Re: Does 5D + Magic lantern + Juicedlink pre-amp = audio capture success?

Bill,

I truly enjoyed reading your stories!

One thing to keep in mind is that pre-synced audio is incredibly alluring to any solo shooter who doesn't have a dedicated sound person logging every take. In an ENG environment, logging is often out of the question. I tried defeating the AGC of a different camera on the cheap without using a Juicedlink or Beachtek, and the results were not great because the recording level ends up being too low. Perhaps the Juicedlink/Beachtek preamps get around this one issue by pumping up the recording level such that it is high enough but still does not distort the input of the DSLR? Of course other issues remain as you pointed out.

The solution I went for is to get a Marantz DMP661; could have gone with the Zoom H4n, but I didn't like the handling characteristics or the interface. (Zoom just came out with a firmware update that allows you to set the levels on the two XLR inputs separately. What?? You need a firmware update for someting that basic? Little league stuff, in my opinion, and I didn't want to deal with it.)

That said, I'd love to know what results people get out of a Juicedlink or Beachtek and DSLRs in general (not particularly interested in the 5D per se).