CCD-TR717E Microphone

[yfo866]

Does anybody know which microphone fits this camera?

I love the camera, except for it's habit of transforming a light breeze when recording, into a hurricane force  when playing back, and makes you expect to see small children and animals flying across the screen!

I see there is a socket on the side at the front which says "MIC Plug In Power."

Does this mean the microphone should be powered by batteries or it is powered by the camera?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

[Mick2011]

Hi yfo866, welcome to the Sony Forums

Plug-in-power mics draw a small voltage from the camera, yes. It won't power a 'pro' condnser mic but you can get some decent external mics that will work very well. Sony's own stereo ext mic is quite well-rated, there may well be others that do the job. Omnidirectional mics tend to be less sensitive to wind noise.

Unfortunately built-in mics can be very prone to wind noise and there's no easy fix other than avoiding the wind while you're filming!

Hope this helps

Mick

I see what you were asking now - no, there's no need to power your built-in mic, as you've probably already gathered by my response! Cheers.

Message was edited by: Mick2011

Message was edited by: Mick2011

[yfo866]

Hello Mick,

Thanks for the warm welcome.

I have two video cameras. I bought a JVC with built in hard drive, which is better than tapes, but suffers the same 'wind' problem as my Sony. Sadly, this one doesn't have provision for using an external microphone, and i also hate having to 'look through it' using a screen. I was so comfortable using the eyepiece on my Sony i could happily walk around all day with both eyes open, concentrating on using the eye i needed at the time.

But, i don't think i have phrased my question very well, even though I knew what i meant

I have been looking for an external microphone. One onto which i could stick a...'wind sock'? over it to stop the wind noise. I have seen a few 'omni directional' microphones on ebay which i hope will fit, but was concerned about the 'MIC Plug In Power' writting on the camera.

As all of the microphones i have seen for sale have batteries, i was worried they might damage my camera in some way(bugger it up), if they were powered by their own batteries. I don't know if i should be looking for a microphone which is powered by my camera or by the batteries in the microphone itself.

Thanks

[Mick2011]

Have a read of this guy's webpage on the subject of mics:

http://transom.org/?page_id=7485

There's a chapter there on plug-in-power: long and short, you don't need to worry about the power the camera provides unless it's insufficient, which you'd normally only encounter with a pro-level mic anyway.

If you were prepred to get techie about it, these minidisk enthusiasts are excellent sources of info on clever little DIY fixes that can give you very satisfactory results. Have a surf about

Good luck!

Mick