5d2 + Zoom H4n testing on Vimeo

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2. 5d2 + Zoom H4n testing

by Jonathan Gordon

7 months ago

1. One night in Wan Chai

by Jonathan Gordon

9 months ago

As requested, a test of the 5D mark 2 in conjuction with the Zoom H4n. Test shots are as folllows:

1. 5D2 built-in microphone
2. 5D2 + Zoom H4n on-board mics. synched in post
3. 5D2 + Zoom H4n on-board mics, plugged into 5d2 mic jack
4. 5D2 + Zoom H4n + shotgun xlr, synched in post.
5. 5D2 + Zoom H4n + shotgun xlr, plugged into 5d2 mic jack.

Conclusion? At least until Hudson's hack is out, don't plan on plugging your H4n into your 5d's recording input to have quick, pre-synched AV from your external mics.

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13 Likes

Juan Marquez
1 month ago
Me XMan
2 months ago
Oli Kember
2 months ago
Manuel Benito de Valle
3 months ago
Darryl Stringer
3 months ago
Philippe BOISSIER
3 months ago
karlhsu
3 months ago
John Cranford
4 months ago
oliax
6 months ago
Edgar Maguyon
6 months ago
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Darryn Mitussis 7 months ago

Thanks Jonathan -- a useful demonstration (mostly of the difference between the build in microphones and your shotgun mic.

I suspect you could get a much better result with a line level to mic attenuator when connecting the line out on the H4n to the microphone in. I've not used one, but the Shure A15AS is mentioned alot (I was researching a similar solution to you).

Cheers

Darryn
Wayne Avanson 7 months ago

That was well handy Jonathan. Thanks for your time on this.

The Zoom synced up sounds great.
Sam 6 months ago

Hey, this was great test! I was on the fence with buying the H4n, but love the tone it captures on your test #2. Not bad at all for $350 bucks... How hard was it to sync in post.
pelicula inc. 6 months ago

yeah, how hard is it to sync? is it a pain to sync every single clip you shoot?
iamkalaniprince 5 months ago

salvation lies within : cinema5d.com/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=2190
Jonathan Gordon 6 months ago

Darryn: Haven't had time to look into it, but that sounds interesting. Once Hudson's hack is up and running I'll play around with it a little more.

Wayne: Thanks!

Sam: Glad to hear it. You won't regret it -- it's very versatile, and once you get over the extra synch workflow, you'll love the results.

Pelicula: It's not that hard but the 30P/29.97P debate makes it tricky. What I've been doing is throwing the 5D footage on a 30P timeline in Edius 4, and then synching the track manually. I usually have to change the speed by a fraction of a second (ie track is 5:12:05 long.. i change it to be 5:12:06 instead).

Is it a pain? Well I used it for interviews, so it's pretty straightforward. I don't have to make a ton of cuts, and I can synch it once and then group the two elements for when I want to move them around. It might be more annoying if you have a lot of different clips, have to start and stop shooting, or are shooting ad hoc instead of planned setup shots like mine.
Arroway 6 months ago

uh, am i crazy? the built in microphone sounded the best?!

the mic jacked stuff sounded terrible and #2 and #4 were so quiet as to be completely useless...

???
iamkalaniprince 6 months ago

I'm sure #2 and #4 were unedited and at around -12db which really would make them completely usefull
Ravitej Khalsa 4 months ago

hi Jonathan,

Now that Hudson's hack is out and proving itself, how about retrying that h4n straight into the 5d2 again. It would be nice to have multiple options for audio on the same rig.
nuzumaki 3 months ago

aha... I am thinking bout getting a H4N for my 7D but as I am not a FCP user and can't synch in post, or simply don't want to synch in post, I have to use the Mic-in version.
BUT this method has absolutly the worst audio in your example. How that?
karlhsu 3 months ago

Hi. Jonathan
good job. very useful for me. one question. what kind of the line you are using when H4n output to 5d mark II.
Diane Paragas 2 months ago

if you use magic lantern and turn down the analog gain and l/r gain to 0. you will get clean sound.
River's Edge Digital Media 1 month ago

Diane, you're saying you take the line out from the Zoom H4n and plug it into the 5DmkII, then use Magic Lantern to lower the levels on the camera? How are your results compared to recording with the Zoom itself?