Thanks Balazer for the quick response. I ordered eventually the AT875 and looking forward to receive it! After a long research and lots of comparison with the NTG1 it seems this mic is better as an on camera because simply it was designed for that. Here are the benefits I found of the AT875 over the Rode NTG1:

-It demands only 9v of phantom power which means you save on batteries when connected to an external recorder such as the TASCAM DR40. - It can be powered directly through the 2.5v power of my GH3 (that's great, thanks for the tip!) - it is not as focused as the NTG1 but actually I think its a plus for an on camera mic since you won't have to change the frame of your image to follow your character. -Since its less directional, I can interview more than one character in front of the camera (again without having to follow them) - I prefer its sound over the RODE for outdoors: its more bright, the voice of the character will sound clearer and more centered. And if I need a bit more bass I can do it easily in post. -Its shorter than the NTG1 i.e low profile and won't be seen in the frame even with an ultra wide angle lens

I have considered the Sennheiser K6 series but its out of my price range and I don't think I'd need a top notch mic to mount on-camera. As I read in many forums, even the most expensive mic will be a waste of money if mounted on camera since the best way if capturing good sound is getting the mic as close as possible to the sound source. in these cases, a boom will be the ideal solution but I won't be able to boom and film in a one man band shooting... thats where a sound man with his own equipment will be necessary!

I just have one question, in order to reduce hiss when connecting the AT875 directly to the GH3, is there a cheap accessory that would do the job when pumping up the gain ? something like a preamp but cheap (not Juicelink or Beachtek, too expensive to me)... Balazer says a Line-Matching Transformer won't be necessary... maybe something else?

Many thanks.

Those pre-amps don't pass plug-in power through to the mic, so you'd need to find some other way to power the AT875R.

I'd say to just try your new mic with the GH3 and see if hiss is actually a problem. You can always buy an external recorder or pre-amp later.

On a separate note, it works fine to connect two AT875R mics to the GH2 or Zoom H1 with an appropriately wired stereo cable.

Yes, they are right angle XLR female connectors. I got them on eBay from seller rdana.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/m.html?_odkw=xlr&item=320831912940&_osacat=0&_from=R40&ssPageName=ADME%3AL%3AOC%3AUS%3A3160&_ssn=rdana&_trksid=p2046732.m570.l1313.TR2.TRC1&_nkw=xlr+right+female&_sacat=0

The connections are all soldered. If you're asking anout the right angle 2.5 mm plug, that is premade, and I searched pretty hard to fiind one with two separate wires like that that I could split off to two separate mics.

PIP is variable across recorders - the Sony front end (D50 M10) is far quieter than Zoom or Tascam IMHO - I make my own HRTF wearable OMNIS (HRTF and spaced Omnis) for atmos - super quiet and cheap - will post a walkthru if anyone fancies - same caps as higher end mics but £10 to assemble and Binaural style repro on speakers.

I have a ME66/K6. Would I get a substantial improvement in sound from it than using the AT875? I'm asking because for fast run and gun documentary work, the AT875 is shorter and since it is cheaper, I wouldn't worry about it getting banged up so much.

Hi all,

I just received my Audio Technica AT875 with an xlr to stereo mini jack cable (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/158476-REG/Hosa_Technology_XVM_101F_Mini_Stereo_Male_to.html) and tried it on my new GH3. It works but I have to say I'm very disappointed with the performance! The signal is very week! I turned up the audio level on my GH3 all the way up but the sound coming out of the mic was still very week. In fact, if the subject is more than 1.5 feet distance from the mic, I can't hear anything. Is this normal? I bought this set up according to what have been said here but in my case, unless I'm doing something wrong, this a bad idea for an on camera solution. At the best it would work if the subject is half a foot from the mic.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

Actually I bought this setup after I listened to your impressive samples. Maybe the voltage coming out of the GH3 mic port is weaker than the one on the GH2. How do I check it? with a multimeter? (I've never done this).

The Hosa cable is wired as described here: XLR female to mic male to 3.5 mic port of the GH3.

I tested the mic using a TASCAM DR40 with an XLR male/female cable connecting the mic to the recorder, works great. I think if the problem is with the Hosa cable, it wouldn't have worked at all no? in my case it works but again the signal is very weak.

Thanks

I've just tested the sound outdoors. its much better. I think there is no problem, but still I have to turn the gain all the way up to get a decent sound. One thing still bothers me is the hiss. Its too present, even when lowering gain. I guess this setup would be ok only if my tascam runs out of batteries and can't feed the AT875 with fantom power. Or maybe I'm comparing two things that shouldn't be compared... In any case (indy documentary work), obviously the best way is to feed the mic with fantom power as it is intended to be.

For an alternative and truly excellent shock mount, might I suggest this, from Rycote here in England:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/330897619093?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

It works remarkably well, as the other Rycote Lyre shockmounts I've used.

First time posting, had to say thanks to Balazer. I was able to hook up my AT875R directly to my D7000 using the wiring instructions you gave. I picked up the parts and had my wire made in minutes. The sound is good enough to use for most of my run and gun type shooting where i don't want to hook up the H4N. Anyways, works like a charm with the D7000. Thanks!

Hi guys, thanks for this interesting topic. Like HillTop1, I'd be glad to know how exactly works the AT875R with the GH3 ; to know if I need to buy a specific cable. Thanks !

@idealist, thanks for the update. Wow ok, is just that mic on the GH3 or all mics? Has any body else use a different mic on a GH3?