Canon Rebel t5 Remote jack problem

[Aeosgames]

Hey there. Okay so here's the thing. I contacted a friend of mine who has a T5 and had managed to film a documentary with crisp clear vocal audio. I asked her how she achieved this since the T5 doesn't have an external 3.5mm microphone port.
She told me that she had a shotgun mic which she attached to her camera using a certain 3.5 to 2.5mm adapter.
I bought a shotgun mic, got the adapter and was excited to use it, but for some reason, whenever I attach the small 2.5mm plug into the camera and switch the mic on, it takes a picture as if triggered by a remote and the microphone picks up no sound, leaving the internal mic at work. I was talking to her about it tonight and she sent me a few videos showing that her Canon doesn't do that and the mic actually works for her. So I'm not sure if I have a defective Canon...? Anyone have any ideas as to why hers works and mine doesn't?

[Aeosgames · Accepted solution]

Alright so bad news. I saw her tonight and tested out the camera audio with the mic on and off, and there's literally no difference. All this time she's been believing that she was recording through the mic but was wrong. Ah well...guess ill get a zoom mic. 😕 Surprisingly she got pretty decent internal mic quality on her canon for the interviews

[Aeosgames]

I've decided that I'm going to attempt to mod my Canon and add a stereo mic input jack on the side by soldering the wires from the internal mic into the jack. 

[RobertTheFat]

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@Aeosgames wrote:

I've decided that I'm going to attempt to mod my Canon and add a stereo mic input jack on the side by soldering the wires from the internal mic into the jack. 

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1)  Don't do it if your camera is still under warranty.

2)  Don't do it anyway.

[Aeosgames]

Only joking XD

[nuerboi]

Hey, I have the same camera and bought a similar adapter when I first purchased the camera. I was very skeptical as I knew the port was for a remote shutter. I had the exact same problem, it took a picture and didn't record audio. It also disabled many of the buttons on my camera. I had given up on the whole idea but then I saw the thing about your friend. I'm very curious about how she managed this.

[nuerboi]

I really wish there was a viable solution to this, but as far as I know there is not. I have been using a Zoom H1 and syncing the audio in post. It isn't so bad but it'd be great if I could record directly to the camera. Although, as you said, the internal mic isn't the worst thing ever.