Last month, I attended the first MegaTweetup at the N.E.R.D. Center in Cambridge, MA. At the event, I decided to “torture test” my new Sennheiser MKE 400 Shotgun Microphone ($200) in a loud environment. The microphone was mounted in the hot shoe of my Canon 7D, plugged into the built-in input. Here are the results:
This first video is of Joselin Mane, the organizer of the MegaTweetup. This recording was made in a large, hard-walled room near the end of the event, with probably 30 people talking around us. I was standing about 3 feet from the subject, putting the camera and microphone about 2 feet away. The background sound level was similar to what you’d have in a shopping mall common area on a normal weekday evening.
This video is of Rebecca Corliss, whose a capella group performed at the MegaTweetup. This recording was made in a large, hard-walled room near the end of the event, with probably 30 people talking around us. I was standing about 3 feet from the subject, putting the camera and microphone about 2 feet away. This time, the background was extremely noisy, similar to a crowed bar with no music playing. It was a situation where you had to speak very loudly to be heard over the crowd.
Overall, I think the microphone performed quite well. I’ll be keeping it, and using it with my 7D quite often.