[esoterik1967]

I just bought my daughter a KS1. She just graduated from CU with a degree in film and I understand this camera will be just a "stepping stone" for her but I am new to the DSLR world and I would like to know if there are any options to connect an external microphone either directly or through the optional wifi adapter (flu card?)? I'm a "tinkerer engineer" by nature so once she is moved on to a different camera and the warranty expires and there are no options available for external audio I may try and do a modification to the camera myself. But before I even consider that I would like to know if there are any options out there or any on the horizon?

[aremmes]

The K-S1 doesn't have a connector for an external microphone, a characteristic that it shares with the K-30/50/500. The K-S2, K-7, K-5/5ii/5iis, K-3/3ii, and the upcoming K-1 have microphone inputs.

[rawr]

I don't think it is possible to connect an external microphone.

The 'connectors' you have are an HDMI port (only allows output), a USB port (some degree of input/output), the SD card slot (dumb output), and the ability to load a WiFi card into the SD card slot.

Alas all of the options above don't seem to lend themselves to allowing external audio into the camera.

The best option for doing external microphone input into a camera like the K-S1 (like the K-x, which also doesn't allow external microphones) is to record the audio outside of the camera with a external mic, and sync it with the video later in post-production. This also gives one the most flexibility in terms of mic vs camera placement too.

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/75-video-pentax-hdslrs/97504-pentax-k-x-e...recording.html

Sync Sound: How to Work With Pocket Audio Recorders | Videomaker.com

etc

But if you felt really handy, I guess it wouldn't be impossible to remove the top of the camera and wire up a stereo microphone plug. But it may not be worth the trouble, since syncing external audio recorders isn't impossibly hard.

[esoterik1967]

i don't think it is possible to connect an external microphone.

The 'connectors' you have are an hdmi port (only allows output), a usb port (some degree of input/output), the sd card slot (dumb output), and the ability to load a wifi card into the sd card slot.

Alas all of the options above don't seem to lend themselves to allowing external audio into the camera.

The best option for doing external microphone input into a camera like the k-s1 (like the k-x, which also doesn't allow external microphones) is to record the audio outside of the camera with a external mic, and sync it with the video later in post-production. This also gives one the most flexibility in terms of mic vs camera placement too.

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/75-video-pentax-hdslrs/97504-pentax-k-x-e...recording.html

sync sound: How to work with pocket audio recorders | videomaker.com

etc

but if you felt really handy, i guess it wouldn't be impossible to remove the top of the camera and wire up a stereo microphone plug. But it may not be worth the trouble, since syncing external audio recorders isn't impossibly hard.

thank you! Great info!

[ScooterMaxi Jim]

Even if you could figure out where the proper contacts are located on the circuit board, the potential for causing a fault while soldering are pretty high, and the spacing so tight that the wiring would likely not allow for proper reassembly. The whole idea is possible, but success would be a long shot, IMHO. The rawr suggested workaround is your best bet.

I like using a discrete mic/recorder (Olympus LS-7) wired directly to the K-3 input (or K-01), and that obviously makes the sync a lot easier. However, if I had to do it entirely discretely allowing the camera body and mic to record separately, that wouldn't be a big deal. Bottom line, a discrete recording is far superior to what the camera body accepts (especially so in the case of the K-01 which has a high noise floor and severe high-frequency roll off).

[jerel]

A newbie here but immediately really useful content on a topic of interest to me. Thx to all who posted; sorted on this one.