BOYA BY-M1 Clip-On Microphone for DSLR Camera/Smartphone/Camcorder/Audio Recorders - Black

Disclaimer: I am a newbie when in comes to microphones so I offer this review based on knowledge only gained over the past few days and limited use of this microphone. The first thing to say is that this is a powered 'electret' condensor microphone so you must not have it switched on when using it with a smartphone. I guess it must do nasty things judging by the small warning card to this effect in the box. Saying that, to plug it into a video camera, digital recorder and PC it is good to have the power so I was really pleased to have chosen this one rather than unpowered ones that are only a few pounds cheaper. For use with a PC you can of course get a USB mike which gets it's power via the USB but I reckon this model is more flexible. The build quality is excellent and the microphone itself is metal and so is the battery compartment. This compartment is nicely made and unscrews very smoothly. The sound quality is streets ahead of the inbuilt mike in my camera and anyone making a video with a live soundtrack should use a separate mike imo unless your camera is high end and equipped with a boom type one. My video camera does not support an external microphone so I use a cheap digital recorder (from Amazon !). There are loads of these - look out for 8gig digital recorder. The quality of the recordings these make are excellent even with the built in mike so I am hoping this will improve it even more. I agree with others on here that the long lead is really good as you can move around and away from your camera or recorder. All in all a great product and definitely worth the extra few pounds over the unpowered ones.

I picked this up as a more convenient solution for recording my voice for YouTube videos in places other than my main computer/console table in the living room, and it's been superb. Sound quality is very good indeed, with plenty of presence (though not quite as much as a condenser mic) and the super-long cable allows a decent amount of flexibility with where you place your camera. Works brilliantly with the OpenCamera software on Android, which has support for external microphones. I have had an occasional bizarre issue where a recording has ended up with some music playing over the top -- I can only assume that I did/said something while setting up the mic that the phone mistook as a voice command! I still tend to use my Marantz Pod Pack 1 mic for Let's Play footage (though this requires spending a bit of time syncing up audio and video during the editing process) but for recording intro segments and vlogs, this is a fantastic bit of kit for an incredibly affordable price, and a great beginner's mic.

If you need a long lead external mic then this is a great one to get. With a built-in pre-amp (1 lithium battery - included) it delivers high quality audio straight into your camera or audio recorder of choice. The sensitivity of the mic actually surprised me. It didn't miss a beat. Of course this can be good or bad. It will pick up rustling of clothing so make sure your wearing something that wont make too much noise. But this should be standard practice anyway when using wearable microphones. Especially when, like this one, the mic has an Omni-directional 360° microphone. In the box you will find the microphone, a metal tie-clip, a windscreen for the mic, 1 lithium (LR44) battery for the pre-amp, the pre-amp itself, and a 1/4" adapter. The cable length is 6 meter (20ft) long. The pre-amp is around 4ft along the cable from the mic. The pre-amp is made of metal and unscrews to reveal the battery slot. It also has a metal belt clip on it so you can attach it to your belt under your clothes. The end of the cable has a 3.5mm plug so will fit straight into your smart-phone or camera. There is a 1/4" adapter should you need it too. If plugging into a smart-phone then the switch on the pre-amp should be switched to 'off/smart-phone' setting. When plugged into a DSLR the audio quality isn't great. But this is the case with any mic as DSLR's have terrible audio capability in general. It is recommended that you use an external audio recorder if using DSLR, then mix back together in your video editor of choice. All in all a great mic my only gripe would be that it's maybe a little too sensitive. I know that sounds picky but hey. It clearly picked up my stomach rumbling during my review video, which can be seen with the link below. Recommended? - YES! eRfJtZvvQTU - Copy and paste that into Youtube search box to see HD video of this mic. Direct link below probably won't show up because Amazon filtering system won't allow it! :( [...]

If you want to improve the quality of your video's you will at some point decide to get an external microphone. There are dozens of microphones available, each designed for a particular task. One such task or objective is to record someone speaking. I bough this lavalier/lapel mic which is designed to be hooked up to a smartphone or camera. Not tested it with a smartphone but the short video will I hope give you a good feel as to it's overall quality. It plugs in to your smartphone or camera via a 3.5mm jack. The unit has a small switch able power output which runs off a button battery. You need to switch it on when connected to a camera for video and off when connected to a smartphone. From my perspective the quality is outstanding for the price of the item. I know when doing my research that I found lots of different lapel mics ranging from this very cost product all the way up to hundreds of pounds. Have a quick listen to the video recording (preferably with headphone) and hear the quality of the sound. No or very little noise from the camera, nor any hissing. I didn't do any sound editing, so your'e hearing this as it was recorded. A great value product with excellent production quality.

This is a very good lavalier mic for the money. It's well made and the mic capsule is small and produces very good results. It captures a decently broad frequency range so recordings are detailed and have a good 'full' sound. It is also very low noise so recordings are very clean. It has the characteristic dryness you get with this type of mic but that can easily be opened out with a little bit of post tweaking. It comes with a carry pouch, a good fitting foam windshield, a lapel clip and a mono 1/4" jack adapter. Great value.

I was wanting to shoot an outdoor video and needed a lapel mike. This worked quite well (sound wasn't brilliant but it was better than a hand held mobile). The wire is very long. If you are wanting to use this with a self held phone the length of the wire can be a nuisance but if you are filming someone else it is great. It comes with a little wind cover. I attached it, went out in the wind and that was the last I saw of the cover - it blew off!!

I'm sorry, but I tried everything and it simply would not work. Tried with a smartphone and DSLR but nothing, nada. Yes, I did make sure the batteries were in the right way (REALLY difficult to get them back out, BTW.) and I DID try switching between the 'smartphone/camera' setting but it didn't make a blind bit of difference. Shame because it looks and feels like a quality product and, it's well packaged....it simply did not work. I'm not the only one to report this, which suggests there is a fundamental problem with quality control OR it's just rubbish. I don't know, there are a lot of good reviews on here, but go figure. If anyone can recommend something that DOES work, I'd appreciate it!

As an amateur film producer, I bought this to make a series of short films and conduct one to one interviews (vox pops). I have to say for the price I find the quality to be superb. The audio has a great range and really picks up all the detail in the human voice, including the lower and middle bass frequencies. You therefore don't lose any richness in the sound. The quality is excellent and the microphone is very well made and packaged. One very minor negative would be that the small wind shield that fits over the mic falls off a bit too easily when your attaching it to a shirt, however this is not a major issue. The 20 foot length of the cable is brilliant as it allows you lots of room to position your camera for the perfect shot and does not hamper you with having to be too close. I would recommend if you are conducting one to one interviews, that you find a nice quiet location with no extraneous background noise, as this little mic will really pick up things when it is powered on for normal camera use. Effectively it becomes a very small condenser mic. You can also use this as a standard non powered mic for plugging into your mobile phone. (standard mini jack) Overall I have to give this BOYA lavalier microphone 5 stars!