Sony PCM-D100: Looking For Low Noise Shotgun With Plugin Power Only

obertan

New member
Hi all,

I'm quite sure, that there are already some post somewhere in the archives with a similar question. But as being new to this forum I do in fact not have a clue what to search for. All of the keywords deliver tons of results. But no result was satisfying with respect to my particular configuration demands. So I beg for your mercy in that matter.

So I get to the point:

I have a Sony PCM-D100 for outdoor/field recording as a hobby. I had tried a Zoom H5 as well, which was tempting as it offers quite some features more than the Sony. However, I do in fact not really need 4 track recording. And besides this, the noise of the H5 was, at least compared to the PCM-D100, just not acceptable.

On the other hand the Sony doesn't have XLR inputs. But there is a 3.5mm line-in with plugin-power.

What I am now looking for is a shotgun microphone for this recoder. And as you can probably imagine, I absolutley do not want to shed the high-quality, low-noise capabilities of the Sony.

As being a hobbyist, I am a bit intimidated of the variety of all the microphones out there. So let me in short specify my priorities for a shotgun microphone, and what it is for:

What is it for and what is my background:

  • I want to record ambient sounds, to get kind of an acoustic diary of my travels and axperiences. This works ok with the built-in microphones, but in some cases I'd like to do this more selectively: A bird singing on the tree, a motorbike driving along a road, a busker in the city and so on.
  • occasionally, getting some recordings for videos-clips is another thing I'd like to be able to do. For this purpose, I favor to focus sound-recording on a narrow spot.
  • I am not a studio/sound-guy, and I am not delighted of post-processing. I rare cases, if it is worth it, I can imagine to squeeze the recordings a bit. But just collecting them "as is" is my preferred intent.


What I would like to have:

  • A really low noise shotgun microphone
  • plugin-power only if possible
  • In case that there is no goog solution with PiP, a battery-driven microphone would do as well. I do not want a bunch of cables and extra-phantom-power supplies hanging around.
  • rugged build. An all-metal build is my preferred solution. For me, haptics is part of my experience, I just like things of good quality. Plastic might technically not be a showstopper, but I find a metal casing simply more appealing. This is not a no. one prioity, but "cheap plastic" toys are definitely a no go.


The budget question: I'd like to be off with not more than 500€ / $600. If there is no such solution, I'd bite the bullet and go up by, say, $300/250€.


To sum up:

- really low noise shotgun
- plugin-power (preferred) or battery,
- rugged build, all-metal preferred
- budget up to $600 (lower is nicer), up to $300 more if not otherwise feasable.


Any answer is appreciated. :thumbs up:

Thank you for you attention!



PS: I am not a native english speaker.
 
Good external microphone for the Sony D100 recorder.

I own a Sony D100 recorder and also searched for an external microphone to use when recording quiet forest sounds at night. I ended up purchasing a matched stereo pair of pre-polarized condenser microphones from an outfit in Slavakia called LOM Audio. They plug into the Sony D100 using the 1.5mm jack port. I paid 90 euro + 10 euro shipping to the USA.
Operating voltage: 2-10 V
Cable: 3.5 m (for each mic) with 2.5 mm diameter
Maximum input pressure level: ~122 dB SPL
Sensitivity: -28 dB at 1kHz (±3 dB)
Self-noise: ~14 dBA
Output: 3.5 mm (1/8″) jack
Output impedance: 2.4 kΩ at 1kHz

They have wind bubbles available too.

This mic was recommended to me by a professional recordist who also uses a Sony D100 on occasion.

I know this is an old post but someone might find this information helpful.
 
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