CboxFX
New member
I have also posted this article as a reply in the "Digital Video Talk" forum, see A little advice on choosing external mic for video.
Here is a little project I have undertaken to try and eliminate handling and wind noise when using a Zoom H2N mounted on a camera. I had looked at commercial anti-shock mounts and found that they were to expensive or mounted the H2N horizontally. As the H2N needs to be mounted vertically to utilise the internal microphones properly, these were not really suitable for me.
The frame is constucted of of 3/16 inch 5 ply wood parts, glued together with a two-part epoxy resin adhesive. Inside dimensions are 4 by 5 1/2 inches, to allow clearance for right angle jack plugs to fit the input and output sockets on the H2N recorder. An old, defunct modified hot shoe adapter is fitted to bottom of frame. A 3/16 inch aluminium plate, tapped with UNC ¼ inch thread for tripod mounting, is fitted to the top. The tripod plate is held in place with two 4 mm screws in tapped holes in the tripod plate. The frame can be used either way up. The black bands are normally used to tie up hair (my wife tells me they are “scrunchies”. I have not yet determined the optimal number of bands for minimum noise transmission and safe support.
Here are details of the plastic mesh for supporting and keeping the dead cat from rubbing on the microphone. It is made of mesh from a hobby shop and is meant for cross stitch embroidery projects. The upholstery foam is preferably closed cell, in case it gets wet, and is stitched into the mesh, does not have to be neat and tidy, hopefully won't be seen.
The mesh support does not go the bottom of the mount. This is to allow access to the record button and screen at the base of the H2N if not using the remote control. The middle view shows the mount on a tripod.
A couple of ways of utilising the microphone mount. The Lumix LX7 looks ungainly, but it seems to balance quite well in the hand and leaves the hot shoe free for the live viewfinder. The dead cat is made of toy fur.
Another way to mount on to an LX7. The loops under the dead cat are to retain dead cat when the mount is installed upside down, under the camera, by hooking them under the hot shoe or tripod mount before attaching to the camera.
This is the final incarnation of the mount, showing optional methods of placing the retaining bands and showing the remote control plugged in. The frame is sprayed with black paint, just to make it look better. The remote control is not the Zoom supplied model, but a third party component from China.
General stuff
To synchronise the Zoom H2N and camera audio tracks, I use an app. on my smartphone, to generate beeps or tones, instead of a clapperboard, I set the H2N to two seconds pre record, press record on the remote control start the camera recording then play some beeps on the smartphone. This allows easy lining up of the tracks later, using my Sony Movie Maker editor.
Here is a little project I have undertaken to try and eliminate handling and wind noise when using a Zoom H2N mounted on a camera. I had looked at commercial anti-shock mounts and found that they were to expensive or mounted the H2N horizontally. As the H2N needs to be mounted vertically to utilise the internal microphones properly, these were not really suitable for me.
The frame is constucted of of 3/16 inch 5 ply wood parts, glued together with a two-part epoxy resin adhesive. Inside dimensions are 4 by 5 1/2 inches, to allow clearance for right angle jack plugs to fit the input and output sockets on the H2N recorder. An old, defunct modified hot shoe adapter is fitted to bottom of frame. A 3/16 inch aluminium plate, tapped with UNC ¼ inch thread for tripod mounting, is fitted to the top. The tripod plate is held in place with two 4 mm screws in tapped holes in the tripod plate. The frame can be used either way up. The black bands are normally used to tie up hair (my wife tells me they are “scrunchies”. I have not yet determined the optimal number of bands for minimum noise transmission and safe support.
Here are details of the plastic mesh for supporting and keeping the dead cat from rubbing on the microphone. It is made of mesh from a hobby shop and is meant for cross stitch embroidery projects. The upholstery foam is preferably closed cell, in case it gets wet, and is stitched into the mesh, does not have to be neat and tidy, hopefully won't be seen.
The mesh support does not go the bottom of the mount. This is to allow access to the record button and screen at the base of the H2N if not using the remote control. The middle view shows the mount on a tripod.
A couple of ways of utilising the microphone mount. The Lumix LX7 looks ungainly, but it seems to balance quite well in the hand and leaves the hot shoe free for the live viewfinder. The dead cat is made of toy fur.
Another way to mount on to an LX7. The loops under the dead cat are to retain dead cat when the mount is installed upside down, under the camera, by hooking them under the hot shoe or tripod mount before attaching to the camera.
This is the final incarnation of the mount, showing optional methods of placing the retaining bands and showing the remote control plugged in. The frame is sprayed with black paint, just to make it look better. The remote control is not the Zoom supplied model, but a third party component from China.
General stuff
To synchronise the Zoom H2N and camera audio tracks, I use an app. on my smartphone, to generate beeps or tones, instead of a clapperboard, I set the H2N to two seconds pre record, press record on the remote control start the camera recording then play some beeps on the smartphone. This allows easy lining up of the tracks later, using my Sony Movie Maker editor.
