TAKSTAR SGC-598 Interview Microphone for Nikon/Canon Camera/DV Camcorder

For anyone having an issue mounting it to your camera or getting it to fit the hot shoe mount:1. Using a screwdriver, unscrew the mount from the microphone assembly.2. Using a wrench, grasp the metal bracket.3. Using your hand, twist the round knob until bracket comes loose.4. Screw the mount back onto the assembly.5. Slide the whole thing onto the camera shoe mount.6. Turn knob until it is tight.For anyone with an overwhelming hissing sound (on a Canon Rebel EOS, at least. I imagine it's the same for most Canons):1. Put the camera into Video mode.2. Turn the camera's "mode" knob to (M)anual.3. Hit the Menu button.4. Find the "Sound Recording" option within the menu.5. Change Sound Recording to Manual6. Adjust Recording Level to minimum, and then work your way up to where you like the recording levels. For me, it was about 5 or 6 button presses from the absolute minimum. No hiss but still loud audio.7. Go shoot some video with good sound!

At first I was considering a Rode mic, but decided to go for this one since it's literally $200 cheaper. Very glad I saved myself that money because this microphone works just as well as the Rode.If you're using it with a DSLR (which I assume most everyone is since not many camcorders have hotshoe mounts) you'll need to go into your audio settings and turn down the on-board audio amplifier. They don't play well with external microphones and tend to amplify ambient sounds. Set that to 25-30% to get rid of any hissing sounds, and turn on the +10dB switch. With those settings, the audio is perfectly clear, no hissing, and keeps surrounding noise at a minimum.I used it for a video this morning, and stopped talking for a passing car in the background; however, while editing I realized I could've just kept going because the car didn't get picked up at all.Very impressed for the price.

The media could not be loaded.  I've had the comfort and safety of a recording studio for a long time, but now they're tossing me on the road. The video on the Samsung Note 8 was better than my Canon DSLR, so we're recording video with that these days. The sound has always been the issue with any video recording. Yes, the Note 8 has a very capable mic and works quite well in a control environment. But add a little outside echo, some background noise, and some wind, and it's an obvious disaster. A friend has a Rode Video Mic and it does a pretty decent job. After doing some research and talking with some industry professionals, I purchased a Sennheiser MKE600, and this Takstar SGC-598 after reading the reviews. Apparently, there are a few factories that produce the same mics under different labels, so I wanted to hear it for myself. The first test I did was a hotplug comparison of this SGC-598 versus the internal Note 8 mic. Big difference. And the quality was quite good on this mic! I took it out later that day and recorded some usable dialogue outside at a trade show. Yes, it's plastic. Yes, it's not manufactured by a prestigious company. But if you can get past that, you can save a bunch of money and get this completely usable mic. It comes with the shock mount, so you'll save a few bucks there. I purchased a Neewer® NW-MIC-121 Outdoor Microphone Furry Windscreen Muff (https://amzn.to/2E7NV9m) that fit perfectly. I also have a ULANZI U Rig Pro Smartphone Video Rig (https://amzn.to/2Pj0os0) to hold everything together nicely. And there's a Sennheiser PCV 05 Combo Audio Adapter in the mix to help separate the mic and headphone inputs in the Note 8's 4-pole input jack. (https://amzn.to/2ymWszc) I'm gonna buy a second and maybe a third as a backup!

