Wind Protection for the Sony HDR-MV1

Saturday, June 6th, 2015

In my comparison of the Sony HDR-MV1 to the Zoom Q4 I noted that the Zoom comes with wind protection in the form of a rather effective hairy windsock. This feature gives the Zoom a clear win over the Sony for outdoor recordings using the built-in mics.

There are several other things I prefer about the Zoom, but in the end the video and audio quality of the Sony seems to edge out the Q4, so I’ve adopted the MV1 as my music camera of choice, and I’d really like to come up with some form of wind protection.

Mr. Tomoaki Koyama

Luckily someone has already figured out at least one solution. Mr. Tomoaki Koyama uses the Tascam WS-2i windsock and trims the fur to clear the lens. In this video he demonstrates how to prepare the WS-2i and in this one he demonstrates its effectiveness in an outdoor recording.

Outdoor Comparison

I thought it might be fun to compare the MV1 with a modified WS-2i windsock to the Zoom Q4 with its standard windsock. I added a Zoom H1 without any wind protection as a reference, and shot the session on the Lumix GH4.

I think it’s pretty clear from listening to the video clip that my version of the modified Tascam WS-2i did not really do the job. It was an improvement over the unprotected Zoom H1, certainly, but not good enough for my purposes. I watched Mr. Koyama’s video again and realized that I made several mistakes in modifying my windsock, so I’ve ordered another one to give it another try.

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 6th, 2015 at 8:49 pm and is filed under Audio, Comparisons, Video. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.


2 Responses to ' Wind Protection for the Sony HDR-MV1 '

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  1. stu said in post # 1,

    on August 14th, 2015 at 4:40 am

    Hi really enjoyed your great videos.
    I wonder did you ever get the sony with wind sock to be as good as the zoom q4 ?

    I wish to purchase a small video with good sound; I guess these are my only options?

    It’s the a shame that the sony does not perform better in windy conditions, as think from your video’s it would the choice for me, better picture and the sound is fine, but I will be using it outdoors primarily, so dealing the wind will be a challenge.

    Thanks again, if you can advise on which that would be a great help, Stu.

  2. Fran Guidry said in post # 2,

    on September 10th, 2015 at 2:05 pm

    So sorry for the delay in responding. I was unable to get a second Tascam WS-2i windscreen, they’ve been discontinued and were out of stock. But I finally figured out that this windscreen was designed for an iPhone mic, which Tascam had also discontinued. So I decided to go looking for some other vendor’s iPhone mic and windscreen. I found the Rode Dead Kitten windscreen http://www.rode.com/accessories/deadkitten which seemed quite similar so I bought that.

    Since then in my testing the Zoom still delivers slightly better performance in windy conditions, but I haven’t come up with a good day for testing, I’ve been out of town, we had company, the excuses go on for ever (grin). I actually donated my Q4 to my nephew, so I no longer have both units available for comparison.

    I must say that, depending on how severe the wind problem is, you might find that the Sony + aftermarket sock does the job. It will take some fiddling to keep the windsock out of the way of the lens though!!

    As far as options, there are so many cameras and so many uses!! Will you need the very wide angle lens of these cameras? It’s usually a problem for me. How about using a cell phone and an external mic? I like the combo of iPhone 6 and iRig Pro better than the Sony or the Zoom, but it’s not quite as convenient.

    Fran

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About the Blog

    Howdy, my name is Fran Guidry and this is my Homebrewed Music blog.

    I play Hawaiian slack key guitar and recorded my solo acoustic CD at home. Most of the recording information I find on the internet seems focused on bands, drums, multitracking, and so on but my main focus is recording solo acoustic guitar. Lately I’ve been enjoying video recording along with audio, so that shows up in the blog as well.

    I’m also a guitar nut. I love big ones and little ones, handmades and factory guitars, cheap ones and expensive ones. So I’ll be sharing the fun of exploring guitars as well, along with the challenges of amplifying acoustic guitars for live performance.

    Welcome!

Philosophy

    My recording philosophy is pragmatic, skeptical, not super critical. After all, the performance is by far the most important component of a track, and every aspect of any recording is a matter of taste.

    But I do like to know “about stuff.” Back in hifi days I learned about double blind testing. I learned that we humans can easily hear differences that don’t really exist. The more I’ve learned about our human auditory system, the more I’m skeptical of what people say they hear, especially if they claim that a particular microphone or preamp or cable has some magical property.

    I’ve only been recording since 2001, and when I started I found the usual places on the internet. I sought advice and accepted it, thought I would improve my recordings by using more expensive equipment. It didn’t work.

    Two things that did seem to lead to better recordings were experience and room treatment. Getting an appealing sound is the combination of many small details, and learning those details only comes from experience. Amd the sound of the recording space is obviously a big factor.

    I’ve only recorded seriously using digital technology, but I remember trying to record rehearsals and gigs back in analog days. I don’t have any nostalgia for analog recording and playback systems at all. I think even low end digital systems can capture marvelous recordings. So when I look at gear, I look for good specs: low noise, broad flat frequency response, wide dynamic range, low distortion. I’m not interested in colorful components, mics and preamps with a sound, I want the sound to be the sound of my guitar.

    But the last word is that I’m just learning and I hope you find something useful in my posts.