Cavalcade of external mics with the Kodak Zi8

Here is proof that the illustrious Kodak Zi8 pocket sized HD camcorder will work with just about any kind of external microphone you can throw at it. In this case, these are all electret mics which require a powered mic jack (as opposed to the kind which have a built-in battery). Featured are the fake Hong Kong Sony stereo mic from eBay, the real official Sony ECM-DS30P stereo mic, two GE mono mics from Target, two older generic PC mics, and the built-in mic of a cheap webcam.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• kodak
• zi8
• digital
• video
• camera
• camcorder
• hd
• 720p
• 1080p
• wvga
• external
• stereo
• mono
• monaural
• mic
• mike
• microphone
• mics
• microphones
• test
• comparison
• sony
• ecm-ds30p
• ecm-ds70p
• hong
• kong
• fake
• counterfeit
• ebay
• ge
• pc
• laptop
• headset
• target
• webcam

[23SarahBeth]

Can you use a Zoom H2 as the external mic for the zi8??

[vwest7ife]

@23SarahBeth You could connect the Zoom's headphone output to the Kodak's microphone input, but I'm not sure how good the quality would be.

[wutang4life36]

hey great vid, where can i get that extension cable from?

is that what it called?

P.E.A.C.E.

[vwest7ife]

@wutang4life36 I just used an ordinary 1/8" headphone extension cable.

[CurleysPizzeria]

why does no one test outdoors with wind?? Even the built in mic's work perfect indoors, not much of a test.

[thoughtgrenades]

@xsabers the shape. Real ones are more rounded, fake looks more rectangular

[thoughtgrenades]

Did you get rid of the hissing sound? When I insert my mic, I get an annoying hiss/buss. I'm running firmware 1.06

[inalchemy]

hi I placed your video on my site learn kodak hd.com

[Laurencia7]

and yet still the fake mic sounds better, score 6 for fake!

[xsabers]

How can you tell the fake SONYs from the real ones (except they are only $5)?

[jandbrare]

You answered the question whether a battery-powered mic is required: Not. I bought an Olympus ME52W and I don't think it sounds as good as the internal mic.