Important notice: I didn't realize how much white noise/hiss this mic when set on +10 db setting created when I wrote this review. The review is only with the mic set to 0 ( NOT +10db ). The audio levels should be good enough at 0db. I use Parametric EQ in post production to get better quality audio gain than simply raising the volume. Just make sure to have the camera's audio gain set to the highest level that you can set it at without getting hiss.I have compared this mic to 6 other mics and this was the best! I have also listened to comparisons online between various Rode mics and the Takstar 598 and the Takstar 598 sounded better to me than the Rode mics, including the Rode VideoMicro, which is actually a fantastic mic with excellent sound quality and convience of small size and no batteries, however the room echo (which is very hard to fix in post) is really bad with the Rode VideoMicro and was much less, barely there in fact, with the Takstar scg-598, so naturally I recommend the Takstar over the Rode VideoMicro.Originally I thought the Takstar scg-598 and scg-698 sounded very similiar on my Nikon d500, but after listening and analyzing little bit more, I came to the conclusion that the sound quality of the scg-598 is better. Also, I couldn't use the +20db on the scg-698 mic when I used it with my Sony RX10 because it was too loud and introduced hissing but I wanted some gain for more juice which didn't happen with the 0db setting obviously. The scg-598 +10db is perfect for the RX10, audio gain levels without any hiss.The Takstar scg-598 and the Senal scs-98 had the lowest hissing noise compared to all other mics and any hissing from these two mics completely went away when I lowered the camera's preamps to appropriate levels. However, the $200 Senal scs-98, produced very low sound compared to the scg-598, even with the +10 db boost. I also tried the Comica cvm-vm10ii mic that plugs into the camera and works without batteries. The sound was good but I had to lower the preamps because of the hissing and then it became too low. The Boya by-vm600 had terrible hissing even with the preamps lowered, it was simply unusable. The Saranomic SR-M3 also had bad hissing on the RX10 and distorted sound on my Nikon cameras. Interestingly enough, the sound of the Saranomic mic sounded quite good on the RX10 (but still unusable because of the noise). The Rode VideoMicro, has great sound quality, but as mentioned above, the room echo is bad.The build quality of the Takstar scg-598 is not solid, it's basically a lot of plastic, but for the excellent sound quality for this price it's a good deal regardless of the build.The dynamic range of this mic is not the greatest, but for what I record, weddings, stage productions, events, and video productions, i really don't need a lot of DR, only full, healthy levels and sound clarity. The Senal scs-598, for example, has a lot of dynamic range, but the sound is muddy compared to the scg-595 ( and also scg-698) and not full of juice compared to the Takstar sgc-598. It's hard to edit low audio, it's much better to have less DR than low audio levels when editing. As long as the high pitch is not clipped or distorted, which doesn't happen with this mic, then the sound is perfectly usable.I really recommend this microphone over other cheap microphones and over the more expensive Rode and Senal microphones.

The media could not be loaded.  I bought this top mic (after owning several top mics) and for the money it really does work very well. It won't achieve perfectly clear audio from across the street, but for VLOGGING or getting better audio generally it's a good budget option. It compares well to the R0DE offerings, and the fact that it takes a 1.5v AA battery (est. 10 hours operation) is a big plus because they are much easier to find than 9volt batteries the R0DE microphones tend to require. I have just ordered a "dead cat" wind jammer for it as the foam shield only protects the mic from the lightest of breezes, as one would expect. If you have a DSLR (I have a Lumix G7) with mic input and want your audio to improve, I would say go for it. I use mine with +0db of gain on the camera and mic and it produces rich audio and reduces handling noise due to the rubber band (spares supplied) suspension system. No big negatives yet, but time will tell if the build quality is as good as it feels! I've also done a short video review of the product which I bought with my own money.

Please don't buy this Mic if you intend to hold your camera, rather than leave it mounted on your tripod. Just zooming or adjusting hand grip sounds like a beating tomtom drum on play back. For best quality you need to be within 2 feet, speaking directly into Mic, don't touch the mic, camera and if you have a dslr don't use autofocus, noise is terrible.AA Battery does NOT fit well into battery slot, hardly fits at all?Mount does not fit flash shoe mount on camera (Nikon dslr and my older Panasonic video ).You get what you pay for, if you are going to be within 2 feet of your mic and camera and won't need to touch the camera, or auto refocus whilst recording voice, then go for it.To me sounds like it has 20db gain at the 0db gain button. I'd give it 0/10.

I bought this after watching a well known photographer who does product reviews on YouTube put this head to head with a rode mic. The overall testing showed that it out performed the rode. I can’t remember which model rode it was but it wasn’t the top of the line. Still it cost 3 times the amount of the Takstar. So this mic is a bargain. From my own use I’ve found it to work far better than the internal camera mic. The build quality is also good. So I’m confident in recommending this to you. Even if you want a Rode you could still keep the Takstar as a backup. But I would suggest buying the Takstar 1st just to see if it meets your needs.

To big as the accessories for the camera

Took a long time to arrive partly due to Christmas post but well worth the wait. An excellent piece of kit and my son is very happy with it.