RØDE VideoMic Pro Gets An Upgrade In Almost Every Way

There are pieces of photography/videography equipment which are almost iconic largely due to their appearance. The Leica rangefinder design is unmistakable, Stevie Wonder himself can’t miss the LaCie rugged line of bright orange external drives, and few, and if any pieces are as identifiable as the grey Canon lenses. Somewhat along those lines, is the RØDE VideoMic Pro. It’s borderline phallic appearance with the company name in bold printed on the outside can be found in photographer and videographer bags everywhere. It’s the company’s bestseller, certainly one of the most popular mics on the planet – and it’s just had an update.

This industry standard on-camera shotgun mic was released in 2010 and caught on like a virus due to its small size, high-quality audio, industry first +20db level boost, and relatively inexpensive price. But it’s been about 5 years since the release, so an update was warranted and has arrived with both physical and performance upgrades.

The Ricote Lyre suspension system is perhaps the best microphone shock mounting solution to date and has been implemented on the VideoMic Pro. It has a suspension makeup of hard-wearing thermoplastic to minimize vibrations and unwanted noise than more traditional solutions. According to RØDE’s site,

Virtually indestructible, the Rycote Lyre will never sag, snap, wear out or require rethreading to maintain its effectiveness…At the heart of the VideoMic Pro is an all-new 1/2″ condenser capsule that provides broadcast-quality audio via a 3.5mm minijack connector (outputting the mono signal to both left and right channels) with an incredibly low self-noise of just 14db. A super-cardioid polar pattern ensures that surrounding audio is minimised, and your recording is focused on the subject in front of the camera.

If that isn’t enough to peak your interest, the microphone capsule is also entirely new and said to give the new Pro even lower self-noise and higher level sensitivity, resulting in clearer, better audio over a broader dynamic range. It is battery powered and gives an impressive 70 hours of use with a single 9V battery. The cost for all this? $249, only a $20 increase in price from the original version, and probably worth every penny.