DJI Mic 2 and Action 4... A back-up audio issue that may bite you!
Автокөліктер мен көлік құралдары
I tried to keep this video short and sweet but I can add a bit more meat to the bones below!
I have recently bought the DJI Action 4 and I had also spent about £52 on the official adapter that plugs into the side of the camera and lets me connect a wired lavalier mic (lav mic) from my crash helmet as well as let me connect the camera to a power bank at the same time.
Then I saw that the new standalone DJI Mic 2 had just come out and this promises to allow me to connect it to the Action 4 wirelessly, thus removing one lav mic & cable (plus the adapter I just bought...) out of the equation 😊
However it must be said that I have a certain way of doing my motovlogs.. as a rule I am not the type of motovlogger who keeps starting & stopping their cameras while out on a ride. I like to "set and forget" - meaning that start recording at the beginning of a ride and stop at the end, which is why I use a power bank. And yes... that means I have many, many terabytes of video footage!
So, knowing that the Mic 2 had internal memory and could record for hours at a time, I had hoped to be able to start recording on the mic and then shortly after start the Action 4, have it connect to the mic and start recording on that *whilst still recording on the Mic 2*. Then, if I do stop the camera for some reason (stopping for lunch for example), I could restart the camera later, continue recording and all the while, I still have the backup audio track in the mic to fall back on.
Also, if I forget to press Record on the Action 4, with the back up audio, I could perhaps sync the Mic 2's internal audio to the one or two other cameras I usually have running on my motorbike anyway. All my problems are solved, right? Well, wrong; it turns out that this configuration is not possible - if the Mic 2 is recording internally when it re-connects to the Action 4, then that internal recording is stopped.
It's because the connection between the two devices is Bluetooth and the Mic 2 cannot continue recording while a Bluetooth connection is initiated.
Funnily enough, if I press record on the Mic 2 after the connection to the Action 4 is made, that's fine and I get an internal recording... until I happen to turn the Action 4 off and then on again later, and the Mic 2 stops recording again. It's a shame that DJI couldn't fid a way to use Bluetooth LE (Low Energy) to keep the two devices connected, but then that would take a toll on battery life on both the camera and the mic.
There is a feature on the Action 4 called Audio Sync which makes sure that the camera & mic start and stop recording at the same time as long as they are already connected. This is probably what I'll end up using but I really didn't want to stop the Mic 2 at all once I started.
I have used external audio recording solutions in the past (I have a Zoom H1n and a number of 1-into-2 audio splitter cables!) but I had hoped that this would be a more compact solution to my back-up audio needs with fewer cables to worry about.
Пікірлер: 12
I wish it would record 2 audio tracks, one of the internal action 4 mic and one of the DJI mic 2
@tsdmoto
3 ай бұрын
You can set the mic up for local backup in 32 bit, then sync after the fact in your editor. It's not as easy but may be necessary as my pair of DJI Mic2's, connected to two Action 4s, were cutting out when I was in traffic today.
I watched this yesterday as mine arrived and I'm playing around. I think this might have been fixed in the latest camera firmware as I can press record on the camera and it starts recoding on the camera and mic.
@RikkyTang
7 күн бұрын
@MavisFilms thanks for the info, I'll check for firmware updates and if I get any, ill test it again.
@MavisFilms
7 күн бұрын
@@RikkyTang Morning :) I ran a test yesterday with the mic connected to the OA4. I was driving round in the van, so not a bike test. However, what I did was to hit record on the camera, and the mic also started recording. When I got back, I loaded all files into Davinci Resolve. In my case, it didn't give audio and video files the same name, but they were sequential, so I tried dragging all of the video, then all of the audio to the time line. They matched up. Then I used the auto sync audio option, and hey presto - the audio recorded by the camera via bluetooth was replaced by the 32 bit float recorded by the mic. As far as I can see from this brief test, for me, turning off the noise reduction was a better option as it is something I can do in post better. I didn't listen to the bluetooth tracks so can't compare. Hoping for some non-raining weather the weekend so I can get out on the bike and test it :)
@RikkyTang
7 күн бұрын
@MavisFilms thanks for your results! However what i would need to test is, does the internal backup recording on the mic itself keep recording if you stop the camera, turn the camera off (with the mic still recording its own audio track), turn it on again and allow the camera and the mic to reconnect. At the moment, it's at that point where the two devices reconnect that the internal recording on the mic 2 stops.
@MavisFilms
7 күн бұрын
@@RikkyTang It was simply a quick run to work so not sure. I did press stop and start on the camera several time, but in all cases the sync audio to video option was checked, meaning the camera started and stopped the mic from recording. I guess the next test would be to see what happens if you leave the mic running and turn the camera on and off. I'm going to try this on my way to work and will report later.
@MavisFilms
6 күн бұрын
@@RikkyTang Simple answer - yes. First, turn off AV sync option in the camera wireless mic settings so the camera doesn't try to control it. Secondly, you need to press record on the mic first, and the camera record second. If you do camera first it doesn't seem to connect. I tested this by turning both devices on, checking they connected, hit record on the mic then record on the camera. I then stopped the recording on the camera and physically turned it off. The mic kept recording. Then I turned the camera on again, allowed reconnection and hit record on the camera. Rinse and repeat. In all, I had the mic recording one track, and had three different video files. When I put the lot into DaVinci, all I had to do was shuffle the video tracks audio waveform to align with the mic audio waveform.
From what I have seen on the Tube Rikky the DJI is a good camera "I don't have one " and this mic looks to be pretty good . I tried road mic's with no success which tells you how bad I am with tech 😉I then just gave up after wasting about £700 on Insta and Rode mics .These for some reason look tempting but I think I will be more cautious than I was in the past I never ever got the sound right either even with a wired mic so I have great respect for all you guys who manage to get good sound and good footage too .👍
@RikkyTang
5 ай бұрын
Hi Mal, I hope to put it the test on a bike soon! I can tell you that it's taken much trial and error to find a halfway decent setup with mics, cables and adaptors hanging out all over the place 😂 I hope to do a trackday this year and with this setup , I should be able to have the camera mounted on the bike but still be able to record me talking... maybe shouting and screaming too haha 😁
@crumblymal8479
5 ай бұрын
@@RikkyTang 😂Look forward to that 👍
@MavisFilms
7 күн бұрын
My push bike setup is osmo action 4 and this mic. It really doesn't get any simpler on the road than this. I was using the rode wireless go 2, but wanted this as osmo 4 and rode don't always connect, and you have to have transmitter and receiver on a ride. This connects directly to the action cam and is controlled by it. Love the osmo action 4.