Canon T1i Hack- Installing Mic Input for External Microphone

[sticktodrum]

Nice video, and nice Eclipse tech mat. Good to see another paintball player with DSLRs. :-) Catch you around brother!

[Deveron4]

My main question: can I do this on other cameras?

[XCFloresX]

@Deveron4 Yes. 

[PAND0RASPARAD0X]

Hi i have a question concerning how the wiring is done to allow the internal to work as well if you could send me a pic of your camera open or make a diagram on the wiring system it would be greatly appreciated Good Job! with the tutorial and keep up the good work ! thanks!

[XCFloresX]

@PAND0RASPARAD0X Follow me on Twitter- XCFloresX. I'll draw up a quick diagram and tweet the deets.

[pfgun0]

For the microphone jack, What wires go to what? (I mean Tip, Ring and sleeve or 1,2,3)

[ThePhoenixFilmz]

done*

[ThePhoenixFilmz]

can this be dont on a t3

[GrimGearStudios]

Performed the hack (Thanks for the tutorial) I tested with my ipod and it recorded just fine. But no mic works with it. I bought a Rode Video mic which actually inspired me to undertake this whole thing. Bit of help please.

[Salebarale]

the problem is i cant find radio shack input even in 3 citys of my country ! !

[y0utub35uck]

this will be stereo or what?

[AlvaroVonKunstler]

What's the name of the song in minute 4:11?

[tjizzle2da]

where can i get that work mat? : ]]

[thealmost]

Nice tutorial. If you're going to attempt this let me suggest using a 2 conductor, open frame, closed circuit mono1/8" jack instead of the stereo. Radio Shack carries them in the same bin, part number 274-0248, for short money. This jack will automatically reconnect the internal mic when an external mic is not plugged it. You'll have to solder the black and red leads from the internal mic onto the jack along with the leads from the circuit board. This is a mono jack, but the T1i is also mono.

[XCFloresX]

@thealmost Thanks for the awesome tip! I'm sure someone will find good use of it. BTW the internal mic still works with my hack. I didn't demonstrate it in the video but I did make an annotation describing how to do it.

Thanks again.

[MrPhatSlim]

did it work ok using an external after this?

[XCFloresX]

@MrPhatSlim Of course, that would defeat the purpose of the entire video don't you think?

[MrPhatSlim]

@XCFloresX No not really, i was asking incase you had any troubles after install either straight away or any time after! Bit of a sensible question i think!

[XCFloresX]

@MrPhatSlim Maybe try and be more specific with your questions. The input jack still works to this day and it's been almost a year since I did the hack. 

[DavidCrowmonttii]

Thank for the reply...

[DavidCrowmonttii]

Do you know of anybody in Riverside CA. that can do this for me??? thanks..

[XCFloresX]

@DavidCrowmonttii This is a DIY video. The whole purpose of the video is so that you can do it yourself and not have it done by someone else. Regardless, I don't know of any place where you could have this done. If you don't feel comfortable doing this yourself then DO NOT ATTEMPT IT.

[chimchimtex]

were can I get this input jack? i have a pentax kr and it as well has no ext mic jack. I'm going to do this

[XCFloresX]

@chimchimtex I gave all the details in the video.

[aelsharawi]

I want to use this on canon ixus 130 ,is there any clue ??? thx

[XCFloresX]

@aelsharawi I don't know. I did this myself on my own camera. I don't know anything about other cameras but it's the same principle for all cameras, you'll just have to improvise as you attempt it on yours.

[SnatchMasta]

I'm too scared to try this!

[XCFloresX]

@SnatchMasta If you don't feel comfortable with this type of project then I wouldn't recommend you even attempt it.

[cuteboxerdoggy]

@SnatchMasta hey, i just tried this and messed up. only do this if you are fully confident with it.

