Using a microphone in windy weather is always a pain because of unwanted peaks and to high mic gain levels (which makes the recording of any other sound than wind impossible). So having a so called Windjammer (Rycote has many different products) gives you way better sound quality because the wind “get’s caught in the fluffy hair”. I didn’t want to spend 50$+ on some pre-built product so I started searching for an artificial fur with long hair. Fortunately I found some old toy pet dog in the basement - he made my day once more ;-).
As you can see the Sony HDR-HC1’s built-in microphones are quite large and near the lens. Let me point out some key points:
- use rubber bands to fasten your fluffy on the camera itself - I straped one right around the lens and the other one around the back of the camer.
- cut the hair around the lens - otherwise wind might blow it right into your beautiful shot (believe me, I know what I’m talking about).
- use a sewing-machine to seal the borders and edges of the fur
- don’t use fur with a sound-proof underground (like really thick or plastic material)
- comb the hair before using it - it’s useless if there’s no space between the hair
- it does not work in very very strong wind contitions - use your hand to block the wind by holding it in front of the fluffy
