Al Bergstein
Forum Replies Created
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John, do you know if you can run two different cards in a desktop successfully? I bought a newer Dell in January, came with a 1GB ATI card, and I replaced it with a nVidea. Wondering if I’m going to blue screen trying to use two different drivers on this?
Alf
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Hoodman was a joke for me. I ended up buying it, then buying a Zacuto, which is 1000x better. I don’t use it that often, as the built in is pretty good, but yes, in bright sunlight the Zacuto is quite better. You have to see it to believe it. don’t waste your money on the Hoodman, IMHO. I did. I now use it for my xf305, which it works quite well on in bright sunlight.
Alf
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Larry, start with color balancing the two. I’ve found that getting that right is a lot of the battle. I make sure I have the same color temp aligned on both. From there you might be able to figure out your own additional measurements.
Alf
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I’ve been able to manipulate DOF quite effectively, but yes, it’s not a DSLR. I’ve actually been happy with it’s lowlight ability. Again, not a 7d, but much better than most
Alf
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thanks very much for the thoughts. I intend to have a lawyer look at all this before hand, but wanted some general directions (which have been given here) on pitfalls and ‘local knowledge’ as us sailors say.
I will take all this back and ponder it with a lawyer friend, and also discuss this with my possible partner. I think it’s important to clarify the ground rules going in, so that in the event of a happy unexpected success we can still pop a cork together at the end and not hate each other. That’s the end goal in my opinion. But I know that we need to do this ground work first.
If we can’t come to agreement when there is really only ideas at stake, it’s likely not worth spending my time on it. I feel I have at least as much to bring to this moving forward as my possible partner. If not, c’est la vie.
Alf
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Thanks, it’s a good distinction to clarify. I would assume so, but…
Alf
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Thanks. VERY useful information. I think the collaborative agreement with non derivitive uses would satisfy us both at this point. COW comes through again. I’ll draft up something for us to think about and let you all know how it all comes out later on. If anyone else has thoughts, I’d be glad to entertain them.
Alf
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Hi Ty. Thanks for your neutral response. I respect your decades of expertise in the area of reviewing mics, and I guess that’s why an off the cuff remark like telling us to go listen to a movie where the mic was used in some scenes, but not clarifying which ones, seemed like a cheap shot. I guess I was expecting another way of approaching educating those of us not with your level of knowledge.
I went out this morning to try and show what I guess I expected, and googled “AT897 reviews” to see if I could find any shootouts that would help me (and other budget minded folks) understand whether a $1000 mic is actually 3x worth the price. I understand that build quality could affect the cost.
So here are a few very relevant links…
First Barry Green discussing an admitted personal opinion based on his large base of experience. this is an OLD post, from 2004, and the prices have likely changed. But the thoughts are valid. While this is from another forum, I’ve seen this kind of thoughtful response on COW, which is why I’m here.https://www.dvxuser.com/V6/archive/index.php/t-21550.html
Barry_S posted this rundown below in another forum. It should answer your questions about mics.
Here’s a brief rundown of some respected shotgun mics. *This is not a comprehensive list, but it should give you an idea of what range you want to be in.
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Audio-Technica AT897 — ~$280 *Good low-priced shotgun. *Sensitivity is not great, but can produce good quality, if not natural sounding dialogue.
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Sennheiser ME66/K6 — ~$300 *High sensitivity, low self-noise, the ME66 is good for ENG or non-critical applications. *The ME66 can record intelligible speech under difficult conditions, but does not have a natural sound. *A benchmark for producing clean, good dialogue for low budget productions. *The K6 module can be used with other microphone capsules including the ME64 cardioid and ME67 long shotgun.
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Audio-Technica AT4073a — ~$500 *This shotgun has high sensitivity and a good overall, but not warm sound. *
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Sennheiser MKH-416 — ~$1000 *High sensitivity with a fairly full sound for a shotgun. *Up to top professional standards.
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Neumann KMR81i — ~$1200 *Top quality shotgun with very neutral and natural sound. *
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Sennheiser MKH-60 — ~$1400 *Outstanding mic with some of the most natural tone possible from a shotgun. *Frequently used on big budget film productions.
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Schoeps CMC641 Set — ~$1400 *This setup includes the highly respected MK41 super cardioid capsule. *while not a shotgun, this mic is highly directional and will produce the most natural and uncolored sound of any mic used for dialogue recording. *Also frequently used on big budget productions.*Shotgun mics (particularly sub $500 ones, but all to some degree) can color off-axis sound and cause problems with reverb in small or reflective rooms. *Hyper or super cardioid mics are directional, but lack the strange off-axis coloration that can be a problem with shotguns.
Barry went on later in that post to say to the OP: Go ahead and buy the AT897–I own the ME64/66 and have tried out the AT897 and thought it was fine. The thing about A-B comparisons–your hearing is very sensitive and can discriminate even small differences. However, both mics used properly will sound good and unless you jump up to another price level, the performance is not going to be hugely different. If you learn good recording techniques, that will get you 95% of the way to good sound–don’t sweat the minor equipment differences.
I also found this decent review, https://www.videomaker.com/article/12670/ which makes the final wrap up.
At $250, the Audio-Technica AT897 is a bargain, with excellent sound quality and a sturdy build. Sonically, it holds its own against higher priced mics.
but last of all I found this excellent “comparison” that allows you to listen to a recording of the exact same person saying the exact same thing into a variety of mics, from low cost to higher cost, and you can lay them side by side on screen.
https://www.dvcreators.net/shotgun-shootout/
From this, I would have to say that I might be inclined to double the price I pay, but would be hard pressed to understand why I would pay three times as much, especially for dialogue, which is likely to include background noises, or foley, for my low budget (meaning non theatrical) jobs. This all assumes I am a budget shooter, which I am. And to be clear, my kit includes the cheap, throw away Azden (for when I am shooting in the rain, which happens out here in the Pacific NW), the rugged and to my ears good sounding AT897, A set of Oktava’s which are great for the price but I don’t like taking them out in weather, and a EV dynamic reporters’ mic, which is wonderful for many shoots. As much as I would love to spend $1000 on a shotgun, I spent it on a Tascam HD-P2 (I also can borrow an Edirol for concert shoots). The biggest thing that has improved my sound was a mixpre, which got rid of the noise in all the cameras that I shoot with, including the xf305. The mics all sound great, except the Azden. But for $60, I can’t expect much. I assume I’ll destroy it in the rain at some point.
Hopes this helps the next time someone posts this relatively frequently asked question about mic choices.
As to your ad, I guess I usually have ignored it…you are certainly lucky to have been granted that kind of exposure. If all the posters could do that, I likely wouldn’t be back in Creative Cow (G!) Best of luck in all your endeavors, and thanks for other posts you’ve done that I’ve found more useful, which have been many.
Alf
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Stumbled on this searching for some other issue, it appears that Patricia did do the show!
https://www.wetv.com/secret-lives-of-women/videos/cults-a-family-torn
Alf
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Here’s a great shootout of various shotguns. This seems like a valuable comparison. Now put the prices to these.
Alf