[SnatchMasta]

@cuteboxerdoggy I went ahead and just bought the T2i

[cuteboxerdoggy]

@SnatchMasta yeah, I'm now saving for a 60d, i fixed my cam and mic somewhat works but i guess wires are not soldered properly cos it makes a hissing noise

[RelentlessPaintball]

You play paintball? noticed the planet eclipse tech matt.

[XCFloresX]

@RelentlessPaintball Yes I do. Those mats works perfectly for this type of stuff.

[porkbellypb]

Planet Eclipse <3

[ThreeTheArtist]

PLEASE HELP!!!

I did this hack and everything went perfect! THEN the connector (4:22) that connects the wires to the circuit board touched my soldering iron and burned one side! I just need the name of that connector or where I can go to purchase another and finalize the project...

SOMEONE, PLEASE HELP

Thanks in advance.

[XCFloresX]

@ThreeTheArtist 1/8" Phone Jack? I think you're talking about 0:32 right?

[ThreeTheArtist]

@XCFloresX No, I have an extra one of those. Im talking about the Black and Red wire Connector within the camera

[ThreeTheArtist]

What you pointed to at 2:34

[XCFloresX]

@ThreeTheArtist The actual Cables came off????Damn dude I'm sorry but I have no clue how you would attach the cables back to the circuit board unless you solder them but I wouldn't even know where to begin.

[ThreeTheArtist]

@XCFloresX I called Canon Parts and they have replacements for just 7 bucks each (I ordered 2 just in case lol) Thanks for the comment and video tutorial!

[XCFloresX]

@ThreeTheArtist Dude that's awesome! I'm sorry I didn't have a better answer for you but I'm glad you figured it out. How did you contact Canon if you don't mind me asking? That way I can help someone else if they run into the same issue or something similar to it.

[shins05]

@ThreeTheArtist what is the part called? same thing happened to me?

[XCFloresX]

@LeBronFilms That's completely up to you to decide. Do you think you can handle this type of hack? Do you think it's worth hacking? Anytime that you have your camera's internals exposed you are at high risk of damaging your camera so please make a wise decision before you start to take screws off.

[XCFloresX]

@LeBronFilms Don't try this if you don't know how to solder. You can definitely mess something up if you solder the wrong thing. You don't need intense lighting to do this hack.

[LeBronFilms]

@XCFloresX Hey, I did this hack. Works perfectly. However, when I've tested it, there is a constant high-pitched distortion sound. Any ideas on how to get rid of it?

[XCFloresX]

@LeBronFilms I'm not completely sure about that. Try different microphones. Try a mono mic and try a stereo mic, see which works best. Change batteries on microphones.. just troubleshoot.

[LeBronFilms]

@XCFloresX Will do man. I reckon its just the wires/solders are in contact with the processor or other piece of circuitry. Going to pry it open later on tonight. Thanks for your guidance :)

[avivaben]

I really don't understand why Canon couldn't install a bloody microphone jack on the 550d...you have to buy the 550d (about 150$ extra) just for a stupid mic jack!

[XCFloresX]

@avivaben Couldn't agree more. You can pay the extra $150 or you can just follow this tutorial and do it for the cost of the input jack and some solder :)

[avivaben]

@XCFloresX

if this wasn't such an expensive camera, I probably would have...

[XCFloresX]

@avivaben Are you afraid to mess something up?

[avivaben]

@avivaben

I meant the damn 500d, of course

[savantartistique]

You basically only strip off the tips of the red/black wires correct? And where exactly are the 2nd pair of wires (internal mic wires) located? are they below the first two or what?

[XCFloresX]

@savantartistique They are the same exact wire. You're cutting the wire to get two pairs of wires.

[savantartistique]

@XCFloresX Oh ok. So you mean there's two wires in the black plastic and two wires in the red plastic?

[XCFloresX]

@savantartistique I'm sorry what??

