Why couldn't Panasonic put another $3 into this great camera.
Now it's perfect.

http://www.thelasercutter.com/Camcorder%20Hack.htm

Tom

I guess I said farewell to any future warranty service-lol

ahh...wth

Good job!

Thanks for the articles/photos



Rich

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FireWire Survey

Cool, make it sticky! I like DIY stuff, but it would be nice if you provided a more formal scheme, or a better photo of how exactly the wires are connected to the jack and back to the board. Thanks!

I'll work on it this week. A couple more photos and a wiring diagram.

Would also be helpful if you can explain how to uncrew/open the GS320.

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Sektionschef

Panasonic SDR-S100
Sandisk Ultra II 2GB SD Card
Raynox QC-505 0.5 WA
IBS 5X Tele
Velbon Ultra Maxi F Tripod
Magix Video deluxe 2008plus

Two questions: do you retain stereo sound on the original buitl in microphone(s), and on the external mic?

Second, how do you solder onto the mics/tiny board without damaging anything?

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Proud owner of the world's only GS80 with a mic port!

Check out my company's website:
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Okay, I might be the first one, but I actually did it. And it was SOOOO hard I thought I had destroyed my camera all day long. The soldering happens on a microscopic sale and they don't even sell soldering guns that small. It was a real B*TCH but it works.

Strangely though, the external mic volume is slightly lower than the built in mics. Maybe it's just my cheap microphone...

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Proud owner of the world's only GS80 with a mic port!

Check out my company's website:
www.lowcostvideos.net

The preamp inside might not be up to par for an external mic. The camera was only designed to push the internal mics and nothing else so it might not give enough power to the new input to make it run properly. Maybe?

That's possible, I guess. The mic is an ATR-25, which has a battery in it-would that make a difference?

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Proud owner of the world's only GS80 with a mic port!

Check out my company's website:
www.lowcostvideos.net

The battery powers the mic but does add gain to the singal before it reaches the camera. You need a preamp to add gain. A camera that has a mic input to start with will have some type of built in preamp. Since the 320 was not made with a mic input it might have no preamp or one just good enough for the internal mics. To make the mic hack top notch figure out a way to put in a higher quality preamp and you're set to go.

Does the microphone have a builtin power supply? That is usually to power a built in preamp to amplify the signal enough.




Rich

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FireWire Survey

Yes, it does.

The sound quality, even when I manually raise the volume, is still better than the built in mics at the same volume. So I guess it's a somewhat... useful mod.

__________________
Proud owner of the world's only GS80 with a mic port!

Check out my company's website:
www.lowcostvideos.net