Canon HF100 - doesn't record sound from external microphone

[AlexNRW]

Hi!
First post - first question: I want to record my daughter playing piano and the sound quality could be better. So I wanted to connect my microphone to the Canon HF100 camcorder in order to improve that. However, the camcorder doesnt record any sounds then. I have tried two external microphones so far:
Sennheiser e935
Rode NT1-A
They are usually made to record singing and they are then connected to a mixer.
I bought myself an XLR female to mini-cinch cable to connect the microphone to the camcorder.

Where is my error? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Alex

[johnmeyer]

Some mics need phantom power. You might check on that.

[AlexNRW]

Yes i checked that. The Rode could need that. However the Sennheiser should work without phantom power...

[aedipuss]

johnmeyer is right.

the hf100 can only use self powered external mics or the canon shoe attachment mic. xlr type mics aren't going to work.

[aedipuss]

does the sennheiser have it's own battery? i don't think so, but i've been wrong before.

[Cornucopia]

The Rode does need phantom power. Be mindful of what kind of connection is expected - balanced/unbalanced, mono/stereo, input/output/io, as the pinouts on cams use them in a variety of ways. That's why there is diff between ts/trs/trrs.
Note: nature of phantom power REQUIRES balanced input. So if you are adapting bal->unbal it won't work for true condensers.

Suggestion: optimal postioning for cam is often NOT optimal positioning for mic. Keep them separate. In fact, just do double system (use a zoom h2/h4n or something) and marry them in post.


Scott