[Geoff H]

I never knew!

[ams8]

Hello!
This is my first presence here on Pentax Forums.
I bought K-5 a week ago. Yesterday I made some experiments with attaching stereo mic taken from a very old Hi-8 damaged camera. No additional batteries because K-5 at record movies mode generates 2V DC at L/R mic input channels so mic connection is very simple. Recorded sound quality is surprisingly good as for such a low 32 kHz sampling.
I am sorry maybe such an idea is boring. Is there a do it yourself forum, if yes please tell me.
Best Regards,
a.

[i_trax]

welcome ams8,
you can try:
Do-It-Yourself - PentaxForums.com
Lot of those old mics did have low cut filter build in so the rumble from the motor would not get recorded but for most human and birds voices should be usable.

[sholtzma]

Newbie about these matters. The K-5 manual offers the following specs recommended for an external mic: operating voltage of 2.0V or lower, and an impedance of 2200 ohms. Do I need to match these specs to a mic or not?

[ams8]

Newbie about these matters. The K-5 manual offers the following specs recommended for an external mic: operating voltage of 2.0V or lower, and an impedance of 2200 ohms. Do I need to match these specs to a mic or not?

>>>The K-5 manual offers the following specs recommended for an external mic: operating voltage of 2.0V or lower, and an impedance of 2200 ohms. Do I need to match these specs to a mic or not? <<<
In my opinion there is no problem. Ready microphones, that can be connected to any recording device, they have their own power supply. I have done two DIY attempts. First: I used a very old microphones without any case, each of the three leads. Second: I used microphones removed from the 20-year old Hi-8 camcorder Sony, also with three terminals each. Both sets worked with K-5 well, K-5 gives enough power.
Later I hooked up Hi-8 camera microphones to a 9V battery and to K-5 through the capacitor and resistor. They work very well, but… Mounted on the K-5, mics pick up the noise generated by the CMOS sensor stabilizer. In a silent place such a noise can be heard with the naked ears. Image stabilizer is driven by pulses. I think it is not possible to entirely disable the drive. I noticed that when the Shake Reduction is OFF and Horizon Correction is OFF, the CMOS sensor stabilizer is still under control. I think stabilizer is fighting gravity to ensure proper CMOS position relative to the central axis of the lens. The control can still be heard as muttering and stomping, but unfortunately it also records ... Microphone holder must be soft and well insulated from the camera body.
I am not fully satisfied: when I play video recorded with K-5 and external stereo mics, I hear additional ticking of regular pulses coming probably from the K-5 electronics, I do not understand what is going on. I will come back to my DIY inventions later, during summer.

[Anvh]

I am not fully satisfied: when I play video recorded with K-5 and external stereo mics, I hear additional ticking of regular pulses coming probably from the K-5 electronics, I do not understand what is going on. I will come back to my DIY inventions later, during summer.

That's not the hardware but a problem with the codec,it has something to do with the timing of the audio which not all software read correctly.
Use the search tool on the forum for ways around that problem.

[jpaulb]

I searched this and a couple of other threads for someone who asks, "Why are some recommending stereo microphones for a camera which produces a mono 32kHz 512kbps PCM file as its output audio stream?" I don't see any such question so I'll ask it myself. Stereo in does not result in stereo out. Furthermore, why recommend a switched level (Rode, Senn) mic for a camera with AGC which cannot be defeated? All you are likely to get is a "hiss setting" (low) and a "no hiss setting" (high). The sound capability of the K-5 is terribly limited. No one would use it seriously for music, I am sure. I can see why a cheap external mono mic might give some benefits, but possibly not a lot.

According to the K5 manual

If you used an external microphone to record movie sound in stereo, the sound
can be played back in stereo when you use a commercially available HDMI
cable to output the movie to an HDMI-compatible AV device. (p.258) If you use
an AV cable to output the movie, monaural sound is played back.

As I understand it: the sound is played back in stereo under certain conditions (HDMI cable). Stereo only means 2 channels has absolutely nothing to do with quality.

[Class A]

This is with K-7and DA*55mm and the mic with extensioncord (2 meters) just infront of me.

Beautiful!

Thanks so much for sharing.

[Class A]

The K-5 manual offers the following specs recommended for an external mic: operating voltage of 2.0V or lower, and an impedance of 2200 ohms. Do I need to match these specs to a mic or not?

No.

Impedance matching is necessary if you want to maximise power transfer.

In audio applications (like connecting an external microphone to a camera) it is better to use "impedance bridging" which uses a low source impedance (e.g., 200 Ohm) and a high load impedance (e.g., 2.2 kOhm). This ensures maximum signal level with minimum distortion. Hence you can also use longer cables without much loss.

