Azden SMX-100Stereo Shotgun Microphone

The SMX-100 is a phantom-powered condenser shotgun that records in mid-side rather than a fixed left/right pair. An M-S capsule captures a forward mono channel and a sideways figure-of-eight, and the two decode to a stereo image that collapses cleanly back to mono. For broadcast that is the whole argument: you get width for the ambience without the phase cancellation that punishes an X/Y rig when the feed gets summed downstream. It runs 20 Hz to 18,000 Hz with a 120 dB max SPL and a 70 dB signal-to-noise ratio.

The reason it lives on a JVC shoot is the connector. It terminates in a hard-wired 5-pin XLR, which is the stereo mic input on the GY-HC900 series, so a single lead carries both channels into the camera with no adapter and no external mixer. Phantom power from 11 to 52V DC feeds it, so the camera or a field recorder can run it directly. At 110 g it is light enough to sit on the camera all day, and it ships with a shock-mount microphone holder, a high-density foam windscreen, and a custom carry case.