On Thu, 12 Nov 1998 09:33:08 -0700, "DH" wrote:

>I have the zoom mic and it is MUCH better than the camera mic, which has
>noticeable noise in a very low volume situation like recording a soft
>spoken, shy subject. The zoom mic has two settings-zoom and non zoom, and
>the zoom does boost the gain when you zoom the camera. Of course, this can
>be bad if you are close-up and only getting a more close-up shot. The mic is
>also very inexpensive as mics go. Lastly, I am looking for a better
>omnidirectional mic that can plug into the camera or my SoundBlaster Live,
>which is vague about input specs. Any suggestions? Thanks.

For a stereo wide-angle mic ( manually continuously variable
channel separation), I like the Canon ZM-100. For all but
noisy-room sound, it is excellent (as is the built-in mic
on the VX-1000...). It also functions as a mono zoom mic,
but the sound is ugly in this mode, alas (the little cheap
Sony manual-zoom mic sounds much better, as does the
fixed-angle Stenheiser MKE-300, when a directional mic is
needed). Unfortunately, the DC voltage out of the little Sony
camcorders is far too low to power the Canon mic (needs about
5 volts), so I rigged a small battery box that sticks to
the side of the Canon mic to power it. BTW, an added layer of
air-conditioner filter material over the windscreen does
wonders for reducing wind noise.