Hope this helps.

[RonHendriks1966]

Beautiful!

Thanks so much for sharing.

Didn't listen to it for some time, and yes still love it.

She has less performances the last two years but is working on a new album. She (Charlie Dée) was at the 20 year anniversary off "De Kunsthal" (wich is a museum without it's own collection) and made a little clip for the three performers.

K-01 with internal mic.

You Tube

You Tube

[penties rider]

hi everyone, i know this is an ancient thread here but sounds like my K-5's left channel audio doesn't record sound anymore ...

have tried it with two different yet same-model SAVAGE microphones, both of which working fine my K-7 and both of their channels do record sound on that camera but it's not the case with the K-5 ...

the K-5 used to do fine in the past with other microphones though, possibly even with the 1st SAVAGE microphone that i had got earlier but it's not working right anymore!

wondering if it's an internal sound recorder or 'processor' issue with the K-5 or is it just the connector socket has some issues!? dirt? microphone jack not 'sitting' right?

tried removing and reconnecting the jack while recording but the problem is still there!

moving the mic jack around while it's connected and camera recording, pushing it slightly up / down / left / right did record a little short-lived noise on the left channel ... so, apparently, the socket inside the camera is loose or something but still not sure ...

i simply hate to have to send the camera for repairs and have its screws unscrewed and opened!

anyone had similar problems with their K-5?

[jpaulb]

Have you looked at the video in an editing program? There should be 1 video and 2 audio tracks on the timeline. If one of the tracks is flat lined then there is definitely a problem with recording. Check your setup if you can turn one audio channel off. If you have 2 audio track showing in the editor your connection with the HMDI maybe not working. check again if you can turn off an audio channel. If you don't have a decent editing program try Lightworks, it's free.

I haven't use the K5 for about 3 years, switched to a MFT with internal stabalization for video and street photography. I found that although the K5 is a great camera it was too imposing to be candid, people would see it and either pose or turn away, without a tripod my videos looked like the were taken during an earth quake.

[penties rider]

Have you looked at the video in an editing program? There should be 1 video and 2 audio tracks on the timeline. If one of the tracks is flat lined then there is definitely a problem with recording. Check your setup if you can turn one audio channel off. If you have 2 audio track showing in the editor your connection with the HMDI maybe not working. check again if you can turn off an audio channel. If you don't have a decent editing program try Lightworks, it's free.

I haven't use the K5 for about 3 years, switched to a MFT with internal stabalization for video and street photography. I found that although the K5 is a great camera it was too imposing to be candid, people would see it and either pose or turn away, without a tripod my videos looked like the were taken during an earth quake.

_ _ _

thank you jpaulb for the very good response, especially for introducing me to that fine little program, the Lightworks ...

tested both the K-5 as well as the K-7 cameras again ...
used a mono mic on both ... (it's a very old 1990s yet quite a fine desktop computer mic that connects via a mini stereo jack btw but records in mono according to my tests ... ie, it records on both channels, only not in stereo ...)

same exact audio info appeared on both tracks in case of the K-7 camera but for the K-5 camera only the A2 track showed up when running the videos in Lightworks ...

so, the bottom line is K-5's left channel is dead ... (or half-dead at least because as told before, if i move the mic jack around while it's in the socket, sometimes a little noise is recorded on the left channel ...)

come to think of it, i'm wondering if it's been dead since day one maybe? although i do remember i have recorded fully stereo videos using the K-5 in the past as well ... or at least, both channels did work albeit in mono ..

and it's possibly due to the camera's loose socket i guess as i can clearly tell by gently moving a mic's jack inside that socket as well: IT IS LOOSE!
_ _ _

btw, a much easier way to do the same test and without using a special video or sound editing program is via using Windows OS's 'Playback devices' option under the speaker's menu, then double click on the Speaker icon there, go to the Levels tab and eventually click on the Balance button, where another tiny window appears with two L / R volume sliders ... moving either one separately did also let me know the K-5's left channel audio is not carrying any sounds ...
_ _ _

also, you're right K-5 may not be so good as a candid camera on the streets but its in-camera image stabilization works fine! :-)

[jpaulb]

_ _ _

thank you jpaulb for the very good response, especially for introducing me to that fine little program, the Lightworks ...

tested both the K-5 as well as the K-7 cameras again ...
used a mono mic on both ... (it's a very old 1990s yet quite a fine desktop computer mic that connects via a mini stereo jack btw but records in mono according to my tests ... ie, it records on both channels, only not in stereo ...)

