Need 7D II Video Accessories Recomendations

[HDNitehawk]

Over the years I have not been impressed with the Video functions, until I bought the wife the t4i. Now with the 7D II I am a bit more impressed and decided to give it a try.

Shooting Turkeys this weekend I decided I definitely need a good external microphone, something able to pick up the Tom's gobbling and the hens talking. I would also like to get a unit for hand held shooting.

Anyone have experience and a recommendation for these items.

Also, I see room on the review section for a few video accessories. Just a suggestion.

[DavidEccleston]

I learned about the Glidecam recently. Can be used to give you a very steady camera even if you're running while you shoot. The HD 2000 is highly adjustable DSLR appropriate model. There is an XR (or something like XR) 2000 that has much less adjustability. These things are like $500 for the HD, and $250 for the XR... or if you search Youtube, you can find Zach King's $15 hardware store parts glidecam. This is not as good. Completely skips the gimbal, and just goes for weighted pole with a tripod screw... but hey, it's $15 and does a pretty good job.

[Busted Knuckles]

Sorry, I just saw this.

Any of the Tascam or zoom recorders would work fine. There are also some Rode Shotgun mics that are good. The key is to isolate the microphone from the camera noises like focusing and such. If you are going to be stationary, keep the mic off the camera - if you going to moving, then a hot shoe mounted solution is in the cards. I have a giant Alzcan which suspends the microphone/recorder in basically big rubber bands and this isolate the focusing noises, but not the clicks changing settings, etc.

Even w/ my T3i I used a splitter coming off the recorder one to the camera and one to a set of in ear-ear buds, stepped up the gain/amplification and found out just how noisy the world really is (never mind I have no hearing in the top 5% of what most people have as an audible range and I am probably hard of hearing otherwise - or at least that is what I tell my wife....)

I did use both the recording in the Tascam as well as in the camera. Think of it as a back up audio.

I have toyed w/ the idea of getting a directional parabola (like you see on the side lines at on TV.... but my video interest got overwhelmed by work, life, etc.

As for steady cams, I have a Merlin and that works great for the t3i as long as I can set it down and relax. You just about have to double the weight of the camera/lens (the merlin weighs a bit too) to get all the balance points right, even w/ the long leaver arm. longer the leaver arm for counter balance, the less counterbalance weight, but the more the arm it self weighs. The Merlin really can't do the 5d3 and my arm/wrist hold the rig for more than a minute or two, it gets surprisingly heavy. IF IF IF I were to go into video production/enthusiasm again, I would most certainly get a glide cam type rig with the wrist/arm support.

I could see a vest model if I were going to do some nature focused production, along w/ the parabola.

Last but not least - if you are going to do any hand held. I strongly recommend a LCD viewfinder. I bought an extra extended eye cup for the T3i for like super cheap and then took it apart and screwed the LCD viewer into it. Take off the std eyecup and slip on the LCD Viewfinder - no sticky pads, magnetic snap ons, tripod mount screw models, etc. the least expensive 3x w/ a bit of dioptic adjustment and it works fantastically. no need for 5x,10x zoom for focusing using live view, and bright sunlight.. HA! gives 3 pts of contact, etc. Also if some how I whack it the 2 little screws/cheap extended eye cup will fail 1st before anything permanent in the camera, easy on/off.

I bet there is a way to hack the KAMERAR-QV-1 listed on ebay in a similar fashion so you don't have to use the tripod mount. (turn it upside down and maybe even get it to mount into the hot shoe. Then it would open down and out of the way, perhaps, not as much light blocking the viewfinder that way but if you really need close examination you keep it closed anyway.

best of luck hope you post some of the results.

update - I just looked at the TARION TR-V1 and it looks like with a cold shoe plate you could turn this upside down and mount in the hot shoe, get it to fit w/o any hacking about, oh no my GAS is coming back. D** You, now I have going to get this for the 5dIII for the glacier trip (that is what I am telling myself) for some hoped for nature vids.....

[HDNitehawk]

Thanks, quit a bit to digest. I bought a microphone, it wasn't a shotgun type it was stereo. I thought it might work better catching all the ambient sound.
This little jewel here; http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...eoMic_Pro.html

I can't say I was all that impressed with it. I set it outside the blind and had mess with the settings. To much gain or to little. But it seemed to do the job. The on camera seems more sensitive.

I am going to work on this more, I had put it on the back burner after the Turkey mating season started to slow down.

[Sean Setters]

If using auxiliary microphones (which I highly suggest) and/or multiple cameras, I've found one thing to be a huge timesaver - Plural Eyes by Red Giant. The software is compatible with Vegas Pro, Premiere Pro and Final Cut (I think) and allows you to automatically synchronize all your files based on the audio peaks of the recorded audio. This means I can have a mic placed near the bride/groom during the ceremony and synchronize that audio with the camera audio assuming I can still hear the couple in the camera's audio (which is usually the case, only very quiet).

You can also choose to play whichever audio source captured the best audio or mix them all together in post to create a richer audio experience. If something loud happens near one audio source, you can simply fade that one out - replace it with another source (with some adjustments) - and then fade it back in.

For what it's worth, I use a Tascam DR-07 and a Zoom H2n as my off-camera audio sources. They seem to work decently, but I'm sure there are better options.

I own and have used the Glidecam HD-4000 for several different videos. However, balancing the device is very time consuming and really finicky. It's pretty easy to get it in the ballpark of "balanced," but fine-tuning it to perfection has been almost impossible for me. I'm at the point now that I'm seriously considering the DJI Ronin-M. I just need to save up a bit more cash before making the investment.