audio issue with my dig cam?

[cyrax037]

Ok, so I got a Canon Ultura minidv video camera, and I love it so far! But I noticed one issue. I first tried hooking a sound board's rec out to my mic input, so I could use a condenser mic as my external mic.(I have access to some good sound equipment and mics and such) but I found there is a terrible buzz, its so bad that its acturally worse then the on board mic. I thought this was an issue with being hooked to a mixer, and I was wondering if a ground loop isolator would work, but then I tested my cheap PC mic, I plugged it into the mic jack, and I get the same buzz. Also, I accidentally plugged in the headphone plug of the mic headset, and there was no buzz, altho I could talk into the speaker, and hear myself.

I also tested another mic for a cheap home karaoke thing, and the same issue, a very loud buzz.

Do you think there is something wrong with my external mic port, and if so, how would I go about getting it fixed?

[Skyman]

I am assuming it is still under warranty? send it back to canon.
one thing you have to watch is that there is no way to set levels on an external mic, so you should get the levels set on a mixer or something first. -12db to -18db is a good target, go above that and you loose headroom, go too far below and your audio will be quiet.

[cyrax037]

No, its not under warranty. It was a second hand purchase. I was asking in another place, and one guy suggested that there might be a bad connection problem inside or something. Any ideas how I'd go about fixing it, without risking messing something up taking it apart?

[SmartWombat]

Not without risking messing lots of things up.
Getting inside these things is more an art than science, then most of it is surface mounted components and thin flexible strip interconnects.

[cyrax037]

Sooo, my best bet would be to find a place that works on these then? I checked a couple places online, and their estimates where well over $100, which, is not good for me. I dunno if there is a local place that does it or not, but do you think they'd be cheaper?

Other then that, my only other option is to record audio separately, which is something I didn't want to do.

[Skyman]

the problem is that it takes such a long time to pull them apart without beaking them further that in most cases it will cost more to repair than the value of the camera....

[cyrax037]

Yeah.

The good news tho, if that it "appears" to be fixed acturally. Oddly enough, the buzz has seemed to stop after I blew it out again. I'm going to take it to my church later and test with the sound board again to make sure!