Canon Directional Stereo Mic (DM 50) for Camcorders with the Advanced Access Shoe by Canon USA
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Digital camera reviews of Canon Directional Stereo Mic (DM 50) for Camcorders with the Advanced Access Shoe
Digital camera Review: If you're recording music, this is the wrong Mic
Summary: 3 Stars
Took me a while to figure this out but all of the built in camcorder mics and "general purpose" accessory mics (like this one) have a built in high pass filter which reduces recording of the lower frequency sounds to help remove the mechanical tape and zoom sounds from the recording. Live music recordings will never sound right no matter which of the three setting you use because the low end is cut back on all of them. I finally bought the Rode Stereo Vidmic, which allows switching that filter off when you really want a balanced frequency response, and found that my HV20 is really quite capable of recording excellent music audio. Something that it could not do with the DM50.Digital camera Review: Inexpensive, High Quality Microphone
Summary: 5 Stars
The "Canon Directional Stereo Mic (DM 50) for Camcorders with the Advanced Access Shoe" is a great accessory for the Canon GL2 MiniDV Digital Camcorder w/20x Optical Zoom. It installs easily on the camera and automatically takes over for the built in microphone.
The microphone has three options "Shotgun", "Stereo1", and "Stereo2". The "Shotgun" mode is used to capture forward sound only, while the two "Stereo" modes allow you to capture sounds from the side and, with "Stereo2", from the back. I typically leave it set on "Stereo1" since it seems to capture the ambiance of the scene without being flat.
Highly recommended!
Digital camera Review: NOT for the Canon Vixia HF11 (or other camcorders requiring the MINI Advanced Access Shoe)
Summary: 3 Stars
Just an FYI for anyone who isn't paying attention and orders this mic for HF11 or any Canon camcorder with the MINI Advanced Access Shoe- it's not the correct mic. You'll want to order the Canon DM 100. Canon 2591B002 DM-100 Directional Stereo Microphone for HF10 and HF100 Camcorders
I've contacted Amazon and asked them to "un-link" this product from the camcorders that require the Mini Advanced Access Show.
Digital camera Review: Nice Shotgun Mic for the money.
Summary: 4 Stars
Nothing worse then dropping a chunk of coin for a high dollar 1080i camera and the sound is crap... (see Canon HG10). The DM-50 in the hot shoe cured that woe and nicely I might add. I use the #2 setting (Stereo forward).. #1 is Mono forward and #3 is stereo wide 180 degrees.
The sound quality of my live music recordings is important to me and the camera mic alone left me with tinny sounding flat audio. This mic adds clarity and bottom end. Warning this sucker is driven off the camera's battery.... BUY a bigger battery, but 2 just in case.
Digital camera Review: Not Good for the Optura 20
Summary: 2 Stars
Although you can't get this item through Amazon directly, I thought I'd submit a review since I found it fustrating not finding anything on this microphone. After ordering it from BH Photo, I tried it out on my Canon Optura 20. The main reason I purchased an external microphone was to get rid of the annoying motor buzz noise. I thought the DM-50 having been made by Canon would have been very compatible with the Optura 20. I was wrong. The intelligent hot shoe worked nicely as it was convenient not to have to worry about turning the microphone on. The sound quality was horrible. It got rid of the motor noise somewhat but you can still hear it. What was bad was that the microphone produced an ambient annoying hissing, dirty noise, even with the wind sock. I thought it was perhaps picking up motor noise from nearby appliances but did not turn out to be the case. The microphone also picked up the hum from the zoom when zooming quickly, however this was the least annoying.I ended up getting the Sony ECM-MSD1. It was cheaper, got rid of the motor noise and produced no noise artifacts. It does pick up the zooming noise though, but this might not be a problem since the zoom shouldn't be used that often anyways and usually at a slow speeds.