A few weeks ago I produced my “in depth” review on the Z Cam E2 (you can check it out in the link below), and a viewer rightly dinged me for saying absolutely nothing about the audio capabilities. I’m a professional sound designer for theater and a musician, so definitely my bad.
And props to flymovies for calling me out. In the process, he left a rather cryptic comment about the audio capabilities of the camera: "Unfortunately another review that completely ignores the... audio of the camera-- once you have heard it, you know why, though."
Not so encouraging, and it really made me wonder. See, up until now I'd just being shooting test footage, so I hadn't tried connecting a mic to the Z Cam. The built in one provided scratch sound for us.
So what’s up with the audio on the Z Cam? Can you use it the audio inputs for professional work, and how does it compare to other cameras and external recorders. Today we’re going to take a look.
So first the caveats. Audio gear reviews aren’t something I normally do, so I’m not well set up for it. This will be a semi technical review.
Second, the Z Cam comes with both a 3.5 millimeter audio input and a mini XLR input.
XLR is typically a less noisy, better sounding connection. The XLR also has phantom power for your mics. But I only tested the 3.5 millimeter input. Why?
First, the mini XLR requires a 50 dollar adapter. Now, I thought about buying the adapter for this review but I didn’t because of Reason Number Two.
If I'm going directly into camera, I know I’ll sometimes want to use my wireless system (a 3.5mm connection), and sometimes I'll use wired XLR. That means another 50 dollar cable, or carrying a adapter that might degrade the sound further. Which brings me to Reason Number Three.
I don’t want to buy pricey adapters unless the 3.5 connection is totally crap. If you’re looking for top-notch quality audio—you’ve got your thousand dollar mic and you’re ready for the creamy vocals of George Clooney at a romantic dinner table—you’re going to use an external recorder. This is true for a number of reasons, including better control of audio levels on the fly, dual recording, and better preamps.
Outside of my own YouTube creations, I never connect directly from mic to camera. Sometimes I connect from mic to an external recorder to camera… and if I’m lazy I’ll use the camera’s audio instead of the external recording. But it’s just not professional to connect directly to your camera, so why ask your camera to provide professional level preamps and encoders?
That said, the camera DOES need to provide solid audio performance that can be used for small projects and emergencies. So how did the Z Cam do with its 3.5 millimeter input?
For this test I used the Rode Wireless Go; it’s a consumer mid-grade transmitter with mid-level audio. I paired it with a Electro-Voice RE98 lav. The RE98 is a lovely sounding, professional level lav that I never use because it’s butt-ugly and cumbersome. But I wanted to up the quality of the Rode system slightly so that it was in the middle of the playing field when it comes to audio.
By itself, the Rode system is a little too bassy, and a little unnatural, and the RE98 smooths that out and brings in more mid range clarity. I recorded directly from the Wireless Go Reciver to the Z Cam input, and for comparison directly into the Sony A7sii. In my opinion, the Sony a7sii has better than average preamps for a mirrorless camera, so I chose it over the a7iii and my Nikon D600. For the final test, I connected my hybrid Rode Go system into a little Tascam DR-2d external recorder. The Tascam has very good sound but is still below the level of a professional system.
You can hear the results in the YouTube video.
You can judge the differences for yourself, but here’s my take. The Tascam audio is the bench mark for good sound here. It’s well-rounded from bass to the upper vocal registers, but you’re still missing some depth and clarity and that’s the product of a wireless signal from a mid-tier system. To my ears, the Z Cam handles the bass response in a well rounded way that’s similar to the Tascam, but a slightly more compressed tone in the mids.
The Sony is clearly bassier than both the Tascam and Z Cam, But it has more clarity in the mid and upper tones. I actually like the Sony’s mid range better than the Tascam in this setup.
Which brings me to my conclusion. As with all audio, excellence depends on the total set up, the way that the different components work together. The Sony preamps aren’t better than the Tascam’s for mid range, they just compensate the shortcomings of the Rode-Go setup better. I think the Sony sounds slightly better, but both systems have problems that need to be cleaned up in post. And the Z Cam cleans up nicely.
In short, the Z Cam’s 3.5 millimeter input provides solid audio in comparison with other mirrorless and DSLR systems. And, I really don't know what flymovies was referring to in his cryptic comment. I'm going to assume he's either using a poor combination of equipment that doesn't go well together, or he's expecting pro-level audio from a mid-level audio process. Don't.
The Z Cam audio is perfectly fine for vlogs and YouTube reviews, acceptable for interviews in the field when you can’t setup an external recorder, and I’d also say it’s passable for a sit-down interview in a pinch.
But if you really need pro-grade audio, I wouldn’t use either of these inputs, nor would I use any camera input on any camera. A $200 external recorder will give you better sound than any camera.
Now, what I’d love to see from Z Cam, and perhaps it’s doable via a firmware upgrade, is dual recording. In my opinion, dual recording is essential for any project, whether it's big or small. It's even more important on small ones. Yet camera makers have consistently ignored this really easy upgrade. Even as a dedicated sound operator, I like having dual recordings. As a one-man band it’s crucial.
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