[savantartistique]

@XCFloresX Ok, so in this vid you show how to solder the wires for the EXTERNAL mic, but never showed how or where you got the other red/black wires to solder onto the jack for the internal mic. I'm really confused on what you mean by "solder the other two wires to the input jack" if you said that they're the exact same wire...

[XCFloresX]

@savantartistique If you have 2 wires and you cut those two wires in half, you're left with 4 wires. Originally there are ONLY TWO WIRES (one red and one black). I cut those two wires in half so I was left with 4 wires. (two red and two black). One set of two was to the circuit board and the other set of two were to the internal microphone.

[savantartistique]

@XCFloresX Oh I see now. Haha, thanks it was hard for me to visualize at first since I couldn't see close enough in the video.

[XCFloresX]

@savantartistique Please make sure you're prepared to do this correctly because if you screw this up you will be left with absolutely no audio. Be patient and take your time.

[savantartistique]

@XCFloresX Yeah it's no problem I'm sure I'll be fine. I've dealt with a lot of small crafts and whatnot. I'll also have somebody there with me who knows how to solder wires. Thanks for the tut!

[jwilhelm21]

hi, The internal mic still works normally? thanks

[XCFloresX]

@jwilhelm21 4:17

[mrSErgezen]

You did not solder the internal mic back to the camera.

[XCFloresX]

@mrSErgezen It doesn't show it in the video but if you look in the comments you'll see that I did in fact go back and solder the internal mic to the camera. I explain how to do so in the comments.

[kimsquid1]

CAN YOU JUST DO THIS FOR MEEEE ?

[XCFloresX]

@kimsquid1 Are you in Jersey?

[kimsquid1]

@XCFloresX No...Dc...:(

[XCFloresX]

@kimsquid1 Sorry then no can do. Just try and follow the tutorial.

[kimsquid1]

@XCFloresX K thank you so much!

[SaVapors22]

No worries I'm a quick learner, and I just did it to and it works perfectly so thanks anyways , great tutorial by the way x)

[XCFloresX]

@SaVapors22 I'm glad the tutorial helped.

[SaVapors22]

@XCFloresX ello again , so after the sucess my friends decides he wants to do the same thing to his Rebel , i tell him i was scared to death doing it to mine -_- but didint get through to him , he reaches the finish line but disaster, the red wire is pulled out , its soldered to the phone jack but the other end is disconected.. i have no idea what to do for that ? He wants to try and solder the wire back to it , i think its better to find out more.... your thoughts?

[XCFloresX]

@SaVapors22 You have to solder the wire back to the circuit board. Just be careful when you solder... make sure not to get any solder anywhere else otherwise you'll mess up the connection.

[SaVapors22]

@XCFloresX How to sugest we solder it back? strip the wires then solder? or can we solder with some of the rubber on?

[XCFloresX]

@SaVapors22 strip the wires, do not solder with plastic

[SaVapors22]

@XCFloresX Alright but the the red wire thats stuck in the white box of the circuit board i belive has the red plastic ? how do we procceed on with that?

[SaVapors22]

@XCFloresX Or do you mean solder it to the actual circuit board? the green board? or where it came out from ?

[XCFloresX]

@SaVapors22 I don't know what to tell you guy. I can't see exactly what's wrong with what you guys did so I can't give you the correct answer. If all that happened was the wire got disconnected from the circuit board, then attach it back by soldering it. You have to strip the wires and solder to the correct place.. has to be precise though.

[SaVapors22]

@XCFloresX well i kinda glued it first because if i messed up soldering it would be alot more difficult un soldering it , but still after placing it back it did not work , would soldering be better choice?

[XCFloresX]

@SaVapors22 idk guy. I don't know what to tell you, sorry.

[SaVapors22]

@XCFloresX so i kinda figured out the problem , but basicly i need to strip the wire more, but the wire is short enough as it is , is there anyway to connect more wire?

[XCFloresX]

@SaVapors22 Yes, You can extend it by adding more copper wire.

