Why don't newer mini-DV camcorders have mic inputs?

asig338820

I am looking into buying a mini-DV camcorder. I am a recent college grad w/ a degree in broadcasting and would like something that I could potentially use for freelance video shoots. I am hoping to find one in the $250-$350 price range.

Here's the problem... I want a mic jack, so that if I need to do an interview or something I can get good sound and not have to rely on the audio from the camera's internal mic (which is only good for NATS in my mind). But it seems like most newer models, even high end cameras, do not include a mic jack. I don't need tons of bells and whistles, or the top of the line in quality. But I do want to be able to hook up a lavaliere mic.

Why have they stopped putting mic jacks on the camers? And does anyone know of a camera in my price range that has this?
Paul R. I appreciate your insights. I wouldn't want to use it for any big jobs, but if it's something small and rather informal (like an in house training video) then I think I could utilize a consumer model to get some money on the side.

Answer
Canon ZR 500 & ZR 800 have mike jacks. You can also get a digital sound recorder and plug your mic into that. Simply have the camera recording and clap you hands near the mic within the cameras view to synchronize the audio and video.

Can a US bought DVD camcorder be used in Europe ? (because of broadcasting standards being different)?

steph

Answer
The one area you might run into a problem is playing back the DVDs on a set top DVD player. The PAL format common in Europe expects video to be 25fps while the NTSC video common to the US is generally 29.92fps. In most cases, PAL and NTSC video will not work in DVD players designed for the other format.

The other problem is playing back an NTSC video file on a PAL television occasionally looks odd because the cadence of the video file looks slightly odd.

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