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Canon M6 external mic picks up radio frequency audio

Started Dec 6, 2020 | Discussions
francoyy New Member • Posts: 3
Canon M6 external mic picks up radio frequency audio
1

Hello,

I can't find anything similar to what I experience. Lots of people talk about noise interference, but what I experience is literally my external mic picking up some clear audio from some radio or TV frequency.

To give more info, I have multiple external microphone, and multiple cameras, including M6, M50, EOS R

I only experience this audio issue when I plug any of my external microphones (Boya MM1 or Rode nt2a) to the M6.

If I plug the external microphones to other cameras, or to my smartphone, there is no audio interference at all.

So I am pretty sure the problem is the M6.

The internal microphone of the M6 doesn't pick up any signal.

Now, what I tried:

Wifi enabled/disabled > no difference

Bluetooth enabled/disabled > no difference

remote control enabled/disabled > no difference

Audio set to Manual or Auto > no difference

This is driving me crazy, I want an external microphone for better audio quality, and it ends up being terrible due to this interference...

Thanks in advance for any pointers...

Canon EOS M50 (EOS Kiss M) Canon EOS M6
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hamsteve Junior Member • Posts: 49
Re: Canon M6 external mic picks up radio frequency audio
1

My guess is that the microphone cable is acting like an antenna, and the circuit in the camera is more sensitive to that than in the other cameras.

The work-around could be a simple matter of adding a small clamp-on toroid to the cable. Or putting a few turns of cable around a ring toroid. Easy for me to say, because I'm a ham radio operator and I have some lying around in my shack. If you know any hams, ask if you can borrow one.  Many vendors sell toroids online.

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Steve
Longmont, CO

rmexpress22 Senior Member • Posts: 2,304
Re: Canon M6 external mic picks up radio frequency audio

My Rode Mic does this with my M6 Mark II so I bought a cheap mic on Amazon to replace it. I figured the mic took a small bump and was going bad but it could be the combination of the body+mic also. I don't recall it having an issue with the original M6.

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OP francoyy New Member • Posts: 3
Re: Canon M6 external mic picks up radio frequency audio

Thanks for your replies.

After more testing, I found out that Manual or Auto settings don't matter, it always picks up some clear audio from some source nearby.

What's extremely weird is that the microphones, cables, etc, they have no problem if I record with another camera or if I record with my smartphone voice recording app + external mic.

But if I plug those microphones in the M6, suddenly it picks up some extra audio signal.

I suspect the audio signal to be coming from the neighbor's TV, because it only happens in the evening, and only in one area of my apartment (sadly, from the studio room).

I can clearly hear some TV hosts talking, or some commercial playing, when I record with the M6 + external microphones. It's like the M6 has a superpower, except that it's an annoying superpower.

So I don't have a solution, except that I will always record the audio with something else than the M6...

J Peters Contributing Member • Posts: 759
Re: Canon M6 external mic picks up radio frequency audio

Another radio ham here.     +1 for francoyy's suggestion of wrapping a few turns of the mike cable round a toroid core. They don't cost much so worth a try.

Also you mention this is happening in your studio which led to me wonder if you are running the camera off a mains adaptor. Try running it from battery just to see if that makes a difference. It could be mains-borne interference.

MichalNovotnyCZ New Member • Posts: 1
Re: Canon M6 external mic picks up radio frequency audio

Hello, do you have a solution, please? I have similar problem. If I have my EOS M6 Mk2 on gimbal Feiyu Tech G6 Max and I use external mic Rode VideoMicro, there is an annoying high-frequency whistling in record. No problem without mic, no problem with GoPro + mic. I'm already very desperate :-(. I have to try the toroid core. Thanks.

R2D2 Forum Pro • Posts: 26,528
Re: Canon M6 external mic picks up radio frequency audio

MichalNovotnyCZ wrote:

Hello, do you have a solution, please? I have similar problem. If I have my EOS M6 Mk2 on gimbal Feiyu Tech G6 Max and I use external mic Rode VideoMicro, there is an annoying high-frequency whistling in record. No problem without mic, no problem with GoPro + mic. I'm already very desperate :-(. I have to try the toroid core. Thanks.

You might also try a Ferrite Choke.  You place it near the camera.

R2

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CrossRoad Cycling New Member • Posts: 2
Re: Canon M6 external mic picks up radio frequency audio

I had a similar experience with my new Canon M6 MkII. This was my first shoot with it, and everything was in the factory settings (audio set to auto) and shooting at 4K 30fps. I had a Rode VideoMicro mounted on the shoe. Shot from 3 different locations and moved to one from another while the camera was still recording. Only at one location did I get a hum and started picking up what sounded like a radio station, and it wasn't present when I was at the previous spot with the camera still rolling. Given the specific nature of the problem, and the lack of being able to predict where it will occur in the future, I don't think it was an issue with the camera's audio gain settings. I did a test after I reviewed the footage and I was not able to recreate the problem in my office (audio set to auto and manual 0 +1). As others had stated, this mic worked fine in my GoPro, but I have yet to put it through the ringer.

CrossRoad Cycling New Member • Posts: 2
Re: Canon M6 external mic picks up radio frequency audio
1

After doing a couple of test clips just a few minutes ago using my M6 Mk2 and a Rode Wireless Go II I played around with the Auto and Manual audio settings. Auto introduced a bit of white noise. Manual 0 +1 was clear, but too low in volume (although I did not try to see what it would be like boosting it in my editing software). Just before the first line seemed right. The meter was hitting high yellow, but not going into red. The sound when playing it back on my computer was clean and clear. I will be shooting in the same locations on Sunday where I had the mic problem. I will try it out with this manual setting and the VideoMicro. I will also try some test shots in Auto again (with both the VideoMicro, the Wireless Go and a Lav) to see if I can recreate the problem.

Cresil New Member • Posts: 1
Re: Canon M6 external mic picks up radio frequency audio

Unfortunately I have the same problem. I've tried changing the microphone and using the official canon microphone and the problem persists. I started with the Boya BY-M1 pro experimented with the Saramonic SR-M3 and ended up with the Canon DM-E100.

Always with the radio noise. I've tried the ferrite choke bead and it's still the same.

Any idea ? Thanks you

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