A camcorder microphone is a special type of mic developed to run smoothly with a camcorder or a video-enabled DSLR camera. It is lightweight, able to mount to the shoe of a camera.
Reasons to use a microphone for camcorder
The inbuilt mics on camcorders often sound not good. They always pick up lots of noises produced by the camera itself. External camcorder microphone is designed to outperform the inbuilt ones. They tend to help improve the clarity of dialogue when subjects speak in front of the camcorder OR capture more natural environmental sounds.
Types
No types of microphone are ideal for every purpose. Typically there are two totally different shooting scenarios in the video: recording dialogue and recording environmental sound. If it is the recording of ambient sound, using stereo microphone for camcorder is a good choice. If it is the capture of the subject's voice in front of the camera, the shotgun mic for camcorder makes it.
Camcorder shotgun microphone. It has a barrel-shaped construction and tends to be longer than a typical mic. It comes to have more reach than other types. As a directional microphone, it performs better when picking up human voices. This is why it is often used to pick up dialogue. It's notable this kind of DSLR camera microphone should be positioned as close to the speaker's mouth as possible.
Camcorder stereo microphone. Similarly to the way human beings pick up sound, a stereo microphone does it using two microphones housed in the body. They then output separate channels of sound usually Left and Right. Still, it delivers audio on a single stereo mini-plug connector. Obviously, high-quality stereo microphones are excellent at immersing the viewer in an environment.
Accessories needed when using a digital camcorder microphone
A camcorder microphone mount may be necessary. It offers basic protection from damages, though it is in fact designed to isolate mics from mechanically transmitted noise. An extension audio cable is also a good addition in some situations.
However, proper camcorder microphone windshield is a necessity when it is used outdoors. Most microphones are shipped with a foam windscreen which is useful for light breezes or indoor air but does not perform well when there is a gust of wind. At this moment, a kind of wind protection, namely furry windshield comes. It works like a sock that can be pulled over the microphone for complete protection. All these are foundations to build the best camcorder microphone.