ATian TAKSTAR SGC-598 Professional Video Microphone Interview Microphone Used on DSLR Nikon/Canon/Camera/DV Camcorder, ect. (3.5mm Interface)

This is a great microphone for the price. The way I looked at it, it was either I spend $30 for this mic and get better sound than my internal microphone, or I could spend $200+ for a really great microphone that was going to sit on top of my camera. I'm a super low-budget filmmaker and I'm not using an expensive camera, so I thought, there wasn't any reason to spend hundreds on a microphone if I'm not making that much money and audio isn't super important right now.$30 is perfect if you are looking to upgrade your mic from the internal mic on your DSLR. It sounds great, and in the right conditions it sounds amazing for the price! It has its limits, as would be expected from a mic so cheap, but its comparable quality to some of the cheaper RODE mics for a fraction of the price!I also got a Neewer Dead Cat to put on top to help with wind noise, and it works great! Neewer® NW-MIC-121 Outdoor Microphone Furry Windscreen Muff for MIC-01 MIC108 MIC-121 Stereo Microphone, TAKSTAR SGC-598, NW-598, SHENGGU SG209 SG108 & Similar Mics

This review goes out to everyone thinking of buying a Rode videomic or a Takstar SGC-598.BUY THIS MIC IF: you're on a small budget, don't mind boosting the sound in post production, and plan on speaking more or less directly into it. OR is you NEED to mic a lot of different areas simultaneously on the cheap.DON'T BUY THIS IF: you're wanting a rich warm sounding mic that can pick up chatter from 25+ feet and requires very little post production tweaking. Spend money on a higher quality mic and you'll get your money's worth in time saved in post production.First of all, let me acknowledge that you're on a budget. Most people are. Whether the budget it large or small there is always a budget. My budget was on the low end of high, being about $2-300 for my audio set up for an attempt at a youtube channel.To begin with I bought a Rode Videomic off craigslist for $100 and was immediately impressed with the strong mids and it's ability to pick up voices and noises with clarity from 25+ feet. As I did more interviews and bought more equipment I realized that having multiple mics in one shoot would add some flexibility to my audio editing, so I started browsing mics again and found this.Some reviewers say "it's just as good as a Rode, virtually indistinguishable!" but if you don't notice the difference between this mic and a videomic pro you've either got a junk audio in set up, or you should let someone else handle the audio editing. The Takstar is NOT a fantastic pro quality do everything mic, but it is a cheap and capable mic for budding videographers. Here's the ups and downs I've found after about 2-3 months of use and back to back testing between a videomic and this.Ups:-Decent clarity at close ranges-Low enough hiss-Smaller than I thought (it looks pretty huge in pictures)-Buy 3 for the price of 1 Rode Videomic ($150)-Great to put it in harms way, you're only risking $40Downs:-VERY quite, even with +10db on-Struggles to pick up sounds from 25+ feet-Shock mount is too stiff, might as well be glued on

This thing is awesome!! I did my research before I bought this mic, and I knew it was going to be a great fit for me. My purpose for getting this was so that I could get better hand-held audio with my GH4, and it's made all my dreams come true. The little built in microphone on my camera is a nice feature to have, but we all know that built in mics are going to pick up the camera operator's voice loudest of all which is usually not the goal, and is especially unfortunate if you're prone to the cam-op giggles. All I wanted to do was focus in on one person in a noisy room, and the Takstar does it well. I modified the Takstar's suspension system because the rubber thingies that it comes with are way too stiff and don't stifle rattling at all, so I just replaced them with some colorful hair-styling rubber bands and it works so much better. The battery life has even been good so far; I make sure to turn it off between shooting, but I went for a couple hours without needing to replace the AA. Would I use this for in the making of a short film? Maybe! It really is very decent quality. It's two steps up from where I was, so I'm a happy filmmaker.

I produce Interview style videos for a living. I use a Professional field recorder with matched stereo microphones for my primary audio track. Recently I decided to add a "camera mount" shotgun microphone as a safety, aka a scratch track. The "on camera" microphone was useless, so why not? There is nothing more frustrating than shooting a set, then finding out your memory card or drive failed and you have no audio. So, I tried 1/2 a dozen different microphones ranging from a $30 "cheapie" all the way up to the $230+ Rode Pro.So, the final decision was between the Rode Pro, and an inexpensive TAKSTAR (A brand I'd never heard of before). Evidently, the people behind TAKSTAR manufacture 99% of the shotgun camera microphones "for" brand name manufacturers like Opteka, Azden, AT and (you guessed it) Rode.To my complete surprise, the TAKSTAR SGC-598 performed 99% as well as the Rode Pro, both indoors and outdoors. In fact, when editing audio in Post the TAKSTAR track was easier to work, with since it had a more neutral range. The Rode has a very heavy mid-range push (their "trademark" sound) which is fine for family videos or making your voice sound better on amateur documentaries, but very annoying to work with in a professional audio editor.It was so inexpensive I picked up a second one as a spare (just in case) and plan to use them on all future shoots. The audio ended up being so good, I found I can easily use it as primary audio if my main system fails someday. Sure it will take a few hours to tweak/EQ, but it's a viable backup track, for practically free.My verdict, if you want an inexpensive, great sounding shotgun, this is the way to go. It's easy to use, has great sound, decent line level, and it's well built. It also uses AA batteries.