Question on stuff like this:
http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/11350991_G9vAj#797228127_NWX23
The XLR seems to be plugged into a quarter inch port on the camera.
Why cant this port be used to record the audio transmitted into the microphone opposed to some external box? Can't I just get a 20ft XLR > 1/4in cable, plug it into the camera, and use a DIY boom pole?
A few reasons:
1. XLR works better than regular 1/8" or 1/4" cables - XLR protects against interference. Even on a 10' run of minijack cable, you'll be way more suspectible to various noise interference. Basically the cable becomes a giant antenna. You can get away with it - sometimes - but it'd be better to do a long XLR cable, then like a short 6" XLR-to-Minijack adapter on the end so that you minimize the antenna-ness. XLR is shielded against that stuff because of the wiring.
2. Most microphones need power to record, either via a battery or by line power (called phantom power, which comes from the recording device - camera, recorder, or mixer - usually 48 volts). If your microphone runs off batteries, great. If your microphone needs phantom power, then you need something that will send juice to the mic via XLR - the minijack mic inputs on cameras don't send power typically. So you'd need some kind of small amp (usually a mixer) to power the microphone(s). Juicelink makes some nice ones for small cameras and dSLR's:
http://www.juicedlink.com/
3. Canon cameras have a huge fault with onboard microphone recording - AGC. AGC stands for auto-gain control. This means it auto-adjusts the microphone levels to what it feels is best. Basically the camera's mic port is like a kid playing with the sound dial on your stereo - up and down, up and down, up and down. Not real good for getting consistent audio quality. You can do it, sure, but you're not going to have the level of control you want, because you get NO control with AGC.
This is one of the biggest complaints people have with Canon dSLR cameras - it's convenient to record audio to the same file as video, but not if your audio can't be controlled. It would be like buying a camera that only has autofocus - you don't get to choose what's in focus in your shot, the camera does - it takes away your artistic control. Yes, it gives you a picture, but not necessarily the one you want. So that's why you want a separate audio recording system with a Canon dSLR camera.
The trick is to get use PluralEyes software - you record using the Canon's onboard mic to get a reference track, then you use PluralEyes to sync your good external mic to the soundtrack automagically (it matches up the waveforms of the audio to each other for you, so you don't have to do it by hand, which is a long & painful process). It's like the best thing ever for amateur cinematographers:
http://www.singularsoftware.com/pluraleyes.html
The "professional" option is called TimeCode, which generates a time clock numbering system that matches on both the audio recorder and the video camera. Then when you edit the audio and video together, you just have to match up the numbers, which is a lot faster and easier than matching up the wave pattern of the audio for every single track (easier because the software can take care of it for you).
But an audio recorder with TimeCode starts at several thousand dollars, the same for cameras with TimeCode. So this PluralEyes software is awesome because it's similar to TimeCode, but without any of the setup or hardware required. So now you can have super-high-quality audio with your awesome video without much effort or cost
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