TAKSTAR SGC-598 Photography Interview Shotgun MIC Microphone for Nikon Canon DSLR Camera (Need 3.5mm Interface)Auxiliary

Let's face it, in camera microphones leave a lot to be desired. With the video quality of todays DSLR's you really want the sound to be as impressive as the images. Enter the Takstar 598. Not quite Hollywood levels of sound quality but way better than the in camera mic. Let's take a look at it, shall we? First, the unboxing... worth mentioning because this thing comes in a nice package. Much nicer than anything you'd expect from say, Best Buy. With it's contoured foam liner and individual compartments for each item, the original box makes the best storage place for the mic when it's not in use. Inside those contoured compartments you'll find a velvet storage bag, instructions, spare vibration isolators, a battery, mic cover, and the mic itself. Second, the mic... Out of the box the mic itself appears to be constructed as well or even better than you'd expect. The foam cover slips over the shotgun snugly, the mic attaches to the shockmount frame via small rubber isolator bands, the frame attaches to the hot shoe mount via a small tension knob and a nice curled cord with a 2.5mm jack plugs into the camera. Worth noting... a number of people have stated the mic didn't fit their hot shoe mount... you may have to screw the tension knob up towards the mic frame so the mount can slip into the hot shoe. Then screw the knob back down to secure it to the hot shoe! ...much easier than returning the mic because it "didn't fit"! Third, the buttons!... inserting the supplied battery and flicking the power switch on the side of the mic illuminates a green power light so you know the mic is on. Also on the side of the mic is a 10 decibel sound boost and a high pass filter to block low frequency sounds. Fourth, my opinion!... I like the Takstar 598. it was well worth the $30 bucks or so that it cost as my in camera mic picked up way to much background noise (non directional mic's do that). The Takstar is a directional mic so sounds coming from the sides or back is heavily muted compared to the sounds coming from directly in front of it. The battery has lasted nearly 40 hours of being "on" over the course of a few months so it's not like you have to worry about it chewing through batteries, which is nice. Fifth, my only complaints are... The sound comes across quite muted, so you either have to be close to the mic or project your voice more than you would in normal conversation... turning on the +10 boost does amplify the sound to the camera, but not without a noticeable increase in noise and hiss. Also. the low frequency filter is designed to cut out bass heavy sounds but I found it cut into the vocal range making those on camera sound hollow and tinny when it's turned on. Lastly, and most importantly I think... the power light is located on the back of the mic, there really should be one on the front so if the mic looses power or you forget to turn it on (that's happened!) You'd know before loosing an entire recording. Overall, I would definitely recommend this mic to anyone looking for their first upgrade away from their in camera mic. Experienced videographers and professional cameramen having experience with better mics might likely find it less than impressive, but if they can show a better mic for $30 bucks I'd like to see it!

I have experienced the built-in microphone on many video cameras as coming up short. I got a new camcorder (FDR-AX100) and assumed the worst of the built-in mic. I have a nice wireless mic setup which works very well, but it is a nuisance when trying to tape an interview sort of thing. And the built-in mic is going to pick up everything except the interview subject unless you are in a studio. So I figured for the price, this might be the answer to my quandary: no more fooling around hooking the victim up with a wireless mic and no more dealing with room noise. I purchased one of these (same model, different supplier) and got something that was fairly weak and lots of static. I have no idea what was wrong with it, but it turns out it was just broken. I got my second one today ($1 cheaper, go figure!) and hooked it up as soon as the box came. Wow! If anything, it is too sensitive for use indoors. Sound quality is excellent and seems to be directional enough for my purposes. I believe this would work with the children at a park 200ft away! (Gotta try that soon...) The first one (broken) came in a plain brown box without much protection for the mic. The second one came in a fancy box with customized foam to hold the mic and windmuff - far more protection for shipment all the way from China. I guess the packing helps because this one works flawlessly. The base is isolated from the mic itself with small rubber widgets so noise from the camera is not conducted to the mic and this seems like a very good idea. For the price, this is an excellent mic. Be aware there are lots of sellers of this mic and the packaging seems to make a difference. If you get one in a plain brown box, check it carefully.

So far I think this is very good! I do have a couple things worth mentioning however. This is a mono mic. Not stereo. So if that is a deal breaker then look elsewhere. This mic has an EQ that is very low and low mid exaggerated so the low cut function really comes in handy as the main flat signal is quite warm and dark sounding. To sum it up it is a bassy mic. It is also quite sensitive on 10db which is to be expected but the noise floor is a bit iffy especially on older cameras with a poor mic preamp. However I found it did well with bird watching especially after boosting in post. Minus the noise of course. So in conclusion at this price point this mic is very good and has awesome features. You do get what you pay for but for someone on a budget or just starting out with shotgun mics this is a very good option.

One part of my job has me filming training videos. To do this I use a DSLR (Canon T03i EOS). The internal mic cannot be used due to the sound of the autofocus drive, which pushed me into the market for a shotgun mic. I initially went with some fairly 'cheap' options only to end up with poor sound quality. I picked this mic up prior to a video shoot in Hawaii, and it was worth every penny. The sound quality was outstanding, the options on the mic itself are great, but the instruction pamphlet isn't going to be of much use at all. I would advise you to shoot some 'test' videos using different settings to get accustomed to it. By settings I don't just mean the settings on the mic, but also on your camera. The Canon has some settings associated with the external mic, and those will vary from camera to camera. The mic didn't pick up any of the sound associated with the autofocus drive, nor did it pick up conversations going on behind the actual filming. There were people in the room whispering behind me, and I thought I would have to spend a lot of time editing them out, turns out that wasn't the case at all. I turned the volume on the recorded video all the way up and couldn't hear them at all. For me and the environment I sometimes find myself in...this mic is perfect. It's not a small mic, so if you think you'll be taking this around with you and shooting videos during your vacation, well, just be aware of the footprint of the mic itself. While I did carry extra batteries, I didn't need them. I shot roughly 120GB of video, and the same battery lasted throughout.

