p.1 #1 · Avoiding autofocus noise on audio recording
I'm taking a family vacation in July and I'm thinking about doing more with video than my usual handful of iPhone videos. I've got a 1D X Mark II and other than the lack of a tilting screen, its video features seem more than enough for me.
The only outstanding issue is the autofocus noise the mic I've got (VideoMic Pro) picks up. Are their any other mic choices that might work better? A completely off-camera mic isn't an option. I know I can manually focus but I'd like to at least have the option to use autofocus, as the face tracking is particularly good.
p.1 #3 · Avoiding autofocus noise on audio recording
That's an interesting idea. There's a 24-105mm STM lens that might work. With the 1.3 crop at 4K, it's not as wide as I would have liked but it might be the best choice. Thanks for the suggestion.
p.1 #4 · Avoiding autofocus noise on audio recording
fhammond wrote:
That's an interesting idea. There's a 24-105mm STM lens that might work. With the 1.3 crop at 4K, it's not as wide as I would have liked but it might be the best choice. Thanks for the suggestion.
It's not just interesting.... it's why they developed the STM lens. The only other option is to get a better microphone & off-board audio processing/recording gizmo.
p.1 #7 · Avoiding autofocus noise on audio recording
I came in here to suggest using an external mic. Seems you got a Rode already, which is what I use. And you still get AF noise? I don't think I've noticed AF noise when using the Rode mic yet. Interesting.
In any case, 4K video on the 1DXII will be huge. There's a rumored firmware update for 5DIV that is bringing new codec that's more reasonable. Hopefully the same comes down for the 1DXII folks so you don't have to use ridiculous 800mbps codec unless your workflow needs it.
p.1 #8 · Avoiding autofocus noise on audio recording
You need to have the mic off-camera unless you're using the STM lenses. Even with an "external" mic in a hotshoe, you'll pick up noise, especially with USM lenses as it creates noise "through" the materials. I put a 70D on a tripod and put my Rode Video Mic on a clamp, clamped to the tripod extension and ran a cord from the mic to the camera. I still got AF noise which sounded like a rapid clicking or buzzing. Removing the mic from the clamp and hand holding it without touching anything the camera was touching eliminated the sound completely.
Go STM or get an external recorder from Zoom or the like.
p.1 #9 · Avoiding autofocus noise on audio recording
Even STM lenses transmit some mechanical movement noise in quiet situations so an off-shoe mounted mic or outdoor audio is the only way to go if zero noise is important. Even carefully touching the zoom ring makes noise...
p.1 #10 · Avoiding autofocus noise on audio recording
Thanks to everyone for the suggestions. I ended up getting the 24-105mm STM lens. It's not as wide as I'd like but it's completely silent. Here's a video I made comparing the sound of the STM lens with the 24-70mm f/2.8
