I'm interested in the sound side. While on principle I prefer close-up, remote micing into a ext. sound recorder, rather than using on-camera mics, this is not possible with sporting events. Here are some configurations I'm trying:
1. Inbuilt camera mics. The Panasonic HC-V750 has a 4-mic array. In MP4 this is a stereo setup (don't know if this is synthesised to emulate crossed cardioids or whether it's more directional e.g. cross super-cardioids at 60 degrees.
When using AVCHD you also have a zoom-mic option. This becomes more directional as you zoom in. Here's an MP3 of the effect in a room going from 1x -> 50x -> 1x.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/c3rbriis23f750l/Zoom Mic test.mp3
This is up to 20x optical + digital zoom, but the sensor has a lot more area than is used (Hybrid OIS uses EIS as well as OIS, so extra sensor area is required to allow for this), so up to 50x is possible without pixellation in Full HD. However, with soccer, a lot less zoom is used. The problem with AVCHD is that it tops out at 1080p60 28Mpbs. With MP4, you can shoot 1080p60 50Mbps, and I prefer to use this for action, so no zoom mic for me.
The camera also has a Wind Noise Canceller option. Like most consumer products, this is poorly explained in the manual and no specifications concerning its action are provided. I think this is a variable strength High-Pass Filter (HPF). As the wind increases, the HPF becomes more effective/intrusive. However the camera's preamp still get overloaded when the wind become moderately strong and some thumping occurs. I wish I could build a small wind muff and sticky-tape it on top during windy days, but I've not found a source for artificial long-hair fur yet.
Also, the inbuilt mics pick up my breathing (in the quieter moments)/giggling/groaning.
2. Rode VideoMic (VM) on-camera. The rubber suspension o-rings have failed again on both my VM & Stereo VM. The forecast for at a weekly match 2 Sundays ago (24/04/2016) was very windy. So I wanted to use a VM with a DeadCat wind-muff. So I used a rubber band on the rear suspension. This is less than ideal as the tension is too high and the less complaint suspension lets through more handling noise. Here's the mic:
In this shot you can see that the hot-shoe mount is centrally placed on the suspension carrier. However there is an alternate attachment point further forward and I found I needed to move the attachment to this point so that the zoom control on the top of the camera wasn't obstructed. Here's the mic on the camera. This camera has tongue with hot-shoe slot that you push into the back of the camera. (I'd prefer a more traditional hot-shoe-on-top layout.) You can see in this shot how the mic mount position is different. This moves the balance rearwards, but at least I can now use the zoom control.
You can also see a cheap 49mm lens hood. Normally, the front of the camera is flush and the lens is recessed somewhat. But I found in my first windy rain shoot this season (13/03/2016) that this recessing was insufficient to prevent rain getting blown onto the lens, and I had to keep wiping it with a micro-fibre cloth during the match. So hopefully this lens hood will provide a little more protection.
The VM is monophonic and the plug is wired to feed the same signal the L/R channels. All the 3.5mm mic sockets on videocamera's I've owned (7 so far) have been a bit crackly when you rotate the plug in the socket. I got a little crackle/muting in the R channel at one point of the match, but in Sony Vegas Pro I easily fixed this by making the L channel the sole source for both channels in this part of the timeline.
3. It struck me that I could use the VM on-camera, but plugged into an ext. sound recorder. This way the directional mic still follows the pointing direction of the camera, but you get the stereo sound from the camera's mics too. (The internal mics are muted if an ext. mic is plugged into the mic input socket.) I like to mount things on the stand, so if an ext. sound recorder is used I'd need to use a 3.5mm-3.5mm stereo extension cable. I plan to try out this configuration soon.
4. An ext. sound recorder. I've got a Tascam DR-2d and a Zoom H4. I prefer the Tascam as it exhibits less handling noise.
Also, I can fit the DeadKitten muff (original used with the Rode Stereo VM) over it. I use this on a table-top tripod, which I place on the far side, (I shoot from the middle side-line), facing back at me.
This way, I can capture the players and ball sounds from the far side (and the coaches yelling) more clearly. If set up this way you need to reverse the sound channels of the recording in the editor so the direction from that side matches the camera's portrayal. I've been doing this a bit now, combined in the mix with the in-camera mics, if it's not too windy. One limitation is that the stereo sound-scape is fixed and doesn't change with the camera direction as you pan. Still, it seems an improvement and can help if you have obnoxious spectators or an unwanted sound-source (e.g. a club-house's A/C compressor) near the camera.
If using the the monophonic VM on the camera, the Tascam setup can be used to add in stereophonic ambience and some directionality.
At one match, fearful of a soccer ball hitting this stand, I placed it behind a chain-link fence. However on that side of the fence, another team came along during our match and began warming up, and either a kicked ball from that side or one of their team knocked it over! So I only got output from this recorder for the first half.
Manual syncing of the different soundtracks is done using the ref's whistle at the start of each half. If you press the pause/stop button on the camera inadvertently this can cause a problem, but you can then sync the affected portion from a whistle blow at the end of the half.
Dan.