Sony ECMHS1 Video Microphone with Zoom

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Manufacturer: Sony Digital Imaging
Price at amazon.com: $48.94
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Used from $55.99

List price $69.99



Product Features:

• Works with Intelligent Shoe found on many Sony Camcorders
• Works with intelligent accessory shoe
• Powered by camcorder, needs no separate battery
• Variable Directivity Pattern: Super-cardioid shotgun for telephoto zoom, cardioid for wide shots

Product Description:

Average Customer Rating:

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Comment: IMO, a waste of $50... Check out the ECM-MS908C instead Rating:
I bought one of these over a year ago when I could not find any reviews or any explanation of how the "zoom" worked. Boy, did I feel ripped off. I meant to warn others about the product but it got buried and forgotten until I ran across it today while cleaning my office.

Although some may like the convenience of no cables with the smart shoe connection, the audio quality is really quite abismal. It actually makes the on-board mic of my TRV27 shine. I was pretty naive about camcorder audio when I bought the ECM-HS1 but the fact that Sony doesn't publish any audio specs on the unit should be a big red flag to avoid this one. At best, this should be considered a speech only mic; forget music.

Although I've since moved on to pro audio equipment, you don't need to go to this level to get decent audio. After making the mistake with the ECM-HS1, I bought a Sony ECM-MS908C. It's compact and has a camera shoe mount although not the smart connector. However this means it will work with any camcorder that has an external mic mini-jack. The published audio specs are still thin but the audio quality of the ECM-MS908 is markedly superior AND it's stereo. I've gotten decent musical recordings with it and I've read recommendations from others who have used it for mini-disc recordings at concerts. Much more bang for the buck.

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Comment: Directionality Worth It, But Bass Slightly Weak und It's Mono Rating:
Amazon.com guidelines state "your review should focus on specific features of the item and your experience with it." Unfortunately, four out of the five previous reviewers DID NOT ACTUALLY USE the microphone. Here are my experiences, under four major points.

First, you need a Sony camcorder with an "intelligent accessory shoe" on the top. This resembles a hotshoe for a 35mm still camera, but has a sliding plastic door that exposes contacts to match the 8 pins on the bottom of the mic. There's a logo that looks like the letters "i" and "A" together toward the back of the shoe. The shoe is used to hold and power other Sony accessories such as the PVPMSH color printer, HVLFDH3 video light, and HVLIRH2 NightShot infrared light. The microphone has no cord and no jack for attaching a cable, so don't try to use it on non-Sony camcorders, or on Sony ones without an intelligent accessory shoe.

Second, about its physical characteristics. It's about 5 cm (2 inches) high, 7 cm (2.5") wide, and 13 cm (5") long. It weighs about 60 grams (2 ounces). It's made of not-very-strong-looking plastic. There's no battery in it (the electret condenser is powered by the camera). The rotating collar locks the mic onto the shoe securely. It swivels in a horizontal plane through 270 degrees, with indents / stops at 0 degrees (facing forward) and 180 degrees (facing backward).

Third, how it works. There's a three-position "mode" switch (zoom/off/gun) at the back. It seems like the "zoom" is done electronically. In "zoom" mode, when the lens is wide-angle, you hear mostly the on-board omnidirectional mic in stereo and very little of the ECMHS1 mike in mono. As you zoom in to telephoto, more and more of the directional mike comes into play. If you're recording live music, it's probably "disconcerting" to zoom around because the sound will appear to switch from stereo to mono and back. In the "gun" mode, you hear no onboard microphone at any time (similar to how it sounds when the zoom is at the longest focal length possible) and the sound is totally mono.

Finally, about the sound quality in "gun" mode using a DCR-TRV240 Digital Handycam, which uses "Digital 8" tapes. YMMV. The low frequencies could use some boosting, but are only slightly weaker than the onboard mic. For classical music and speech, the bass is acceptable. The microphone does not totally eliminate sounds coming from the periphery, but overall is better for faint distant subjects than the one on the camcorder because it (a) records a stronger signal onto the videotape, (b) does not pick up too much ambient sound occurring away from the field of view, and (c) causes less tape motor noise (which is a problem with my onboard mic in quiet situations) to be recorded. (Zooming is very quiet for my camera, so neither the built-in mic nor the ECM HS1 picked up any significant zooming sounds.)

A few minor points: There is no instruction page (you have to figure out what the "zoom" and "gun" settings mean, and how to mount the thing onto your camcorder). The "specifications" lack a frequency response and other useful info. A provided storage pouch gives protection from dirt but not water or shock.

In conclusion, this shotgun-style microphone is worth the money for subjects that are not producing much sound, that don't need to be in stereo, that strong bass is not critical for, and that are on screen. (If you're taping loud concerts for which you want to hear the music in stereo, with plenty of bass, and all the time even when the performers are not in view, the mic that comes with the camcorder will work fine.) Buy it at Amazon.com!

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Comment: Not what I expected... Rating:
This is a mini shotgun microphone. The sound it captures is directional and monaural. You can switch from zoom/off/gun.

Switched to "zoom" it does not amplify distant sounds, as the "zoom" implies, but merely narrows (or focuses) on the sound source. Unfortunately, majority of the sound is still picked up by the built-in mic.

On "off", all the sound is captured by the built-in mic.

When switched to "gun", it becomes a directional (or typical) shotgun mic, but the main sound source is still from the built-in mic on the camcorder.

The ECMHS1 uses Sony's intelligent accessory shoe. There are no cable connectors on this mic, so I'm assuming, this mic will only work on Sony camcorders (I have a Sony DCR-PC101). I've returned this item.

If you are looking for a good (professional) shotgun microphone that will work with most camcorders, I would recommend the Sennheiser MKE-300.

Posted at November 11, 2003 07:59 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)