FINALLY! I can officially announce the RODE Video Mic Pro and ten to give away!! Winners Announced!

Competitions DSLR Gear Sound

EDIT: Winners drawn but please still donate!! Here is a list and an embed of the very silly live draw!

Peter seweryn

Dan ngyuen

Hans kabal

Eamon Dimmitt

Sean taye

Andrew reale

Rob Thompson

Brian English

Steve Dispensa

Ramier jonze


I have always recommended the Rode Video Mic as my on camera shotgun mic of choice for DSLRs, I used it on Venice’s People to great effect. I was shocked at how good a camera mic could sound.

Back in September I met up with Damien from Australian based RODE in Santa Monica when I was there doing a workshop and he told me about the new Video Mic Pro. I received one to test out in November and used it on my penultimate Movember film at the Gala party in a crazy loud environment with my GH2 and it performed spectacularly. An on camera shotgun had no right to sound as good as this. With it’s +20db sound option this has strong powerful sound! Unfortunately I was under an embargo on revealing the mic until it was ready for sale, well that embargo has just been lifted and I can now officially announce it!! Hurrah!

It’s smaller than the VIdeo Mic, the perfect size for your DSLR, has better rubber bands for suspension and overall sounds A LOT better! For more tech specs check out the data sheet further down this blog. It will retail for around $230 or so and dealers should be getting stock in 2 weeks or so..

  • Broadcast recording quality condenser microphone
  • Compact design (only 150mm/6″ length)
  • Ultra lightweight (only 85g/3oz)
  • 9V battery powered, with up to 70 hours battery life (alkaline)
  • Integrated shock mounting
  • Integrated foam windshield
  • 3.5mm stereo mini-jack output (dual mono)
  • Two step High Pass Filter (flat, 80Hz)
  • Three position level control (-10dB, 0, +20dB)
  • Camera shoe mount with 3/8″ thread for easy boompole mounting

    • GH2: Movember Gala Party from Philip Bloom on Vimeo.

    Shot at the London Movember Gala Party on the Panasonic GH2 pre-production EU version with Voigtlander 25mm F.95 lens.

    Straight out of the camera. No grading.

    Sound with Rode Video Mic Pro.

    Please donate to fight prostate cancer here. Every little helps please!: http://uk.movember.com/mospace/653544/ It’s not too late to donate!!!

    Music High Wire by Edwin Astley

    RODE are the company bringing me to Australia in February for a series of DSLR workshops which I am really excited about. They have also incredibly generously donated TEN, yes TEN Video Mic Pros to readers of my blog. I have been trying to figure out a way to give them away and the best way I can do it is do something that can help people. I am sure you are aware of the devastating floods that have hit Queensland. There is a fund to help the people affected by this disaster and all you need to do to have a chance to win one of these awesome mics is donate something to the fund. The minimum is just a dollar, but I am sure we can all spare a little bit more than that. Every little helps. Once you have donated then drop me an email at competition@philipbloom.net with your receipt number and I will then do a draw at  2200 this Monday GMT live on Ustream where I will assign each of one of the emails a number and using the random number generator pick ten numbers then read out the names of the winners. I will then send those emails to RODE who will send you the mic. Phew…Hope it works!!! Unfortunately you cannot use Paypal to donate right now, just credit card or bank transfer. I hope that changes as Paypal is a very easy way for people to donate.

    Filming at Movember Gala with the then secret Mic!

    72 comments

    1. Great idea for the comp, we got slammed here in Brisbane. I seem to have come out okay, others are much less fortunate. I’ll spare what I can, after I replace whatever the hell got ripped off my car in a washout.

    2. I just bought the previous model like 2 months ago and the sound is pretty good but I just used up my last rubber band in the odd suspension system that they used which never seemed to work for me .. I travel a lot so am a little harder on equipment then most but still. Anyway I wonder if I can send them the old mic and pay for an upgrade? Those rubber bands were not the business.

    4. Done and Done! I love the Rode VM and this one looks a little more tailored to work with our cams. My only qualm with the fist one was that it was a little long and it got in the way. This one looks to be around the size of my Rode NT5 matched condensers. It also comes with a dead cat!

    5. Did you happen to test the mic out on a Canon as well? If so, I’d love to know where you had to set the audio level in the camera based on the different gain settings available on the mic. Obviously the key to getting decent sound when recording directly into the camera is to get a hot enough signal that you can keep those levels low, so I wonder if the +20dB setting helps. Any tests to this end?

      Looks like an interesting mic regardless and a good idea for the giveaway.

    9. Phil,

      Cool give away. Unfortunately the site does not let me enter my state (FL) where I live in the US and does not process my donation. I can give it to you in cash when I see you at Canon Film Makers workshop in Miami in the spring.

      Pascal

      🙂

    12. Amazing looking mic – should do extremely well, Brilliant idea for the giveaway as well, helping the flood victims in need.
      Good on rode, Bringing Phil out to Aus AND giving away 10 new mics!

      Cannot wait to try one out – loving the fact that the Audio Quality has gone up and the overall footprint / size has been reduced – looks like the perfect mic for DSLR setups. Free Dead Cat + 10 year warranty? even better! Rode are really upping the game!

      have you gotten an NTG3 for your AF100 yet Phil ?

