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audio on Canon 7D
I am documentary fim maker and have just bought the 7D camera and am really please with the ease with which I can film street, market scenes and other shots.
However, there will be times when I would like to use it for short interviews (under 10 min)as well, using an external mic. However, the in camera sound seems to suffer from AGS, which picks up ambient sounds if there is a pause in speech. It also sounds a bit compressedto me.
Recording sound separately would be a better option and I believe some folks are already doing that. But that is not perfect either for sync sound as some test, demonstrated on youtube, have indicated that in a 10 min clip there could be 7-8 frames lag between H4N audio and the in camera audio.
How anyone found a better solution for sync sound recordings?
Thanks.
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22 Replies
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Well, if you’re on a Mac, use FCP, and don’t mind shelling out some cash, you can get https://www.singularsoftware.com/autosync/. From what has been said, it works very well. If your not using FCP, well…I’m sure they are working to get PluralEyes working on other NLEs.
*Possible Solution*
In your NLE of choice, would it be possible to change the speed of the audio by a percentage to match the video? Like, if you have to speed up the audio by 99.98% or something. Wouldn’t that work? I know in Premiere you can do that, and even have the option of keeping the pitch.
From a guy not knowing exactly about this problem, I am actually stunned that it’s only 7-8 frames off when recording for 10 minutes. Neato.
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Thanks Ryan for your suggestion. Yes, I am using FCP on Mac and I might try changing the spped of the seperately recorded audio, which seems a better option. Even if Plural Eyes lines up the first sync point where the person starts speaking, it may not be able to contol the drifting audio. Hard to know without giving it a go.
I haven’t got Zoom4N yet, have been using miniDisk so far. But it has 44.1 KHz audio, as opposed to 48 KHz on 7D!! So, I thought before I invest in a Zoom it might be worth checking various possibilities.
Thanks.
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Plural Eyes works well on Mac for FCP
You can generally change the speed or drop a few frames along the way
Richard M. Harrington, PMP
Author: Video Made on a Mac, Photoshop for Video, Understanding Adobe Photoshop, Final Cut Studio On the Spot and ATS:iWork
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Thanks Richard. I believe that Beachteck make an audio gadget that controls the behaviour of the audio AGC in Canon 5D (or 7D?). The gadget is quite costly. Have you seen it at work? Is it worth the investment? If this really works then it will avoid the need for carrying a seperate recorder like the Zoom H4N for recording interviews.
Nick
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[Nick 2746] “Beachteck make an audio gadget that controls the behaviour of the audio AGC”
It does in fact override the AGC on the camera, but really not your best choice I think in terms of audio preamps. I have one of the Beachteck’s (somewhere) and the preamps are really really noisey. I mean really noisy. I would check out the JuicedLink family of preamps.
The H4N which I’ve used a bunch is an awesome recorder, while not fixing the whole sync issue will get you much higher quality audio (bit depth and sample rate) than the built in audio or when using a preamp. Just make sure you bring a slate along, then even if you don’t use plural eyes things can be synced manually
Robbie Carman
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Colorist and Author
Check out my new Books:
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Yup, seems the H4N has been the “go to” choice for many with the 7D.
Love mine.
McGee Digital Media Inc.
24P HD Production and Post
https://www.mcgeedigitalmedia.com -
On the Magic Lantern’s Wiki Page, under the Vimeo video, there is a list of things that their firmware update addresses, which includes audio level.
https://magiclantern.wikia.com/wiki/Magic_Lantern_Firmware_Wiki
Intriguing. Does that mean you can essentially disable the AGC in the camera and control the lvls yourself? Idk…if so that would be a really good step in the right direction.
Honestly, I would get a separate audio recording device and do it that way anyway. I like the Alesis ProTrack for the iPod Touch. For me, having a recorder that can take xlr (phantomed if need be) and 1/4 jack cables, 16-bit, 44.1kHz or 22kHz stereo digital audio…sheer audio gold. It would work with my fictional iPod touch that I imaginably own.
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[Ryan Orr] “I like the Alesis ProTrack for the iPod Touch.”
… That’s just cool. Give me that over an ‘iPhone video stabilizer grip’ any day…
Gord
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“… That’s just cool. Give me that over an ‘iPhone video stabilizer grip’ any day…
“That way, you could itemize the iPod Touch in your budget and write it off in your taxes…and it would be legit. 🙂
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I’m jumping in a little late here, but you can definitely get reliable, drift-free sync between the 7D and external audio, as long as the external audio has reasonable clock accuracy. Like many others on this thread I highly recommend the Zoom H4n. We have measured it and it can hold sync to within one video frame for 100 minutes.
There is possibly another issue that is causing the drift you are seeing. Final Cut has a quirk that causes drift but can be avoided with a little care. You just have to make sure that the frame rate of the Easy Setup you are using matches the frame rate of your clips. If it doesn’t, change your Easy Setup, restart Final Cut and create your sequence again.
On the Canon 5D the drift is known as the 99.9% problem. On the 7D it is the 100.1% problem. The solution is the same. See this blog post and video tutorial for more information.
Bruce Sharpe
Singular Software
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