece of gear (that needs batteries)...

Best available video continues to come from miniDV tape based camcorders.

The cheapest 24p camcorders are the Canon HV20 and HV30. And they are miniDV tape based - and have mic-in jacks and are less $ than the panny you are looking at. The HV20 was camcorderinfo.com's 2007 camcorder of the year.

Take the hint from the pros:

http://bssc.sel.sony.com/BroadcastandBus...

http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/contro...

http://pro.jvc.com/prof/attributes/categ...

http://www.panasonic.com/business/provid...

You will not find ANY flash memory card camcorders that compress to AVCHD... and nearly all of the camcorders are miniDV tape based.