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Howdy Gang, I just received the Sony ECM-DS70P condenser microphone. After several tests videos of the sound, both on the Kodak Zi8 and just using the on board mic in the Zi8, I have to report major disappointment.
The Kodak's internal mic had a much better sound quality. The Sony had a lot of background hiss at all volume levels. The Kodak had virtually no hiss and had, to my ear, a much richer sound. Sorry guys, save your money on this one. I learned my lesson. Try before you buy. Or at least find someone that has the exact setup so you can listen for yourself.

I was going to post the test videos but really, there is little point. The sound difference is not even close. Why waste the bandwidth.

Cheers, Steve

Is that mic the little one that plugs right into the camera? The one recommended? Good to know this. I am so struggling with amping and mics and such..... happy with the camera but want better sound. Thanks for the heads up. Izzy

The sound is not horrible, it's just not as clean as the internal mic. Go figure.

Here is a pic of the mic I bought.

steve

Wow, I feel bad you wasted your money. I would look into taking it back.
I am going to do some tests myself with my Zi8 using a regular quality XLR dynamic mic that I have and an XLR to 1/8" adapter. I'll post the results later tonight.

d_dog wrote:

Wow, I feel bad you wasted your money. I would look into taking it back.
I am going to do some tests myself with my Zi8 using a regular quality XLR dynamic mic that I have and an XLR to 1/8" adapter. I'll post the results later tonight.

Thanks man, with me it's never a total waste. I always find some way to use electronics so I am sure I find a way to make it work on something. As I did a little more looking I did notice that the sales info says NOTE: will only work with Sony MZ-NH1, MZ-NH900, and MZ-NHF800 MiniDisc recorders.

I don't know why that would make a difference but, dang! it seems too. Live and learn and spend.

Check this out: http://www.azdencorp.com/new/product.ph ... ctid=93302
It's a 3 mic mixer for camcorders. You plug this tiny little (3 oz.) mixer into your camera, and then you can add up to 3 microphones and mix them in. Sweeet!
One mic for your guitar and one for vocals!

I found these, if anyone is interested...







I have been shopping for one lately as well......

J

d_dog wrote:

Check this out: http://www.azdencorp.com/new/product.ph ... ctid=93302
It's a 3 mic mixer for camcorders. You plug this tiny little (3 oz.) mixer into your camera, and then you can add up to 3 microphones and mix them in. Sweeet!
One mic for your guitar and one for vocals!

Well that looks interesting. But, I think I will let you test this one. Can't wait to hear how it does.

mcfingers wrote:

Howdy Gang, I just received the Sony ECM-DS70P condenser microphone. After several tests videos of the sound, both on the Kodak Zi8 and just using the on board mic in the Zi8, I have to report major disappointment.
The Kodak's internal mic had a much better sound quality. The Sony had a lot of background hiss at all volume levels. The Kodak had virtually no hiss and had, to my ear, a much richer sound. Sorry guys, save your money on this one. I learned my lesson. Try before you buy. Or at least find someone that has the exact setup so you can listen for yourself.

I was going to post the test videos but really, there is little point. The sound difference is not even close. Why waste the bandwidth.

Cheers, Steve

This is interesting because I was supposed to buy the Zi8 (last september) and did not because the microphone from the camera was hissing (I heard demos) and people were recommending to get a microphone. I ended up with the Zoom Q3. From your recording and Izzy's, Kodak has obviously fix the problem, now it is working fine without the microphone.

Marc

Yes Mark, that's my experience. It's not studio quality but for our purposes I think it does a right nice job. Simple and easy to post vids. That's why I bought it. If I were to get another microphone I think I would go with my gut and get either the Sure sm57 or sm48. I was going to do that originally, but didn't. Darn, and I think the sm48 was about the same price.