A member of ProAudioNews responded to my post about using your camera's camcorder mode as a field recorder.
JQB:
Interesting idea, however walking around with a massive camera around your neck makes you look like a tourist. Also without a decent mike with mufflers you will can get lots of problems with wind and movement crackles.
I felt like responding to JQB's response!
First off, my camera is not "massive" thank you very much ;-), and I live in LA, so people walking around with cameras [shrug] tourist, paparazzi, whatever. Everyone walks around with cameras here, ya know.
So without going and actually reading my post, the point was to be able to get clean, decent, usable recordings with a minimum of fuss, expense, and without calling attention to yourself. I needed outdoor ambiance, and I couldn't get the results I wanted with voice recorders, mp3 players, or cellphones. I didn't want to haul my laptop, soundcard and mics out to Santa Monica (where with that kinda kit I could just imagine being asked for a permit).
I was able, though, to get what I needed from a Powershot S2 in sound recorder mode.
Just as an example I took a recording of our apartment's fountain using my PPC6700 in voice memo mode, and my S2 in sound recorder mode. Both were recording in stereo, 16-bit @ 44.1K, and both held from the same distance. There was no post done to the sound at all other than to convert to 320Kbps mp3's.
PPC6700:
Powershot S2:
Just for kicks I took the S2's recording and made it into an underwater ambient.
Thanks for reading JQB!
