Can I get a videocamera that uses an external microphone? [ASK MR. NOOBIE]

QUESTION: Do you know of a digital camera/camcorder that will take video and accept an external microphone?
I’ve been trying to find one that will take the input from either a headset or lavaliere microphone so when I’m video’ing one of my workshops, and I’m more than 3 feet away from the camera, I can have a recording without the camera noise. Thanks – DeBorah B. from Beaverton, Oregon

ANSWER: DeBorah, I struggled with this very thing myself a few years ago. Remember, when the Flip cameras were all the rage? Well, the one glaring flaw of the Flip camera was the lack of an external microphone input. That’s why Kodak included one on its Zi8 knock-off of the Flip camera.

But neither of these cameras would be ideal for your workshops which doesn’t really matter because neither of these cameras are manufactured any more. They are both obsolete, replaced by built-in cameras on smartphones.

So what your left with is another dying market, the handheld camcorder. But at least you can find models with external microphone inputs if you look hard enough.

A few years back, I purchased the Canon Vixia HF M41 which I can assure you has an external microphone input because I use it for all of my Noobie videos. In fact I use it specifically with the Azden WMS-PRO Wireless Microphone System which works great.

But once again, time has caught up to us and unless you want a used model of my camcorder, you’re going to have to look for a newer model.

A quick search of Canon Vixia models on Amazon.com reveals a handful of choices priced anywhere from $300-500. I looked at the specifications for one in particular, the Vixia HF R42 but Amazon didn’t mention anything about an external microphone input. But that didn’t stop me from looking up the specifications on Canon’s website where I found this:

Microphone Terminal: 3.5 mm diameter stereo mini-jack

I’m not necessarily recommending this specific camera as much as I am telling you that if you dig deep enough with Canon’s line of camcorders, you’re certain to find a model or two that, like the Vixia HF R42, have the external microphone input you’re looking for.

If you end up buying one, drop me a line and let me know which one you ended up with so I can update my readers through this blog post.

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