[SaVapors22]

No worries I'm a quick learner, and I just did it to and it works perfectly so thanks anyways , great tutorial by the way x)

[SaVapors22]

Ello! question!? or questions 1. when you solder the two wires dose that other tool come with the Solder? or what is it? 2. When you Solder the wires you do it on that square plate? is that safe!?

[XCFloresX]

@SaVapors22 If you've never soldered before I suggest you learn to do that first before you do anything to your expensive camera.

[godeater0915]

just a quick question. where were the two wires connected before you cut it?

saw ur channel, CTFxC ftw :)

[XCFloresX]

@godeater0915 The wires were connecting the internal microphone to the circuit board.

CTFxC ftw! yea boy!

[godeater0915]

@XCFloresX so how will the internal mic work?

[XCFloresX]

@godeater0915 Refer to the comments, you'll find your answer there.

[trueclaude]

Hey awesome tutorial.I just have a question.I know you mentioned how you made the internal and external both work but i was a little confused.Could you go more into detail with that? Thanks

[XCFloresX]

@trueclaude I'm glad you liked my tutorial. Ok well once you cut the wires and solder the wires to the input jack then the internal microphone no longer works. In order to get your internal mic to work you have to solder the cut wires that are attached to the internal mic onto the input jack as well. In other words, when you cut the wires, you'll have 4 separate wires, all 4 wires have to be soldered to the input jack. Red with Red and Black with Black. I hope this helps, let me know.

[spaghettikid1]

Hi, great video, I was wondering if you know if this is possible on a Nikon D3100 as it also lacks an external mic input, or if you know anywhere where i can get it done professionally or a link to a website that explains it on a d3100 Thanks in advanced

[XCFloresX]

@spaghettikid1 Sorry I don't know anywhere where you can get this done professionally and that is why I decided to do it myself and post a video of my DIY. I'm not familiar with Nikon's but I do know that if you open the camera and find the internal mic cables (black and red wires shown in the video) then you can do the same thing I did with my Canon. Good luck.

[spaghettikid1]

@XCFloresX Do you know of a website which shows how to open the D3100???

[XCFloresX]

@spaghettikid1 Again, I'm not familiar with Nikons, I'm more of a Canon guy. Opening the camera would be the easiest part of this DIY though. I'm sure if you take all the screws off from the bottom of the camera and the screws that are visible around the camera, you'd be able to open the camera . If you can't handle opening the camera on your own then I wouldn't recommend trying this DIY. Good luck.

[nicks3456]

nice planet eclipse tech mat

[XCFloresX]

@nicks3456 lol Paintball ftw! The mat works perfectly for this type of DIY.

[XCFloresX]

If you read the comments you'll notice that it was already done. The way I have it configured it does exactly that. When no mic is plugged in, Internal mic works.

[iToasterman]

use a spludger from iFixit as they wont damage the case!

[XCFloresX]

@iToasterman Good idea..

[iToasterman]

@XCFloresX XD u already damaged ur camera badly :P

[XCFloresX]

@iToasterman There was no damage done to the camera besides drilling the holes for the actual plug. A spudger is definitely a good idea to pry open the case but a small flat head screw driver works just as well.

[iToasterman]

@XCFloresX it looks like marks on the camera D:

[XCFloresX]

@iToasterman Nope. No marks on the camera that could've been prevented by using a spudger.

Thanks for your suggestion, I'm sure someone will benefit from it. If you have any other questions about the tutorial I would be more than willing to help, otherwise, thank you for watching, have a nice day.

[iToasterman]

@XCFloresX spice it and use the special connection that switches when connected, so when no mic is connected, internal is used, when connected external is used :P

[mmstudios95]

so i did the hack today their is a lot of noise now the mic that came with the camera was better what is wrong ?

[XCFloresX]

@mmstudios95 I don't really know what you did wrong or what happened during the hack so I can't give you a real answer. But maybe.. Are you using a Mono Microphone? If you are try getting a Mono to Stereo adapter from Radio Shack for like $3 bucks. Also if you're using a Mic that uses batteries, try changing the batteries too. Good Luck.