same exact audio info appeared on both tracks in case of the K-7 camera but for the K-5 camera only the A2 track showed up when running the videos in Lightworks ...

so, the bottom line is K-5's left channel is dead ... (or half-dead at least because as told before, if i move the mic jack around while it's in the socket, sometimes a little noise is recorded on the left channel ...)

come to think of it, i'm wondering if it's been dead since day one maybe? although i do remember i have recorded fully stereo videos using the K-5 in the past as well ... or at least, both channels did work albeit in mono ..

and it's possibly due to the camera's loose socket i guess as i can clearly tell by gently moving a mic's jack inside that socket as well: IT IS LOOSE!
_ _ _

btw, a much easier way to do the same test and without using a special video or sound editing program is via using Windows OS's 'Playback devices' option under the speaker's menu, then double click on the Speaker icon there, go to the Levels tab and eventually click on the Balance button, where another tiny window appears with two L / R volume sliders ... moving either one separately, did also let me know the K-5's left channel audio is not carrying any sounds ...

Had a problem a week ago. had to patch into a mixing board with a XLR connecter, mono output, naturally I left my XLR mono to 3.5mm stereo adapter at home, the sound man had an adapter and a mono patch cord which we thought would work. I had channel dropouts, hum. Next time I used my XLR to stereo, with a stereo cord; perfect sound.. If you know where you can use a stereo mic or a mono to stereo adapter, even for 30 second to check the quality. It could be mechanical tolerance. It may save you sending the camera to get butchered.

btw I been running Linux since Windoze XP was in testing, wouldn't know about all those fancy apps.

[penties rider]

Had a problem a week ago. had to patch into a mixing board with a XLR connecter, mono output, naturally I left my XLR mono to 3.5mm stereo adapter at home, the sound man had an adapter and a mono patch cord which we thought would work. I had channel dropouts, hum. Next time I used my XLR to stereo, with a stereo cord; perfect sound.. If you know where you can use a stereo mic or a mono to stereo adapter, even for 30 second to check the quality. It could be mechanical tolerance. It may save you sending the camera to get butchered.

btw I been running Linux since Windoze XP was in testing, wouldn't know about all those fancy apps.

_ _ _

thanks for the tips again but I'm sure the camera's left channel's gone, almost dead!

and it wasn't like this in the past as i managed to find an old video i had shot in 2011 with the K-5 using that silly yet good small external computer mic and it was in stereo, both channels working quite fine although a little too noisy!

so, it's a 'new' thing that must have happened in more recent times ... (probably when a mic was connected to the camera some impact to its jack occurred somewhere without me noticing and camera's mic socket got damaged ...)

>>> the last test i did right now was to record a short video using K-5's own inbuilt mic and it works on both channels albeit in mono ... so, the camera's internal sound circuitry is still good and the problem is at the mic input socket ...

it's surely repairable but no, i'm certainly NOT sending it for the repairs, nor would i be doing that myself ... (after all, the amount of money you have to spend on such non-guaranteed costs could well be spent on a new lens or device or even maybe on a new nice Pentax body such as the KP or KS-2 ... :-) maybe, and i'll test it later, if i use a tiny 'lifter' piece of thin cardboard or something similar, it'll help to get the connection on the socket's left channel back to working correctly as before ... have an old laptop with its power socket suffering from a similar slight damage and the same trick has worked there successfully, using it right now to make this post here ...)

besides, one channel working for now is fine and worst case scenario would be i'd copy that channel's audio to the other in post and do things there to make it sound almost like stereo! ;-) (have done this in the ancient past with analog sound and it works!)
_ _ _

things you said about an adapter causing hum etc ...

well, using adapters of all kinds for any application has always been tricky as they may create issues such as hum, noise, insecure connections and so on ... best to avoid them!
_ _ _

the tip i gave you about testing sound channels in Windows is there in the lousy OS itself where you make changes to its sound playback settings by default ... no need for any kind of apps to do that really ... :-)

but if you've been a lucky Linux user for such a long time, then that's really good news for me as well since i've been willing to switch to Linux (or add it as well at least) since about the same time as you have done so and it's not happened yet ... (have used a Linux Knoppix CD for retrieving 'dead' data from Windows HD units though, just like they do in Micro$oft, and it's worked great ... "Windows Loves Linux!" you know ...)
_ _ _

btw, you're right K-5 may not be so good as a candid camera on the streets but its in-camera SR (shake reduction / image stabilization) works fine enough! you just need to make sure its batteries are fully charged when using the SR with video ... :-)
_ _ _

MANY THANKS again for your cooperation and if i manage to solve this problem in a sure way later, i'd certainly post the results here! best regards.