    20. I’ve been using the rode mic for almost six years now, so defiantly time for an upgrade, and only have used rode, they have my brand loyalty for sure. Thanks for sharing this, and I’m embarrassed to admit it but I didn’t know anything about the flooding, i don’t follow the news much this week.

      (was I the only one that found the jokes and laughing from the videographer in that flooding video a little…disturbing?)

    21. I just got myself the Rycote Universal Camera kit. Way better than the stock shockmount. And from what I can tell, the specs of this Pro version are exactly the same as the original Video Mic.

      I don’t trust the new shockmount more than the Rycote, to the contrary, still based on the principle of rubber bands.

      Depends on the final RRP, but this looks more like a marketing strategy by adding “Pro” to the name than a genuine upgrade.

      However, great idea to let people donate and good luck to all.

    23. Fantastic idea doing the Rode Video MicPro giveaway to benefit the flood victims – made my donation and crossing my fingers you pull my receipt number! 😉

      Ditto what others said that a sound quality comparison would be interesting … plus curious to hear your thoughts/experiences on the +20DB setting.

      The smaller size and included Dead Cat (classy move by Rode) make this an outstanding upgrade.

    26. Cool, I was actually planning on getting the Rode Video Mic soon, but I’m glad I didn’t get it before I saw this. I won’t be able to donate that much though ’cause I pretty much just spent all my money on the Tokina 11-16mm zoom lens, which arrived today actually. So nice to finally have a proper lens instead of that shitty kit lens.
      But yeah, great competition as some of the others also say, everybody is a winner in this one.

    29. I have the current VideoMic and although the sound is good the mechanics of the design are a problem.
      * Mic length put it into the image frame when shooting with my 10-22mm, especially with the dead cat on
      * Silicone band isolators are fragile and often broke and even squeak if they were a little dirty (easy to break when putting dead cat on/off)
      * Level control DIP switches were nearly impossible to see or use
      * Mic cord rubbing against housing caused too much noise
      * Plastic foot (that goes into hotshoe) is somewhat fragile

      Looks like the new VideoMicPro has alleviated just about all of these issues. I replaced the plastic foot with a metal one which works better but not sure if the metal one would attach to this new mic. Also used Slick Strip tape to reduce any rubbing noises caused by the mic cord.

      I’m looking forward to this new mic!

    31. Donated but don’t need a free mic, donating because it is a good cause not because you can win. Still good way to get people involved, keep it up.

      And yes Rode makes nice stuff, NTG3 is nice, the lavelier is nice too, the boom is horrible and the blimp is a bit well.. but all good value for money.

    32. Just made my donation. Nice idea to do a competition like this.

      I was thinking about buying the old Rode mic when i found this post. Even if i dont win i will buy one of the Rode mics, but is twice the price worth the upgrade to the new model?

    33. Philip, great idea for giving away the Rode Mic’s. I gave and emailed you as requested.

      I have been reading a lot of your writings and watched a lot of your test footage over the last year or so but am a new member to your site here. I am enjoying it.

      It is fun to get to read evaluations of a lot of the new equipment I can only dream about until my stuff is old enough to justify getting in debt.

    45. Rode products are great. Make a contribution but not sure if the $50 was in US dollars as intended or AUS$, which I believe is less than an American$. I will find out when my CC actually processes it.
      That flooding is quite distressing. All those farmers who will return to find their farms gone.

    46. Congratulations to the winners, was hoping to be one of the lucky ones to be awaiting this exciting new mic. Praises to all who donated as I’m sure the citizens in Queensland will be grateful as they try to rebuild from this disaster. Keep using your influence for such great things Philip, the world needs more voices like you.

    49. first thing i did when i read about the brand of the mic was contact my local dealer who i found on the rode page. they didn´t know a thing about the new microphone.
      then i mailed rode enquiring why that should be the case. i send quite some emails asking for details on products and other things and most of times receive automated email replies informing me that my enquiry will be dealt with. i rarely ever receive answers. rode on the other hand send a very friendly, humorous answer immediately and insured me that my vendor will be supplied with information a.s.a.p.. this behaviour is very professional and will result in one more mic sold.

    50. Congratulations to the winners.

      Philip, can I ask how it compares using this new Rode VideoMic Pro vs either a Zoom H4n or Tascam DR-100?

      Also, have you ever faced this ‘file error’ issue with the DR-100 during recording or playback? I recently bought one locally and tested if for a couple of days, liked everything about it except for the times when for some reason a ‘file error’ message pops up and I have to restart it. I had the store give me a refund.

      Thank you.

    54. Hi Mate

      What you compare videomic and videomic pro? which one is better? because i just got the videomic after 3-4weeks pro it’s coming now. not fair…

    55. recording bands in pubs on Canon 5d#2….as you said in your presentation I’ve got the settings on the Video Mic Pro at minus and the Canon down to one notch above nothing!!…so far I’ve also engaged the High Pass Filter to avoid distortion…is this necessary?…what quality of sound am I losing by doing this?

    56. I’m very tempted as I just ordered a Gh2…but does anyone know where in the UK I can get the 3.5 to 2.5mm adapter needed to connect the rode mic to the panasonic? No one seems to be able to say *exactly* it requires for the camera to detect it. thanks in advance 🙂

    57. I have little to no money for new equipment, and just need something that will record pretty clean dialogue for interviews. Would you recommend the VMP over using the internal mics on either the Tascam D100 or the H4n?
      thanks!

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