[mmstudios95]

please help is this mono or stereo thank you so much

[XCFloresX]

@mmstudios95 The input jack that I installed is a 1/8 Stereo plug.

[WantTeaBag]

can i send my camera to you and ill pay for the build?

[XCFloresX]

@WantTeaBag Not really offering that service but where are you located?

[WantTeaBag]

@XCFloresX Uk,London any help on who can do it?

[XCFloresX]

@WantTeaBag Honestly no and that is why I decided to do it myself. If you just follow the video you'd be able to do it yourself too.

[OneWayDoor]

Good Tutorial.. But I wont do that by myself :( ... I am too frightened to damage the camera.

[a1930ford]

Also, would the cold solder work better than the regualr soldering iron for wires this small?

Typo on previous post was external microphone jacks and not externam mike jacks. (Sorry).

Thanks for any info. My Tachyon camera probably has a bit more space in the case, but I'll have to look to see what the actual microphone wires look like and how difficult it is to get to them. Hope this mod can easily be adapted to the Tachyon camera, too.

[XCFloresX]

@a1930ford I'm sure it can be adapted to any camera as long as you can access the wires. And I don't think it matters what type of soldering you use, either should work.

[a1930ford]

I have a Tachyon XCHD camera that can certainly use a mod like this, as the sound sucks big time on it. What is the wire size you used? I looked at Radio Shack, but didn't see wiring that looked all that small in size. Also, what is the part # for phone jack? I was looking at externam mike jacks at RS yesterday and never found the phone jacks. My mistake in what I asked for though. I'll go back today for the phone jack. I got a neat external microphone there that attaches with sticky tape.

[CouttsPhotog]

this looks surprisingly simple to do. would this allow stereo audio then? or would it still be recorded as mono with an external mic?

[XCFloresX]

@CouttsPhotog I'm not exactly sure about that, I use a Mono shotgun mic but I use a Stereo adapter to plug to the camera.

[XCFloresX]

Sweet! Glad this video helped! Did you do the second part with the internal mic? I tried explaining it in the comments.

[helpyouriphone]

did it today works like a charm.

[XCFloresX]

@helpyouriphone awesome! Glad this helped.

[XCFloresX]

@kad4u

The way I completed it, no. I don't know this for a fact because I haven't tried it but if you attach the other two cables to the input jack then I think it might work. Remember when I cut the red and black wires? Well I only soldered the wires that connected to the circuit board. Solder the other two wires that connect to the actual microphone and it should work- I think. I might end up trying it out myself just to test.

[kad4u]

dose the internal mic still work after this??

[XCFloresX]

@kad4u

It does in fact work. I just opened the camera back up and soldered the other two wires to the input jack (little black box shown in the video).

When I originally cut the black and red wires, I didn't leave enough length for the left over wire attached to the internal microphone, so I had to extend them with some spare coper wire that I had laying around. I then soldered those wires to the internal jack. Red to Red and Black to Black. I hope this helps, if anything message me.

[yaudo]

@XCFloresX

Y think i'm a little bit late (we must take the time in France).

First thank you gor this nice tutorial.

I want to do this modification in my 500D but there is something i don't understand.

Soldering the wires to the internal jack (Red to Red and Black to Black), don't you record the two microphones (internal ans external) in the same time?

How is it possible that the internal microphone in putting off when a jack is plugged?

[XCFloresX]

@yaudo Thank You.

When the external Mic is NOT plugged in, the camera records from the internal mic. When the external mic IS plugged in, the camera records from the external mic.

[yaudo]

@yaudo Ok, I will try it. If it works i think i will make a french version of your tutorial (mantioned your's of cours).

Thanks

[helpyouriphone]

cool



[XCFloresX]

@helpyouriphone

Thanks.