Trying to find the best external microphone for a Yi 4K+ - Primo EM184 in a self powered mic body
13Before I make any YouTube videos about microphones and certain tech, I do a load of preliminary tests to make sure the idea is sound. Theses prelim tests are not usually shared as they are very rough, but in certain instances, as in this one, I make some of the preliminary tests public as they may be of use to other people.
This test is part of my ongoing quest to try and find the best option for an external microphone or mic capsule for the Yi 4K+ action camera.
As anyone who owns a 4K+ will know, it's not very good at audio, even with an external mic. There are many reasons why this is, these two videos give an explanation as to the issues and examples of them:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psL1YMzCMgo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8f5SlDCryvU
This microphone configuration consists of a modification between the Primo EM184 Cardioid electret capsule and a cheap Chinese self powered shotgun styled microphone. I simply remove the original capsules from the shotgun and replace them with the Primo EM184.
So far, the combination of the sensitivity of the Primo and the power/amplifier circuitry of the shotgun, are about the best thing I've found for the Yi 4K+.
I had done a lot more testing of this setup with the mic in its normal and tele modes, tele being a boosted mode. But beyond the examples I've shown the other takes were too distorted, which is the usual outcome with the Yi 4K+ and external mics.
The only way to get something remotely acceptable, is to use the Yi in low gain and feed it with something that has a low enough output so as to not distort the Yi's over sensitive input. This results in a low recording which has to be gained in post, as per the examples in the video. There is nothing you can do about noise in the original recording, the Yi will do this even the most quietest of microphones.
Here's the mic body that I've used, which I also use in many other DIY microphone mods:
http://amzn.to/2nvIV2T
Here's the Primo EM184 capsule from MicBooster.com:
http://micbooster.com/primo-microphone-capsules/37-primo-em184-cardioid-capsule.html
For anyone interested, here is the website where I put all my Yi action camera related videos:
http://www.Yi4Kplus.com
Thank you for watching my video, take care, and goodbye now....
Dave.