What is the difference between an audio imput and a microphone jack?

Question

I have a Canon ZR850 and I want to purchase a shotgun microphone to use with it. I found the Azden SGM-X Shotgun Microphone that is designed for miniDV cameras like mine but I also found that this connects to the camera through the audio input. When looking for where the audio input is on my camera, I found that my camera doesn't have a microphone jack and I am now not sure that this microphone will work with my camera. Please help! I need to purchase a microphone very soon if I want to get it in time!

Answer 1

Download your camcorder's manual here:

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

The ZR850 does not have a regular mic-in jack. Refer to page 66. You will use the AV-cable that was included with the camcorder and connect a mic using the red and white audio connectors (yellow is for video). You will need an adapter that turns those red and white RCA plugs into a 1/8" (or 3.5mm) jack... like

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index....

In case it makes a difference - in the Canon ZR family, ONLY the ZR800, ZR900 and ZR930 have a proper 1/8" (3.5mm) mic-in jack.

Be advised that NONE of these camcorders has manual audio control REALLY loud audio will clip and get muddy. There is no way to fix this in post-production. There is no mic available that will correct this - the camcorder needs manual audio control or the audio needs to be captured on a different device - like the "field recorders" made by Sony, Edirol, Zoom, M-Audio, Marantz, Fostex, Tascam and others... Then replace the camcorder's audio with that from the field recorder.