New EOS R50 V User Confused about 4-channel audio options

[mikefulton]

I am such a new user I don't even have my camera yet. 

I'm sitting here waiting for the Amazon driver to deliver it.  I did get my memory card already, though.

When recording video, the camera has the option for either 2-channel or 4-channel audio.   If I understand the information I've read correctly, when recording 4-channel, you can have:

• 2 channels from built-in microphone (is this mono or stereo?)
  or:
• 2 channels from the multi-function shoe
  
  Plus:
  
  2 channels from the "mic" input

Am I understanding this correctly, or is there an option to get all 4 channels from the multi-function shoe?  I've been searching for accessories online and it seems like the only intersection of "audio" and the multi-function show is a shoe -mounted microphone like Canon's?

What I'd REALLY like to get for audio is an external multi-track recorder.  Is anybody doing anything like that? I'd love to hear about your setup.

[shadowsports · Accepted solution]

Greetings, 

The internal mics on the R50v are stereo 🤗

In addition, you can use a 3.5mm stereo mic or multifunction shoe accessory microphone like the DM-E100 for a total of 4 channels.  The gain on each channel can be adjusted independently in camera. The gain or balance between the inputs (onboard vs. accessory)  is not adjustable in camera 😉  Hope this clarifies things.

[leoklaus]

---

@shadowsports wrote:

Greetings, 

The internal mics on the R50v are stereo 🤗

In addition, you can use a 3.5mm stereo mic or multifunction shoe accessory microphone like the DM-E100 for a total of 4 channels.

---

Are you sure this is the case? I can't manage to combine the internal stereo mics with the 3.5mm input. If I plug in an external microphone, the camera simply mirrors those two tracks to channels 3 and 4 when recording in 4 channels (which is just useless waste of storage). I can't find a way to enable the internal mic as long as an external one is connected via the 3.5mm input.

As far as I can tell, the only way to actually get 4 channel audio is by combining a hot shoe accessory for audio and either the internal and an external mic. And the only two devices I've found to support the hot shoe are the Canon DM-E1D which costs about half as much as the body itself or the Tascam XLR adapter which costs about as much as the body itself.

[shadowsports]

Greetings,

You have to enable lpcm 24-bit/4-channel. See the audio format heading in the link below.

Canon : Product Manual : EOS R50 V : Sound Recording https://share.google/A3PGOWWIynfqWPFtF

The microphone you're plugging into the 3.5 mm jack has to be a stereo mic.  Your playback software also has to support 4 channel audio.

[leoklaus]

Hi Rick, thanks for the response. 4 channel LPCM is selected, but no matter what I do I can only get internal mic on channel 1 through 4 or external mic on 1 through 4. Channels 1 and 3 and 2 and 4 always contain the exact same audio. I don't see any way to change the sources for either channel and the manual also does not explain how this could be configured.

[Petruchio]

Exactly the same story.
4-channel recording. Monitoring 3-4 channels.

Result: 4 identical files. 2-4 are out of phase.

I connected a Zoom F3, a Sony stereo microphone, and a lavalier radio.

If I don't connect anything in 4-channel mode, it also records 4 identical files.

I think it's a firmware bug. What do you think, Canon?
It can't record 2=2 independent stereo channels.

This is visible on the camera's screen. It switches the names of all four inputs to EXT and INT.

[leoklaus]

As far as I can tell, the only way to actually record 4 channel audio is to use an external microphone via the multi-function shoe (which at this time means either the mediocre at best DM-E1D or the Tascam CA-XLR2d-C, which is really cool but also costs about as much as the R50Vs body...).

I think it's really disingenuous to leave the marked reply to this up as it's clearly very misleading.

[Petruchio]

Maybe someone from #CANON can shed some light on these 4 channels ((((