Rode’s Videomic has been one of the leading affordable camera mounted microphone options for quite some time. Even so, there is still a lot of room for improvement. Many people don’t like the large size of the Videomic or the shock mount system and I personally find it hard to close 9 volt battery door on the VideoMic pro.
If you’re looking for something with a little bit different design philosophy the SmartMyk
is an interesting option to consider. The design uses a CR 2032 button battery instead of a 9 volt battery and an internal TPE soft synthetic rubber shock mount instead of rubber band suspension system. Both of these design choices dramatically reduce the size of the microphone.
If you look at it from the front it’s easy to see how small this thing is (not much wider then the cold shoe mount). The cold shoe adapter is metal instead of plastic on the SmartMyk which probably makes it a little more durable and the longer microphone tube should help with side noise rejection. SmartMyk also claims 200+ hours of operation on a single CR 2032 battery v.s. Rode’s 70 hours on a single 9 volt battery.
The VideoMic pro comes with a +20 db gain switch while the SmartMyk has a +15 db gain switch which might make a difference depending on the camera you’re using. The Videomic has a high pass filter switch (I normal leave on) which rolls off frequencies bellow 80Hz while the SmartMyk has a fixed 70Hz high pass filter built in. Both are made in Australia and from what I understand the SmartMyk was designed by a few former Rode employees.
Price difference isn’t very dramatic, the VideoMic pro retails for about $229, while the SmartMyk retails for $199. The only audio samples I’ve heard from the SmartMyk are on their website and it’s kind of hard to tell how far away from the microphone the speaker is in the video.
I was planning on picking up a second VideoMic pro this week, but maybe I’ll hold off and give the SmartMyk a try. I like the idea of getting 200 hours of operation and I was never a fan of Rode’s suspension system. If any of you test this out before me (Australia readers hint hint), send me some audio samples and let me know the distances they were recorded at. I’d be interested to hear who this performs.
Tags: Boom Mic, My Myk, Rode VideoMic, SmartMyk, VideoMic pro
December 17th, 2012 at 11:38 am
Also very interesting the mixer, small, 2 mics, monitor out, etc
December 17th, 2012 at 12:09 pm
I looked at the SmartLynk box and it’s missing a lot of features. No internal gain, left and right control are sort of sketchy, and it seems like it’s really just designed to send audio to your iphone and camera. I was more impressed with the the microphone offering.
December 17th, 2012 at 12:23 pm
Agree, I was looking options to buy an on-camera mic (Rode videomic Pro too), but I think I’ll wait until see some reviews.
December 18th, 2012 at 6:45 pm
Man, that sucker will certainly pick up the image stabilization motor in my Tamron lens.
December 18th, 2012 at 7:31 pm
@Scottrellwl, just mount it off camera with an arm…..
December 18th, 2012 at 8:22 pm
Usually off camera mounting is the only way to go if you have IS turned on.
January 2nd, 2013 at 9:05 am
another way of sound recording, use your small sound recorders pre amp (Olympus ls 11) Set the gain of your dslr to one notch above zero and feed the headphone out (via a micro jack y splitter)from your recorder to 1. your camera and 2. to your headphones. Voila; you now have 2x prestine recorded audio; 1. in camera 2. on the recorder. The levels to your camera are controlled with your headphone dial and the levels to the recorder are controlled with the levels dial.
Microphones used (rode video mic) and or again via a y splitter lavalier set up. Again the sound is excellent, I think! I’ll be happy to send a picture if you want…sorry if this is in the wrong comments box.
May 2nd, 2013 at 6:15 am
Bought the Smartmyk and returned it soon after. Sounds pretty sweet BUT stick to the rubberband suspension! The so called integrated shockmount does not isolate AF or IS sounds at all. Only usable with AF and IS turned off, and don’t move your fingers to much while holding the camera. This mic looks cool but the shockmount doesn’t minimize, it amplifies handling noise!
May 3rd, 2013 at 8:52 am
Good to know, thanks for the heads up.