Review on 🎤 Canon 2591B002 DM-100 Directional Stereo Microphone - Black, Ideal for HF/HG Series Camcorders by Angela Johnson

So you bought a Canon Vixia camcorder? The picture is fantastic - it's hard to believe such beautiful images can be captured from such a compact camcorder. Unfortunately, you can't get top-notch sound from a compact camcorder, no matter how much you pay for it. This is not a design flaw issue; this is due to the physics of sound: a directional microphone has to be long; for the best audio, the microphone must be physically separated from the camera body; after all, a kind of muffle is needed so that wind and breath don't disturb the sound. The Canon DM-100 was designed to achieve all of these sonic characteristics of Vixia camcorders without sacrificing the simplicity and convenience of compact camcorders. I am very happy with it. It plugs directly into the mini jack on Vixia camcorders. When plugged in, it automatically becomes the recording microphone - no fiddling with the settings. It's important to note that it's small enough not to exceed the compact dimensions of Vixia camcorders. Sure, "Dead Cat" looks a bit silly, but outdoors, in the wind, it makes a world of difference; and you can remove it for indoor recordings when you just want to take advantage of the microphone's directivity. There are three main settings: Shotgun (to focus the audio pickup on sounds directly in front of the microphone), 90 degrees, and 120 degrees. ABOUT THIS VIDEO: In this video I just focused on how this mic improves field recordings and showed how the DM-100 looks on Vixia camcorders - I have an HF10 and an HFS10 so I shot it with both , with the "dead cat" on and off. I also used the HF10 (no mic) to film myself using the HFS10 with the DM-100 attached, then synced the audio so I could alternate audio with and without the mic. For shooting myself in the yard, I didn't find the directional settings useful, so I left the DM-100 at 90 degrees the entire time. I also didn't think there would be a good way to get a real sense of the sound quality with this (quick and dirty) video review, but the mic look and wind cancellation are obvious. Please note that when I record with the DM-100 (MIKE ON!) or with the HF10 onboard microphone (MIKE OFF!), the video starts with the sound of the VIXIA HF10 onboard microphone and then I display with funny flashing text. It should be noted that when recording on the onboard camera, not only wind noise can be heard, but also a quiet system hum, which is almost completely eliminated when recording on the DM-100. I know the video is fast, but I prefer to write most of my review in text form and just take the video as an illustration - if you want a closer look at the pictures, just stop and see as much as you want. FINAL WORD: If you value sound, and especially if you ever shoot outdoors, you probably need some sort of external microphone for your Vixia camcorder. There are better and even cheaper microphones; But you have to keep in mind that if you're buying another mic you'll also need some sort of adapter if you want to mount it on your Vixia and it's not powered directly from the Vixia, and you've got a cable. hanging around, which connects to the external microphone input mini-jack. In most non-professional and semi-professional situations, the DM-100 will give you the audio you need, is easy to use with Canon Vixia camcorders, and looks great on your camera.