SonyDigital Shotgun Microphone ECM-M1,Black

It's a good mic but there are no perfect mics so it's important to understand what you are buying:- The ECM-M1 sounds great if you are close to the camera and keeping a somewhat consistent distance from it. I'd say less than 1.5 meters (5 feet) close. As you get further away, expect the sound quality to drop off. This is not a flaw with this mic but a general rule that usually applies.- If you really want the ultimate in sound quality, this is not your mic. Instead you'll need a studio setting with a dedicated condenser (or dynamic) mic positioned close. You'll want to use XLR cabling with a dedicated 32-bit float recorder. You'll also want a sound treated room to combat sound reflecting around. Yes this is expensive and inconvenient, thus most people actually are looking for a "good enough" mic for their target budget and desired convenience level.- If you want "decent" quality and can not always be close to the camera, prioritize a lav mic setup. I use the DJI Mic 2 and think it's a good product. Note that, when close to the camera, the ECM-M1 sounds better to me than the DJI but the DJI does not limit your position and is thus a better "do it all" choice.A big perk of the ECM-M1 is the convenience factor. No batteries to manage (and many of these devices have batteries that degrade over time). No risk of damage to the 3.5mm plug and good quality sound as long as you are close and don't vary your distance from the mic too much. It can really be the ultimate in "quality with convenience" if you can work within its imposed constraints.Also consider using two fully-independent mics together (such as the ECM-M1 and DJI MIC-2 lav-only). This gives you fully-redundant audio sources and can rescue a take if one of them has poor quality or fails to record.

Added this Sony microphone to my Sony A6700 camera and very happy with the results. Sound from theic was clear and bold, just like I like it. Well worth the cost!

I purchased the ECM-M1 for my Sony A7Siii, which I use to record concerts and events, including college audition videos for musicians. The audio quality is surprisingly good considering the importance of placement. It's important to work as close as practical to the subject, to minimize noise and early reflections (which cause a hollow sound due to cancellation). It fits in the flash shoe of any Sony camera with a multi-use port. In older cameras, the interface is analog, bypassing the level controls in the camera. In newer cameras, including the A7Siii, the interface is digital, bypassing the (noisy) camera preamp altogether. The pickup pattern is adjustable for several patterns, including stereo, and the selector dial has a push-push rotation lock (!!!). The construction is plastic, but rugged enough for field use. It seems wobbly due to the built-in shock mount, which is only partly effective against handling noise. Handling noise is not a problem on a tripod or gimbal.

Words cannot describe how much I love this microphone.Unfortunately it covers my monitor on my Sony a6400. I have the autofocus on my face at all times anyways so I suppose I don’t need to see myself that bad!

Sounded much better than my Rode Videomic Go II on my ZV-E10, but there were basically no options in the menu for it.On my ZV-E1 it gave me the choice of 16 bit 2 channel, 24 bit 2 channel, and 24 bit 4 channel (not sure what 3 is, but 4 is a safety that's recorded at a lower volume).Great stereo sound, very true to life. I wish I bought this sooner!

I was hoping that this microphone would have some sort of 3.5mm out, but it's just a straight-up hotshoe connection to your Sony camera. I couldn't fully review the quality of the mic as I don't own any Sony cameras. However, I can say that the form factor is much more discreet than a regular shotgun mic, as it doesn't have a huge hotdog-shaped thing pointing at your subject.It has four microphone capsules at the top of the mic and uses beamforming to get the sound that you want based on your needs. You can easily switch different configurations with a dial. This is huge when you're shooting in variable conditions that require different types of mics. The form factor is just impressive with this setup, as it isn't as clunky as a traditional shotgun mic. Keep in mind that it won't rival the sound of a professional shotgun mic, but it will work just fine for regular people like you and me.There's a lot of tech in this microphone, which is why the price is a little high for such a small mic. The beamforming tech was previously used in high-end conference call mics, so I'm glad that they adapted it for use with videographers. The strength of this mic is not necessarily the sound quality, which is still way better than built-in sound, but rather its versatility. The different scenes that you can set this mic up for is the equivalent of several mic setups that can easily fill up your bag. Some reviewers compare this to Rode equipment and that's not a fair comparison because each product has a different use-case.My only complaint is that it is a Sony-only mic due to its proprietary hot shoe that supplies the power and connectors. This would be a great buy if it fits universally, or if there were some type of adapter so that I could use this with other types of cameras.