Anyone have suggestions on the best stereo mic to use w/the HV-20? I don't want anything that can't be mounted to the camera. One of the things I use my camera for is recording drag races, so something with shotgun qualities might be good. Is there a shotgun that can also be used as a general purpose mic for "right in front of the camera" conversation/sound?

If the HV-20 has Canon's AAS, the DM-50 is an option... Not the greatest microphone, but it does offer mono-shotgun (feeding both channels!), stereo-narrow (sort of stereo shotgun), and stereo-wide (rear quadrants appear as mirrored -- right-rear can sound like left-front)... Biggest advantage -- it fits the AAS so there is no cable needed, and power (if it is condenser, I didn't study it in that detail) is provided by the shoe.

Most of my shooting with an Optura 40 is done with it. My XH A1 gets a $500 Audio-Technica with dual XLR outputs (and a jury rigged clamp -- the XH A1 has 25mm/1" clamp but the AT is 21mm; I had to fit a rubber spacer from a handle-bar mount adapter). The AT can fake the mono mode by setting it to unmatrixed mid/side, using the mid for channel 1, and setting the camera to duplicate channel 1 to channel 2. (the stereo modes are similar to the DM-50)

the Canon DM 50 appears to be a phantom device. I have seen it listed but even the Canon web site does not show it for sale. Everywhere I check says it "back ordered". Probably does not really exist...yet. Audio Technicia has a couple of shotgun microphones that are cheap (under $100) and appear to have a good reputation. One is a mono mic that is directional. The other is steareo and not so directional (ATR 25 and 55). I have not used them myself, but have read about people who are using them with good success.

I read a little about the ATR-25. B&H also recommended the AT822 & the Rode ROSVM. Has anyone had any experience w/any of these 3 mics?

I've got a phantom with a pretty solid manifestation then... Mine is about four years old...

Recent flier from FullCompass doesn't give the price -- they claim to be having a sale on AT stuff, and the 822 has a list of $419 (I suspect a sale would be around $200)

The 822 is an X/Y style (or close to one) stereo model. It has a near 180-degree coverage range so if ambient sounds to the left and right of the microphone position are wanted, it should pick them up. If you want to focus "ahead" and ignore the sides, you may want to look into a mid/side configuration (these look more like mono shotguns -- and are, if you don't use the "side" element) and typically have narrow and wide stereo patterns (the wide pattern has fugitive placement -- right-rear appears as a left-front, whereas an X/Y, if it picks it up at all will be strictly right channel -- dead zone for the left channel microphone). The narrow stereo pattern will look like two shotguns aimed a few degrees apart...

Sorry to continue this so many months later, but I had to put it down for a while.

I'm hoping you can clarify your answer to me a bit. I understand the AT822 may be too wide of a pickup pattern if ambient noise is not wanted, but I lost you on your explanation of what to consider if I want to focus ahead. Could you explain if this is a good thing or a bad thing?..."whereas an X/Y, if it picks it up at all will be strictly right channel -- dead zone for the left channel microphone)"

I've heard good things about it and there is an updated version.

I didn't read the entire thread so I missed the point about the XY mic having the left channel be dead. I'm not sure how that came up. I do know that most XY mic patterns generally have 180 pickup angles. You can M/S design mics (which are essentially an improved version of the XY) which not only have a more narrow pickup angle but some have adjustable pickup angles. The Sony ECM-MS907 adjusts from 120 degrees to 90 degrees which makes it a hypercardioid instead of a cardioid like most XY mics are. The thing is those Sony mics are budget mics that don't have the sound quality of the other mics mentioned in this thread. Sony makes a better version but from what I hear about it I wouldn't say it was much better.

There are no doubt M/S mics in the price range you are looking in but I don't know what they are. Sometimes it's best to go looking at an audio forum for better mics than what usually get mentioned around here. Mostly we talk about consumer and prosumer grade mics. You probably need a pro level mic. You might do better asking this question on this forum or even better this one. The problem with the second choice is they apparently don't seem to want new people as members. I registered there and never did get a response. Both of those boards have some knowledgeable people but both are hampered by arrogance on a huge scale. That's why I like this board. It isn't like that at all.

Thx! You might want to try registering again. I signed up @ both & followed verification emails right in!

What kind of a pick up pattern is the built-in mic on the HV20?

The built-in mic of HV20 is omni directional. Sennheiser just came out with the MKE400 which is a unidirectional mic. The only problem is that the HV20 is so dang loud that any of the shoe mounted mics need to be pushed a bit away to avoid picking up the tape transport.
I put a sample up on Vimeo if you'd like to see/hear it.
http://vimeo.com/463187

The shoe extender in the video is called an lcd monitor extension arm from markertek. Another company called bracket1 also has a cool one.

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Guy Cochran

DVcreators.net Training and Resources for DV creators - Producer - DV Gear Talk