I've noticed that the Canon XL1 and XL2 come with an external microphone, my question is, are these microphones any good? Would a Rode Videomic be good enough to replace it, or should I just stick with what it comes with?

Thanks
-Kelvin

I Got A New Xl2 About A Month Ago And Filmed A Country Band With The Std Mic And Was Really Impressed With The Audio. I Dont Have Enough Experience With Audio To Recommend Something Else But The Xl2 Mic Was Fine For Me

The mic that comes with the camera is a Stereo Omni directional mic. It's actually quite good. I've always thought of it as being a lot higher quality that what most cameras ship with. The RODE Videomic would be more directional, which if you are only trying to pick up in front, may be the route to go. Now, if your subject is 7 feet away, the RODE Videomic on a long cable would sound much better. RODE makes a 10' cable called the VC1, which plugs right in.

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Guy Cochran

DVcreators.net Training and Resources for DV creators - Producer - DV Gear Talk