been following this thread for a while now, and I think there are still plenty of unanswered questions about this topic
Many people post on here indicating that the 3.5 input is sub par, too quiet, too much noise etc. I disagree. All a matter of horses for courses
Of course the XML lead is more secure, the mics tend to be more pro level etc, but I thought I would comment on the use of the 3.5 input, which I use regularly
If you are using a 3.5 mic in directly, with no external preamp, then yes, the result with in camera recording is pretty quiet and relies on the BMPCC 4k pre amp, which is really not too bad. I have used a Rode StereoVideoMic
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/ ... s=pi&pim=Ywhich is about ten years old, to catch ambient noise. If you turn up the BMPCC pre amp to 80 or greater, it works OK and the sound quality if satisfactory
If you use a mic with a pre amp, eg
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/ ... s=pi&pim=Yand you can turn it up using the 20 dB gain, then the sound recorded directly on the BMPCC is fine, although with that particular mic, the preamp in the mic leads to an audible whine, which I don’t like at all, but it is usable, just
The new Rode Videomic NTG however, is just fantastic when paired to the BMPCC 4k. Nice clean sound at great volume when plugged directly into the 3.5 input
For any of these mics, if you use an external preamp, the results are even better. In particular, the Rode wireless filmmaker kit with inbuilt 20dB gain works really well and means that you dont need to run a long lead with an unbalanced set up. The sound input using a 3.5 mic, into the Filmmaker ,then directly recorded onto the BMPCC via 3.5 is really very clean indeed and quite usable for final production
Some complaints about a ‘buzz’ using the 3.5 input are I am sure, RF interference while using an unbalanced system
My question however relates to running an unbalanced system via the XLR input. Kondor blue now produce a lead that will allow direct connection of a 3.5 mic system into the mini XLR input. I am interested in whether this will improve sound quality over running the system directly into the 3.5 input. People talk about how the preamps on the XLR input are better than on the 3.5 input but is this really true ? Are there two separate pre amp systems in this camera, one for XLR and one for 3.5 ? Does anyone have any objective evidence that input via XLR, matched with the same microphone and preamp, will be any better than via the 3.5 directly ?
Paul