Drift HD720 External Microphone Modding?

[MarkGibbons]

Couldn't really figure out where to put this post; I hope this is OK, if not feel free to remove.

I bought a Drift HD720 a couple weeks ago, and it arrived today, upon it's arrival I realise it doesn't allow you to use an external microphone, something I thought all drift camera's allowed.

I've seen videos on youtube (plenty actually) of people modding the internal microphone into an external port, which I'd like to do, however it's a bit out of my comfort zone.

Has anyone done it before, and does anyone want to earn a few bucks? (I'm in Melbourne)

 

[staySPOOLIN]

Just do what I did...Buy a ghost..save the 720 to be used at different angles =] I did the same thing thinking the 720 had an external port. I was pretty ticked off when I open it. But oh well.

 

[MrFalloffalot]

Bugger!!
I havnt owned a Drift yet.
If your REALLY stuck Mark, their are a few Vloggers in Melb. Not sure who would jump to help. But if NO-One else does send me a PM (got ALL the tools we/you need to do the job)

Good luck
> : )

 

[Decil Moto]

i bought two 720s (knowing they didnt have external mics, but got them for 50 bucks apiece brand new from Best buy back in august) and did this to one of them knowing that if i messed it up i still had the other one! i ended up doing it and the sound isnt bad unless you speak SLIGHTLY to loud! It doesnt matter really where the mic is in helmet!!! since it doesnt have a Mic sensitivity setting, like the Ghost, majority of your audio will have distortion! now whether its horrid or slight it will still be there! even without speaking loudly! i tried cleaning up my audio using Vegas pro and Adobe Audition and neither could clean it up without messing with my vlog and ruining it! my advice if you are vlogging is to save up and buy a ghost or another camera and use this one like Spoolin said as a ALT angle camera like i do now! I just bought a ghost and let me tell you its a WORLD of difference between the modded 720 and the Ghost! im an Audio snob though and hate even slight amounts of distortion! So for now i would say just enjoy the 720 and film and get the basics down of filming like camera angles, filming different scenery, and what not! because you will be disappointed in the audio quality of the modded 720 but thats to be expected!

 

[MrFalloffalot]

WTF, Sorry Mark, i ONLY just wathed that vid now.
Thats a simple job, ima look for a 720 now, Hope their as cheap as '$50' in Au??

PM me well talk price, where u/me is on the map etc. but i will proll do it for free (too smaller a job to charge you)
You get the bits (Jaycar). Letme know.

Unless your gunna wait n get a better one.
Cheers.
> : )

 

[Decil Moto]

dont get me wrong it is super easy and super cheap! but i dont think its worth it because the audio distortion is pretty bad when riding! and there really isnt a way to fix it without messing with the good audio that you want to keep in the video!

 

[OhYeah_iROC]

What I do is I bought an adapter for the external mic Drift sells on their site, plugged it into my iphone used the voice memo function hit record and it sounds pretty good IMO.

 

[janx101]

nice segue from mic mod to your vid IROC!! ... very nice!

 

[Jeimuzu]

I followed that exact tutorial.
I ended up having to replace the entire length of wire on the board, as it was smaller than 24ga, but I used some 18ga wire and the jack works perfectly.
Hardest part was cutting up the rubber gasket so that it would fit with the bigger mic. I wanted to keep the inside nice and sealed up instead of just getting rid of the rubber.
Apparently I can't post a pic or anything because I don't have enough posts (really?) but I was pretty impressed with myself afterwards. haha