G+_Dan Molseed Posted January 6, 2017 Share Posted January 6, 2017 Looking for help/advise. Doing a family project to record grandma and preserve some history. My equipment list I own: 1) Nikon D5200 DSLR 2) Tamron 18-270 lens 3) Tripod I have decent experience with still photography, but not any with filming. My guess is a mic or additional audio recording equipment may be a good investment for this project. (Any advice is appreciated, not restricted to audio :) I just watched KH274 and Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ talked about audio recorders, zoom h4n I believe. I could do everything with what I have now, but if spending a little money would help the finished quality I would be interested in adding to my equipment. I don't want to spend too much, maybe up to $200 in additional equipment wouldn't be out of the question (for audio and anything else, maybe more if justified.) On B&H they have zoom h4nsp for around $160. To save some cash I see the zoom H1 for $80. The recording would be simply a question answer story dialog, indoors. I don't have any plans for other filming/audio projects so really a one time use that I see. Any advice on the recorders mentioned above? Alternatives? Do I need (should I use) a microphone in addition to the recorder? Not sure, but may have the interviewer's questions not be heard so it seems more like just her talking telling stories so the mic can just focus on her. (PS sorry if this posts 2x, the first didn't show up after an hr+ but was listed on my profile. Maybe the link caused issues so I removed it, or there is a long delay in posting?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Dan Molseed Posted January 6, 2017 Author Share Posted January 6, 2017 FYI, this one showed up immediately in the community. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Damien Wessling Posted January 6, 2017 Share Posted January 6, 2017 H4N is a brilliant recorder. I've recently used one for a live music event and the results were beyond what I ever expected. Recording the video on my Note 7 (before the recall) and mixing the audio in post with a video editor worked well. I could have used the H4N with my D7000 but honestly, the video capabilities of the Note 7 (and S7) outperform that of the D7000 hands down. If you're comfortable using D5200 for video, you can get an adapter for the recorder allowing you to mount in on the camera's hot shoe. Good luck ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Dan Molseed Posted January 6, 2017 Author Share Posted January 6, 2017 Thanks Damien Wessling for the reply. What is the purpose of connecting directly to the camera hot shoe? Does that help with post editing and syncing audio to video? Also, I don't see my post (1st or 2nd one) on the community. I had to go to my profile to see my posts. Did this one make it to the community page and that's where you saw it? I still don't see it posted there. I posted a "can anyone see this post" and someone replied but said they could not see the other posts from me (this original post.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Damien Wessling Posted January 6, 2017 Share Posted January 6, 2017 Nope, nothing that technical... It gives you somewhere to put it. I guess it also ties the microphones to the centre of the camera's focal direction. I haven't looked into syncing the audio/video at the time of recording, except to say I marked the audio in a "clapper like" fashion, and used that spike to sync the phone and H4N audio. I'm not experienced in video production, I'm a 'stills' guy, this was my first attempt at 'real' production techniques so to speak. (sorry, I'm not good with short replies lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Dan Molseed Posted January 6, 2017 Author Share Posted January 6, 2017 Ok, that makes sense to have it mounted to the camera now. And the clapper to help sync in post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Dan Molseed Posted January 6, 2017 Author Share Posted January 6, 2017 Found why it wasn't showing up, searched the help forum and found a tip. On the community page, click the "3 dot" menu near the top and go to preferences. Then sort by most recent (mine was set to "top posts".) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Dan Molseed Posted February 2, 2017 Author Share Posted February 2, 2017 Any input with a mic connected to the DSLR? Leo Laporte had an episode couple weeks ago he suggested to someone a mic connected to the camera. My Nikon does have a mic hookup. Leo suggested a Rode mic, but they are pretty expensive. Any pro/cons of the mic vs. a recorder like the H4N? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts