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Canon 60D and Zoom H4n


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I recently got a Canon 60D and to no surprise, the audio recordings are painful to listen to...

 

I plan on eventually getting an external mic in the form of a sennheiser shotgun, but for right now my budget isn't big enough. I'm just wondering if I was to get a Zoom H4n, would I need any other accessories to make it fully operational (and to have good sound quality) i.e. a windscreen, any sort of pre-amp, any extra wiring... etc.?

 

Thanks in advance...

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I recently got a Canon 60D and to no surprise, the audio recordings are painful to listen to...

 

I plan on eventually getting an external mic in the form of a sennheiser shotgun, but for right now my budget isn't big enough. I'm just wondering if I was to get a Zoom H4n, would I need any other accessories to make it fully operational (and to have good sound quality) i.e. a windscreen, any sort of pre-amp, any extra wiring... etc.?

 

Thanks in advance...

 

Hi Jared,

 

I'm planning on getting the Zoom H2n and already have the rode shotgun mic so I think I can help you out from my research. First of all, you don't necessarily have to use the Zoom and Rode independently of each other, the Rode can run through the Zoom to optimize recording quality, as in the following video:

 

http://dslrhd.com/2010/07/dslr-audio-lavalier-vs-shotgun-microphone/

 

 

As for making it fully operational, a windshield would definitely be useful if you're going to be shooting outdoors, but it's not essential as you could optimise the sound from the Rode by running it through the Zoom (which comes with a windshield anyway). The only extra wiring you may need depends on whether you are going to record the sound onto the Zoom and sync it up in post, or feed it directly to the 60D. Here's an example of the setup to do this:

 

http://dpexperience.com/2010/03/18/recording-audio-with-your-video-dslr-part-ii/

 

Basically all you need to achieve this is get two male-male 3.5mm jacks and run one from your Rode to your Zoom's mic input, and another from your Zoom's headphone input to your 60D mic input.

 

Hope this helps.

 

-Jonny

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  • 1 month later...

Thank you for your reply. I think I'll get an H4n and sync it later in the post for future projects (my plan is still to get an external mic though).

You will always have to sync in post, the key is always use clapboard to later help the sync task in editing.

 

I have Zoom h4n and Canon t2i and so far i only got a windshield for the zoom h4n, boom mic or any external mic are needed, the Zoom h4n onboard mic are only good for ambients sound, dont expect them to do a good job on recording dialogs from distance. As Zoom h4n has built-in phantom power, but its powered by only 2 AA batteries so it wont run that long, unless you plug it to the power adapter. Pre-amp would be also helpful for the external mic signals, they are often used in field-recording as well.

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  • 3 months later...

As Zoom h4n has built-in phantom power, but its powered by only 2 AA batteries so it wont run that long, unless you plug it to the power adapter. Pre-amp would be also helpful for the external mic signals, they are often used in field-recording as well.

 

How long does it run for?

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  • 2 weeks later...

How long does it run for?

Once i have tried, when i activated the phantom power in H4n the battery indicator dropped from full to one. It scared me so i had to plug the h4n to the AC adaptor using a chord extension... But i guess it doesnt last long if you try to run Phantom power on 2 AA batteries that has barely 3v of output. Now i have a small field mixer that runs on 2 9V batteries. Been using it for month over several projects, countless hours and still running on the same batteries. I've read the review on amazon someone has stated that the batteries have lasted 6 months of hard use. So i don't doubt it. Best thing for you is to get external phantom power that runs on 2 9v batteries or field mixer just like i did, they are not expensive.

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