Shure - VP83 LensHopper Camera-Mount Condenser Shotgun Microphone - Black

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• Rated 5 out of 5 stars

  Perfect balance between price and features

  • Tech Insider Network Member
  • Top 250 Contributor

  This shotgun style microphone is thoughtfully designed with everything you want and without things you don’t need. Pros: • Light even with a full metal body • Premium feel • Easy gain and low-cut filter switches Cons: • Foam windscreen is tough to place on and off • Manual is lack luster First impressions are that Shure makes high quality mics. The body of the LensHopper is metal and the shock absorbing mount is well thought out. The battery compartment is super easy to access and can be opened while mounted on a camera. The mic feels substantial in the hands without overweighing your camera down. The manual isn’t very helpful but you will need to essentially turn down the gain within your camera and use the gain control on the mic instead. This will help eliminate any unwanted noise and the Shure LensHopper performs exceptionally well. It may not perform as well as a wireless bodypack but 1000x better than the camera’s built in mic. I do recommend the LensHopper for any level Vlogger due to the simplicity and design. Just 2 buttons and it just works. No frills but gets the job done!

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  Posted 4 years ago by TonyMSP

• Rated 5 out of 5 stars

  Excellent microphone for my mirrorless camera.

  • Tech Insider Network Member

  Nothing gives a good video an amateur feel as much as lousy sound. The built-in microphones on even the best of today’s DSLRs and mirrorless cameras are too small to properly capture quality sound and can’t help but pick up every bit of camera noise. On the other hand, strap a great microphone to the top of your rig, set it up properly and you can bring your videos to a whole new level. This Shure VP83 “LensHopper” microphone is a huge step up from the built-in microphone on your camera and has some fantastic tricks up its sleeve. After I took the microphone out of the box and felt how sturdy and well-made it is, I started to get a good idea for what an improvement it was going to make in my videos. I attached it to the hot shoe on my camera, plugged it into the microphone input (make sure your camera has a mic jack!), flipped the power switch to turn it on with the low pass filter engaged (middle setting on the power switch) and set the gain to “0”. I did a little sound check with the camera and microphone about four feet in front of me and was surprised to see the indicators pop up into the red. I flipped the gain switch down to “-10” and I was set to record a short test video. Wow was I impressed with the results! The sound was crisp and clear with no background noise whatsoever. Moving back from the camera/microphone several feet, I was finally able to set the gain back up to “0” on the microphone without distortion. I haven’t had the need to set the gain up to “+20” yet, but I can see the need if you’re trying to catch a quiet or distant sound. For my purposes the lower gain settings are just perfect. The design with built in shock mount and metal body is incredibly sturdy, the switches feel like they will hold up and the foam cover (non-removable) does a good job of minimizing pop and wind noise. For really breezy outdoor shooting, you might want to invest in a fur windscreen, which is sold separately. The only thing I could think of to complain about are the three-position switches. I will always find myself wanting the middle setting and flipping back and forth past it a few times before I dial it in. It’s a minor quibble, though. People with more manual dexterity than I have will likely not even notice. Finally, I wish I could say something definitive about battery life, but I’ve only had the microphone for a week and haven’t managed to kill a single AA battery yet. I have no idea how long a single battery will last, other than to say it’s a surprisingly long time. In all, this is a truly excellent microphone to mount to the top of your DSLR or mirrorless video-shooter and get some great sound without a lot of weight or bulk. One AA battery will last a lot longer than your collection of memory cards ever could and a backup AA battery is easy to carry around, giving you at least another week of backup power. I’m beyond thrilled with this little microphone!

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  Posted 4 years ago by Kris1973

• Rated 5 out of 5 stars

  Perfect for Run and Gun setup

  • Tech Insider Network Member
  • Top 1000 Contributor

  Shotgun microphones are popular microphones used when you want a small and lightweight setup for run and gun video. There are a couple things that make this microphone stand out from the rest. The first is size. It seems to be just the right size and weight to work on any camera and not add much extra weight or get in the way. I was even able to use this microphone on a GoPro Hero 9 with media mod and it did not get in the way of the video. The next thing I liked about this Shure mic is that it is powered by a single AA battery. There is nothing like shooting video and running out of battery in your Microphone. I am not sure how long the battery will last but either way if you keep a few extras you should be fine. It powers on via a switch on the Back and this could be the only downside is that there is no auto on/off so if you leave it on you could drain the battery. Or forget to turn it on before shooting and have no audio. Overall it has a simple design with only a power button and a switch for +20, 0, and -10 db. The Rycote mounting system is great so that it can freely move around without noise getting into your video. The only downside is that my Mic is slightly off to the side and it appears the Rycote system was compressed in packaging (picture below). It is only slightly deformed and does not change how it functions so I think it is alright. The last thing I will mention is the sound quality. I tested it on multiple cameras and the sound quality is much better than any built in microphone. I would highly recommend this to anyone who wants to up the audio in their videos and make professional quality videos. Having great audio can make or break if people want to watch a video.

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  Posted 4 years ago by dlowen