Weighing just 39g including its clever isolation mount, the VideoMicro II nevertheless offers “professional” sound quality
(Image credit: RØDE)
The RØDE VideoMicro II is a simple, super-compact on-camera microphone for vloggers and filmmakers with a shotgun design that offers a highly directional ‘super cardioid’ polar pattern that captures sound from where it’s pointing, not from all around.
It has a 3.5mm TRS output jack so it plugs straight into a camera’s microphone socket, and does not require batteries. There are no controls, so the VideoMicro II should be ultra-simple to use even for novices. Its size and simplicity should make it ideal for the best vlogging cameras and it could prove one of the best microphones for video.
It’s a successor to the original RØDE VideoMicro, which RØDE says is the world’s best-selling on-camera mic. The new VideoMicro II has a completely redesigned annular line tube body for “unmatched transparency and natural, full-bodied sound”. RØDE has also overhauled the circuitry to produce better sensitivity and lower noise.
It’s a smaller sibling of the RØDE VideoMic Go II, one of the best microphones for on-camera use, though the VideoMicro II is a simpler alternative without USB connectivity or headphone monitoring.
This helps it achieve its ultra-low weight of just 39g, which includes its new ‘Helix’ isolation mount – this is the flexible bracket that stops vibration from the camera reaching the mic. The mount has integral cable management slots and a standard cold shoe mounting ‘foot’, plus a 3/8-inch thread for mounting on stands or arms.
Both foam and furry windshields are included, as are a pair of ‘patch cables’, one for TRS to TRRS (smartphone and tablet) connection and one TRS to TRS cable for camera connection.
The RØDE VideoMicro II is made in RØDE’s own factory in Sydney, Australia, and will sell for $79/AU$125 (about £66).
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Rod is an independent photography journalist and editor, and a long-standing Digital Camera World contributor, having previously worked as DCW's Group Reviews editor. Before that he has been technique editor on N-Photo, Head of Testing for the photography division and Camera Channel editor on TechRadar, as well as contributing to many other publications. He has been writing about photography technique, photo editing and digital cameras since they first appeared, and before that began his career writing about film photography. He has used and reviewed practically every interchangeable lens camera launched in the past 20 years, from entry-level DSLRs to medium format cameras, together with lenses, tripods, gimbals, light meters, camera bags and more. Rod has his own camera gear blog at fotovolo.com but also writes about photo-editing applications and techniques at lifeafterphotoshop.com
