By Douglas Bankston, July 1, 2008
When your small camcorder’s built-in microphone isn’t cutting it, an alternative onboard mike often can pick up the audio slack. At the recent NAB Show, Sennheiser introduced the MKE 400 mini-shotgun condenser microphone to do just that: supplant your camcorder’s built-in.
Approximately 6" long, the MKE 400 (directional super-cardioid/lobar pattern) attaches to the camcorder’s accessory shoe, and I affixed it to the top of a Canon HV30 I had been testing.
I had been using a Canon DM-50 directional stereo microphone, so naturally, a comparison between the two mikes was inevitable. Whereas the Canon has the appearance of an actual, side-slatted mini-shotgun, the permanently polarized MKE 400 is thin and conical. A typical acoustically transparent windscreen fits over the cone.
The mike cone juts out from a lightweight metal housing. On the housing are the on/off, wind noise (part of the on/off) and sensitivity (volume) switches. That’s right, you must turn the MKE 400 on and off. I’m not a big fan of this feature because at some point in the future I invariably will forget to turn the mike on while shooting. I think another drawback is that the MKE 400 doesn’t draw power from the camcorder — one AAA battery rests inside the metal housing. Now, Sennheiser claims you can get up to 300 hours of use out of one AAA, but having an extra battery on hand is one extra thing to think about. The Canon DRM-50 conveniently pulls power from and sends audio to the camcorder via the hot shoe. (Without a hot shoe, the DRM-50 is dead weight.) Hot shoe or not, the MKE 400 must plug into the camcorder via a 3.5mm (1/8) mini-jack.
The MKE 400’s shock-mount setup is questionable. The mike and housing are one unit, isolated from the shoe mount by two short, thin, rubber pillars. These pillars serve as the shock mount, and they are rather stiff for shock absorbers. But being so thin and exposed, if you are into Cloverfield-style shooting, one snag and the MKE 400 might be dangling from your camcorder
. (I didn’t test this theory.)
For sound acquisition, I tested the MKE 400 by recording via Canon HV30 camcorder a 1kHz tone originating from 10' and 20' away and used analog VU meters to check signal strength upon playback. With the MKE 400’s sensitivity (or “Vol”) set to what I believe to be normal (or “—”), The MKE 400’s pickup was virtually identical to that of the DM-50’s (which was set to mono) at both distances, and each mike had no discernible dropoff 30 degrees off axis. Normal conversation at both distances, however, was a bit low and slightly muddy. But with a switch to high sensitivity (or “+”), the MKE 400 came alive, picking up an extra 8.5dB at 10' and 8dB at 20'. Normal conversation became more vibrant, thankfully without the amplification of unwanted background sounds that can sometimes plague high-sensitivity modes. I most likely would leave the MKE 400 in high-sensitivity mode at all times. (The DM-50 doesn’t have sensitivity selection, only mono, stereo and a nice stereo wide.)
Also of great benefit, the MKE 400 has a wind noise filter that when switched on (a continuation of the on/off switch), effectively cuts off low-end rumble that wind generates in a mike. The filter works really well, just note that dialogue will be noticeably thinner due to the cutoff. It’s a must-have for outdoor shooting. An optional accessory kit ($49) for the MKE 400 includes an even better fuzzy windscreen for the outdoors and a 3.5mm-to-XLR adapter for pro cameras.
At $199, the MKE 400 is more expensive than the Canon DM-50 ($150) and on par with the Canon DM-100 ($200) stereo microphone. With its high sensitivity mode and wind noise filter, the MKE 400 is a valuable upgrade to any small camcorder’s built-in microphone.
Sennheiser MKE 400
$199.00 (optional accessory kit, $49)
DV Score:
Pros:
Impressive high sensitivity mode; good wind noise filter.
Cons:
Battery operated and must be switched on. Odd shock-mount setup that doesn’t seem robust enough to withstand the rigors of shooting/handling.
Bottom Line:
A valuable upgrade to any small camcorder’s built-in microphone.
| COMMENTS (1) | | 11/28/2009 | | I am unconvinced. I am a teacher and have 8 HV30 + MKE 400 for my class room and the kids have stopped using them because they audio is so poor. Very directional, quite weak level and lots of tape motor noise. This could also be because the students are not sampling their recording and adjusting the input volume of the Mic or camera and could also be battery related.
The Mic cable knocks about and catches the tape mechanism when you ejectand the HV30 has a stupid shoe cover that gets in the way making it hard to attach the mic - i have ripped them off! Also 2 HV30 tape load mechanisms have been replaced under warranty in 1 year (I know it is not an HV30 review). |
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