Kitty: When you are lookin

Kitty:

When you are looking for any camera, the moment that you talk XLR, you are into $3-4K and up. A minimum of $1,000 is tacked on to any camera because of the complexity of audio recording. In my Sony Z5, I have separate volume controls, automatic or manual, stereo or mono, phantom power or not, mic or line inputs, audio view meters, 12 or 16 bit selection. It is not that simple.

The best bet to lower costs is to find a good camera (Sony Z1 for example) and add an adapter such as a Beachtek that gives you some of the those audio functions with XLR inputs. Or get a separate recorder such as the Zoom Hn4 with 4 channels but that is a complex project with stellar results. But if you want superb audio, those cameras with built in XLR will deliver.

I shot the Messiah using both the Handy and the Sony on board mikes, and the end result was that the Sony built in camera mics had the better sound. Stunned me! I was blown away!

You gets whats you pays for.