T2i Audio: A Cautionary Tale

Yesterday I checked out the Canon T2i and a Rode Shotgun Mic kit. I intended to mount the mic onto the shoe adapter of the T2i to capture better audio in a video of me playing piano. But when I set up the camera and tested the audio, I heard loud hissing, and every note I played on the piano was distorted. I unplugged the Rode mic and tested the in-camera monaural mic. Unfortunately, I didn't yield much better results. This issue stems from two issues; The Canon T2i has an Automatic Gain Control that cannot be attenuated, and the Rode VideoMic has a stereo output even though it is an monaural microphone. Workarounds include a Y splitter jack and recording audio externally, but students have several options with Student Multimedia Design Center equipment. The Canon T4i and our handheld camcorders have stereo inputs that allow you to adjust the level of an external microphone. So when someone needs to shoot video with audio, it's probably best to leave the T2i out of the equation.