« ‘Another night in Beijing’ Production Canon Eos7D movie
1080p version of 7D ‘Another night in Beijing’ now live on smugmug »

Pinknoise systems 5DmkII and 7D audio cable


7d audio cable
I’ve been getting a lot of questions about the audio cable I use between my Eos7D and my ZoomH4n or Sony PCM-D50 audio recorders. It’s not as some have suggested just a 3.5mm jack to jack cable, but instead features a -25db PAD, it is essentially a carefully made cable with a resistor that attenuates the output. This reduces the output volume of the audio recorder to a more friendly mic level input that the 5DmkII or 7D can cope with. I had it specially made by John McCombie at Pinknoise systems in the UK, he specialises in audio bits and bobs. You can contact him at pinknoise1@gmail.com

Warning, it does NOT defeat the cameras in built AGC but it does give as good as the standard camera can give without using a hack like Magiclantern for 5DmkII from Tramm Hudson. You can of course record on the recorder as well and use the cable to provide a nice clean guide track for later syncing in your editing software. The amazing Pluraleyes software for Final Cut can of course be used to automate this.

Another thing, the Zoom H4n shares its line out with the headphone socket so there is no way to monitor with headphones when using this cable. Maybe someone can make a suitable y-splitter cable. The alternative is to use a recorder like the Sony PCM-D50 with its separate line out and headphones jacks, with this combo you can monitor too. Sadly the Sony does not have XLR sockets, seems you can’t have it all.

Dan

audio cable

This entry was posted on September 26, 2009, 7:31 am and is filed under Audio, Canon Eos7D. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

  1. #1 by Dave Newton on September 26, 2009 - 7:57 am

    I contacted John about this just yesterday. He was rushed so I’m due to speak to him on Monday about it. He didn’t realise you were using it to run from Zoom to camera but since we didn’t have time for a long chat it’s possible there was some confusion in the discussion.
    Which hotshoe mounting block are you using?
    When I speak to John I’ll ask him if he could make a cable that has a female 3.5mm jack on the end to allow headphone monitoring as well. In essence a cable that ends in both male and female connectors.
    Dave

  2. #2 by Randy on September 26, 2009 - 6:59 pm

    Hi Dan,

    Thanks for posting the info on the cable! Could you please link to what you’re using to have the zoom h4n be mounted onto the hotshoe? I can understand what it is as far as grip goes but more interested in where you bought it.

    thanks

  3. #3 by admin on September 26, 2009 - 7:15 pm

    Randy,

    The hotshoe adapter is a little Chinese made accessory I bought locally. I’ve not seen them elsewhere. Zacuto make a nice but somewhat expensive hotshoe adapter or can use a Manfrotto mini ball head and shoe.

    Dan

  4. #4 by Randy on September 26, 2009 - 8:17 pm

    Hi Dan,

    Any chance I could send you some money via paypal in exchange for a few? It’d be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks!

  5. #5 by Tonis on September 27, 2009 - 9:22 am

    We have been customers of Pinknoise for every audio releated purchase and John just cares about what he does.

    T

  6. #6 by Herb on September 27, 2009 - 12:33 pm

    Dan,

    I, too, would like to get a few of those hot shoe adapters that Randy wants.

    Herb

  7. #7 by Bela on September 27, 2009 - 1:08 pm

    To go into this much hustle and extra cost accessories just to record sound with a camera? In the fall of 2009? C’mon guys and gals, get a real video camera instead, those have at least 2 XLR inputs, frequently four, AND a separate headphone jack and/or built-in monitoring speaker as well.

    This Frankensteinizing of DSLR cameras with extra cost and extra weight this, that, and the other is plain crazy. But hey, the seemingly limitless “third party vendors” must love it!!!

  8. #8 by John McCombie on September 28, 2009 - 1:00 pm

    Just loaded a DSLR audio section on the pinknoise website, the cable is listed here and more to follow in the next week, Cheers, John McCombie.
    Pinknoise-Systems Ltd
    http://www.pinknoise-systems.co.uk/dslr-shooting-c-78.html

  9. #9 by lilikindsli on September 30, 2009 - 1:04 am

    wSEMFa I want to say – thank you for this!

  10. #10 by Peter Corbett on September 30, 2009 - 5:37 pm

    John McCombie :
    Just loaded a DSLR audio section on the pinknoise website, the cable is listed here and more to follow in the next week, Cheers, John McCombie.
    Pinknoise-Systems Ltd
    http://www.pinknoise-systems.co.uk/dslr-shooting-c-78.html

    John,

    I tried buying a cable but the delivery method in the checkout is greyed out and won’t allow the order process to proceed. The destination is Australia. I sent an email to Pink support a few days ago without response.

    Peter

  11. #11 by Casey on September 30, 2009 - 5:52 pm

    For those interested in the hotshoe mount, one like it can be had in the US here: http://www.filmtools.com/ninmounbracf.html among other places.

  12. #12 by Bela on October 1, 2009 - 12:48 pm

    Re. Pink Noise of the UK, great selection of accessories. Just keep in mind that prices over there are a tad higher in British Pound than they are in the USA in US$.

  13. #13 by Globals on October 3, 2009 - 12:14 am

    all good things

Comments are closed.