sony pd 150/170 video camera accessories

There are many different kinds of microphones you can use with a digital camera, including:

• the microphone built into the camera
• a shotgun microphone attached to the top of the camera
• a handheld microphone you connect to the camera
• a lavalier or clip-on microphone you connect to the camera
• a boom microphone you connect to the camera
• wireless microphones (these can be either handheld or lavalier mics)

The microphone built into the camera is good for ambient audio or natural sound - nature scenes like chirping birds or babbling brooks, background noise from street scenes, etc.

It also can be used to record a performance or a speech, although the quality of the audio will suffer because of all the other ambient sound the mic picks up.

You can make adjustments to the audio level of the built-in microphone, but we recommend just setting the audio to automatic, using the camera menu. If you want to manually adjust the audio, consult your camera manual.

If your camera has a shotgun microphone attached to the top rather than a built-in microphone, you need to check some settings, such as making sure a power source has been selected for the microphone, setting the audio input level to "microphone" (rather than to what is called "line" level, which is an audio feed you would get from an external audio mixer, such as at a concert) and setting the audio recording level to automatic.

On the Sony PD-150, the audio settings for the shotgun microphone are on the top left of the camera toward the front. If you're using the shotgun microphone, make sure the Record Channel Select button is set to CH1, the Input Level button is set to Mic and the +48V button (which is the power source for the microphone) is set to On.

Then set the audio to automatic.

The build-in or shotgun microphone is not ideal for doing an interview with someone, where background noise can make the person difficult to understand.

Interviews are best done with lavalier, handheld or boom microphones.