Audio line-in on Axis camera .. won't work with stereo jack?

[StanLee2066 0]

The Axis p33 series cameras have an on-board microphone. It works. However I just bought a microphone to use with the microphone line-in of the camera. It doesn't work. Axis has very little information on the specs of this input which is very disappointing. I've seen some gereral info on other Axis cameras that seems to indicate the output does provide 1 to 3v of power to microphone.

 

Here is my theory. The microphone I purchased has the 'stereo' jack input. Not really stereo since there is actually just one mic, but there is a contact for the audio signal, power and ground. What I need is to get a microphone with a mono jack - I suppose the power and audio signal are combined. Here is a link to the one I'm considering...

 

http://www.olympus.co.uk/site/en/a/audio_accessories/accessories_professional_dictation/microphones/me_52w_2/index.html

 

Can anyone in this forum using an external microphone on an Axis camera confirm that they are indeed using such a mic - with a mono jack and not 'stereo' jack style?

 

Thanks!

[StanLee2066 0]

OK, so I found this document which lists the specs for Axis's own microphone - AXIS T8353A. It specifically states that the power requirements are 3-5 V DC, which is "the power provided by the P- series Axis products". It also has a picture of the mic using the standard 'stereo' jack. So maybe I got a dud microphone. I'll keep trying.

 

http://www.use-ip.co.uk/datasheets/1530/axis_t8353a_microphone_35mm_5032531.pdf

[blakem 0]

I don't have any experience with this model camera but in general "line-in" inputs are line level inputs for signals that have already been amplified. If you are going to hook up an external mic I believe you would need to connect it to a pre-amp first. The pre-amp will provide the line level output to your camera's line input.

[buellwinkle 0]

I would get the Axis microphone and avoid the hit/miss attempts with generic mics, mostly because Axis is unique in providing 3V, who does that, the world is either 5 or 12V. It is pricy though, warn you about that, about $425 or so and my distributor has a warning on their price sheet "no returns once opened".

[StanLee2066 0]

Thank you very much to both blakem and buellwinkle for your replies. I think blakem hit the nail on the head on this one.

 

The Axis camera offers two choices in the audio Input settings in a drop down menu - Microphone or Line input. The Microphone setting clearly implies using the on-board microphone and worked fine. I assumed you needed to select Line input when installing a regular external mic but it ever worked.

 

Anyways, what I tried was leaving it on Microphone input in the menu when physically installing the external mic ... bingo it worked. It seems that plugging in the external mic hardware disabled the internal mic and enabled the newly installed external mic. I feel a little silly now, but feel this is counter intuitive to what a user would expect. It seems as if (although not proved by me in this camera at this point), that the Line in is indeed reserved for some type of pre-amplified signal. This is not explained in any user documentation.

 

Thanks again...

[blakem 0]

Glad it was an easy fix.