You know the saying "you get what you pay for?" It almost always holds true. But this is one of those rare cases where you get way more product than you paid for. I can't believe that this Mic for under $30 sounds this good and has useful features. And I'm picky with sound... That being said, I'm newer to the production side of things, but I've been an audiophile from the receiving end for years. Shortly after my son was born, I decided to upgrade my dSLR to one that does videos (Canon 80D), and I knew I'd want to have a good upgraded microphone for certain cases. I did a ton of research and almost settled on Rode..., until I discovered this gem. I listened to many people recording with this compared to the Rode, and I consistently liked how this sounded better. It was clearer and more accurate to me, though the Rode was "fuller" sounding. Considering the cost difference, it's a no brainier, I bought the Takstar. I've taken multiple videos with it now, and the detail is phenomenal! My 14 months wen walking through the woods for the first time, and the sound of leaves crunching under his feet is so real! For a general Mic, it just sounds great. And to top it off, the build quality is quite good! The switches have a good feel, and the battery compartment is secure. Does it feel like a $300 piece of equipment, well no. But it definitely does not feel like a $30 Chinese knock off, though it basically is. Battery life seems good, though there is not a low batt. indicator. I also hate how I hit my forehead on the back of the thing when I try to look through the viewfinder with it mounted. But if you want a good general purpose Mic, this can't be beat.

ARRIVED BROKEN. BEWARE of CHEAP PLASTIC CONSTRUCTION. No sure if this will survive more than a handful of uses for travel. The mic itself doesnt seem too bad, it feels like a cheep plastic toy. But the base portion that attaches to the camera with the rubberband attachments for stabilization is definitely fragile, cheap, dry-chippy kind of plastic -- as though one drop could shatter it into pieces. I'm unable to attach the 4th rubberband for stabilization because the tab that sticks out inside to loop the rubberband around was completely gone. The tab wasn't even in the package at all so it must have been broken even before the sender sent it. I looked inside the bag and the box -- no where to be found. So basically the sender sent me a broken, probably pre-opened, and returned open box item that they packaged as "new". So now the mic sits lop-sided on the camera because it's missing the support provided by the 4th rubber band. So disappointed that I received the mic with broken piece that helps stabilize the mic.Mine seems like it was left out in the sun and dried and became crunchy. When I opened the box it as already put together and was ready to go with the battery already inserted into the chamber with no protective cover so that the battery is definitely used before I got it. The whole thing seemed like someone had purchased it and returned it as it just seemed like it was used or pre-assembled. I will be returning and will want my money back ASAP. I knew it was going to be cheap looking/feeling being that it's 1/3 the cost of a Rode Mic, but I didn't expect it to arrive broken. Not cool sender, not cool.

Ok! Let me start off by saying. This is a Decent microphone, especially for the price. However, there are a few cons that cannot be ignored. I have purchased two of these mics, one I have on a boom, and then another I have on my shoulder rig. I film small budget to no budget horror and action shorts, so we are moving around a lot. These microphones are extremely sensitive! And not In a good way! Meaning, they pick up EVERYTHING. Including the neighbors next door. So we have to manually go into our cameras and turn down the mic sensitivity, problem solved.. right?.. wrong.. the microphones will pick up any hand movement you make on the shoulder rig, or boom pole. Say you need to quietly adjust your hands In the middle of a long scene? It will pick up every tiny hand and finger placement, ruining the entire shot. It sounds like someone is tapping and moving the mic around with their hands. Im pretty sure, at some point, the microphone was picking up my boom operators heart beat through his hands. With these mics there is no way around that unfortunately, and with the price you are not getting Rode quality stuff. The Good about these microphones, is they are super cheap, they work, and they pick up vocals very nicely. Just make sure you don’t have any background noise.

I'm pissed at myself that I waited this long to purchase this mic for my video needs. I've seen it along with the other big name products for years and only recently decided to bite the bullet on this one. I didn't expect much because I never use the audio from the camera anyway. I'll have my big mic plugged into some sort of recorder and marry the audio to the video in post. I do a lot of run and gun style shooting and sometime I don't have the chance to set up proper audio but still want better than what I can get with the cameras built in microphone. Since I've put this on my cam I honestly haven't taken it off. Even at home using it for youtube videos and other content i've been pleased with the sound come from this mic. It's been my go-to mic on my last few videos on my channel [...] Now you will pick up some background noise, while it's fairly directional you can hear thing in the area. The dropoff from the front to behind the mic is not the greatest, it just becomes more muffled. I just had to mention it. Also, I wish there was some kind of way for it to better alert you that you've left it one and could be in the process of draining your battery. I've come back to it days later and saw the faint little green light on like "oh snap I forgot to turn it off." I only takes a small AA battery but I would hate to be out somewhere using this and my battery finally go dead and not have an idea before hand. Overall, it's really just a great option especially for the price. I've had the chance to use the other options by rode and various companies and they're well worth the price, but this one is steal for it's tag. It's cheap enough to buy it, give it a try and not feel like you've "lost out" if it doesn't meet your standards. I just wish I could have told myself that a few years ago when it first popped up.