Azden SGM-X Supercardioid Shotgun Condenser Microphone with Mini Output for DV Cams

This mike has worked just great for me. I'm not a professional but I shoot a lot of video here at school. The on-board mike of the GL2 I was using was awful and there was motor noise when I used it. Getting this mike solved those problems. Audio was just fantastic.I now use a Panasonic Professional AG-HMC40 and it works on that well too. Distance is not a problem for me. I shot some Shakespeare skits in a classroom where the kids were a good 10' - 15' away and the audio is crisp, clear and just what I was hoping for. My feeling is, if you want good audio further away, you need another audio setup rather than an on-camera mike.Of course, this is an OLD mike - so, perhaps the SGM-X2 is a better one, I don't know. But for the price and the quality I'm getting, I couldn't be happier.

This is a shotgun mic intended for use as a consumer product. As such it has the specifications one would expect (80-18,000 Hz not the full audio range of a pro mic) and a mini-jack plug as opposed to an XLR connection. As with all shotgun mics it needs a shock mount to protect it from the camera motor noise and user noise. I found the Azden SGM-X to work really well. I did have to turn on my camera's mic attenuation because the signal coming from the mic was hot. Once I discovered that the audio input signal was fine. Once again, this is not a professional level mic and one should not expect that level of performance from it, BUT, it is a whole heck of a lot better than using your camera's onboard mic.

I've had this microphone for over a year and I can definitely say that this is better than an on-board mike. However, it doesn't have a long audio range, which forces you to get closer than usual. We made a boom pole and tested it to pleasant results...the audio was nice, clear, and understandable. So if you plan to use this microphone, I recommend you get or make a boom pole. If you're serious about filmmaking you should have a boom pole anyway. There is a BIG difference between recording audio from camera mount and recording audio with a boom, you'll be satisfied.

I purchased this mic expecting it to be low noise and good pick up. But when I used it, it was horrible. The noise was extremely noticeable and the range of picking sound was bad also. I used a preamp with this and nothing better. I raised volume and it increased in noise. Unless your camcorder has a horrible mic, don't spend money on this one since my pv-gs12 camcorder has a mic with the same noise as this one!!and the movie I'm making is called "Aspire" its a musical starring Marilu Bustamante and directed by Alphonso Sanchez. Since its musical it really needs good quality audio. Yet if you're making a movie and can't aford a good shotgun mic, simply redub all the audio and use a condenser mic. Its worth the work instead of audio noise.

Mine was dead right out of the box. The battery installation is very stupid. Poorly engineered, but even after I did that, there was a lot of buzzing and hissing, but no actual audio output. Azden is a low-end company that makes trash. Buy the real thing. It's worth the extra cash. I have been a professional videographer all of my life, so I know what I'm talking about.