The Rode Videomic is a studio quality recording condenser microphone, It costs around £80 setting it on the 'amateur' priced market but offering amazing results. The construction is sturdy and it comes with its own foam wind screen - which helps but you have no chance in high wind without buying the optional extra of the Rode Furry windshield for the Videomic. The Microphone has low circuitry noise and low handling noise due to the suspension. It comes with a one year guarantee but if you register it within a month of purchase you get another 10 Years warranty! I would say this is a really good quality and priced all-round mic for any situation. I personally use it out in the field for my documentary's but if the wind picks up I swap to my audio-technica lavlier mic which does a good job of cutting out wind. I did buy the furry windshield from another company on Amazon but they send me the one for the Rode Videomic Pro (which is smaller) so I sent it back and haven't got round to buying another one.
Features
As shown below on the left the microphone has a hot-shoe adapter, this is so you can easily slot it onto the top (normally where the hot-shoe is located) of your camera or camcorder. The adapter can be found on the bottom of the stabilizer/Mic and to secure it onto the camera simply twist it anti-clockwise to let it slide on smoothly and then twist it clockwise to tighten the Videomic into position. The input is a stereo mini Jack audio lead. The mini jack should be connected to the camera via the camera's 'Audio In' socket.
The microphone has a really cool feature that sets it apart from others in the market - it comes with an inbuilt suspension shock mount designed to reduce camera borne motor and handling noise. It is held and stabilized by 8 rubber springy things and although a lot of reviews on Amazon suggested that a few may break mine haven't yet - if the worst came to the worst and one did break then not to worry as your package comes with another 8 spares.
Overall there are 8 clips around the body of the stabilizer and microphone to attach the jack wire to (shown below on the left) this helps when making sure the wire isn't in the way of other controls and depending on what side of the camera the jack input is on. On the back of the microphone itself you have all the switches (shown below on the right) and product names. The bottom option is 'Off' this turns the mic off and conserves energy, although be careful because even if its off and the jack is still connected the camera won't record through the in-built mic as it still recognizes another mic is connected. When you turn the switch to 'On' a red light will show for 0.25 seconds before changing to green showing that the battery has adequate charge. When the battery runs out the LED will change to red and you will need to change the battery - although it will still run for 1 hour but with reduced performance. I like to set the audio level manually as this can give you the best results and only pick up the sound you really want. The top option is the 'HPF' switch, it stands for High Pass Filter and is a low frequency cut off setting to reduce/remove rumble during recording. It does effect the tone slightly but it doesn't really show and in some situations it is needed.
Power
Powering the microphone is the simplest thing ever, on the side of the mic there is a gold dot and a few ridges, pull this out backwards to reveal the battery holder. The videomic takes a normal PP3 9V battery and it just slots in. Close the compartment up but also make sure the cover closes correctly as sometimes it 'warps' but that's what you get for an average priced microphone. The Videomic will now run for on average 100 hours with a good quality alkaline battery although spares are always good to carry on you.
Other
Below is a slideshow of whats included in the box such as spares, stickers, warranty and the quality assurance checklist. If you want anymore information on this microphone or want to know how to attach it to a boom bole or tripod just contact me on my contact page.
RATED - GOLDThis has achieved the highest award, I have decided to give this medal to the Rode Videomic just because of its amazing performance. The Mic itself has few features but is good in the fact it makes it so simple to use. The added stabilizer and anti-shake sets it above from even higher priced microphones. It produces good all round sound and I would be and am happy to use this product in my documentary and interview filming. Although you shouldn't rely on this as your only microphone it is good for professionals and amateurs alike. You can't beat a 10 year warranty and the battery lasts a long time. It is a large microphone but as I've set over and over its brilliant for the price and produces excellent quality recordings. For use outdoors it should be used with the Rode deadcat. |