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Saramonic VMic7S On-Camera Shotgun Microphone
cody q kemph
Reviewed in the United States on January 13, 2024
Didn't like it
Jerry Saperstein
Reviewed in the United States on September 7, 2023
This is, in my opinion, an excellent mic. Its super-cardioid picks up sounds from the front of the mic while minimizing sound from the back and sides. Three cables (TRS, TRRS and USB) are included, so you can use this mic with cameras that have a 3.5mm TRS jack; smartphones with a 3.5mm TRRS jack; computers that have a Type-A USB port. For use with iPhones, you’ll need to purchase an additional cable. A Rycote Lyre Shock Mount is included to isolate the mic from shocks and bumps. A cold shoe with a ¼-20 tripod socket is part of the shock mount. Both foam and furry windshields are provided. A short, well-written, instruction sheet is included. I test the mic with an original Apple iPhone SE and a Dell desktop a few inches away from my mouth and at arm’s length. The mic captured the audio well. In my opinion, this is a good mic and well worth its price.Jerry
Other
Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2023
This is one of those products that just confuses me. The style, the ergonomics, and even the color are nearly identical the the Rode videomic go ii. So the plan would be to effectively copy the big guys but undercut them in price or hit the same price but offer more features or better sound! No.This audio profile is good but not great and the mic gathers much more background noise than I was hoping. Compare it to Deity’s similar offerings which is also about the same price if not cheaper depending on the model… you get better features or a smaller form factor.Stand-alone this is a good mic. Compare it to the competition and I just cannot recommend this over the others without a price cut.
Conrad J. Obregon
Reviewed in the United States on September 13, 2023
Anyone who shoots video with a mirrorless or DSLR camera knows that good sound cannot be captured with the camera’s built in microphone. More committed videographers will want to use a variety of microphones including lavaliers, boom-held shotgun mics, and even parabolic. The minimum choice is the small camera-mounted shotgun.This neat little microphone fits into the hotshot of a camera and connects by a TRS plug into the camera. (That means that both tracks in the camera will record the same thing.) I tried this on one of my mirrorless cameras to record a scene at least 40 feet from me of children running along a breakwater with surf breaking on the sides. The sound of the surf was loud but I was still able to record the children’s voices clearly enough, although without strong fidelity and clarity.Next I tested the sideways rejection of this little microphone. When I aimed at a target sound, it clocked in at a maximum of -18 db. When turned at right angles the same volume was -27 db. I then compared it to a slightly longer, more expensive camera-mounted microphone with the same test sound. The straight on sound was -23 db and sideways sound was -29 db. The Seramonic was more sensitive and had greater rejection than the more expensive mic. The sensitivity didn’t seem so important since it would have been possible to push either microphone to clipping by adjusting the camera, but sideways rejection is something you want in this kind of mic.I did not have the equipment to test response across a range of frequencies, but this seemed good enough for a run-and-gun microphone.The microphone comes with a foam windscreen, a dead cat, and two connection wires—one for 3.5 mm as found on a camera and another for USB as found on a computer.The bad news is that this microphone draws its power from the camera. I wouldn’t want to use it on a camera like a Nikon Z8 that uses power like a 10-ton tractor. On the other hand, I usually use a powered pre-amp that can provide the necessary power to a mic if the camera is hungry for amps when I shoot video. It also lacked a switch that could be used to reduce low-frequencies like wind, but you can use a high pass filter in post for that.Of course if you really want side rejection you will use a really long shotgun and spend several times the cost and have far less convenience than this mic. I expect to substitute this mic for my other more expensive camera-mounted mic for many tasks in the future.
Fan
Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2023
I've been in film production for 22 years and have a number of different on-camera shotgun mics from different manufacturers. I'm not referring to the more expensive long shotgun mics that you would typically find on a boom pole. I'm referring more to the compact shotgun mics that can mount directly onto a camera, like this particular Saramonic shotgun mic.So I did some extensive testing with the various on-camera shotgun mics that I own versus this Saramonic VMic7s mic, and let me tell you, the quality of this mic is absolutely superb. In fact I will only be using this mic moving forward as my primary shotgun microphone.The highs were very clear and crisp and the bass frequencies were not overabundant. It was just an perfect mix of frequencies, especially for any voice recordings.The super cardioid technology definitely keeps background noises to a minimum and keeps the audio focused on the subject directly in front of your camera.Of course another big win for this mic is the fact that it does not require a battery like some shotgun mics do. So you'll never have to worry about a battery going dead right in the middle of a video shoot!Another unique feature about this mic is not only do you have the standard 3.5 mm output, you can also output your audio via USB-C directly to devices like a smartphone or tablet.Another thing that may not seem like a big deal but it actually is, is the fact that they included two mounting points on the shock-mount, which supports the microphone MUCH better. I've had other manufacturers where they only had one mounting point and the microphone would flip around in different directions the moment a cord would slightly pull on the mic.Overall, this is just a very well engineered shotgun mic and I would absolutely highly recommend this mic to anyone!!
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