Deity Microphones recently released a new type of compact on-camera mic that has a number of innovative features. Justin McDonough (from dunnadidit) had a chance to test this mic and compare it to the existing inexpensive and popular Rode Video Micro mic.
Deity has been releasing one innovative product after another (not too surprising given the fact that their parent company is Aputure). The new Deity D4 DUO might not look like a very impressive microphone being just a few mm longer than the diminutive Rode Video Micro, but it does have a number of aces up its sleeve.
The biggest selling point of this mic over any other on-camera mic that we know of is the fact that this is not a single mic but actually a dual-mic system in one body. It uses two cardioid mics, one aimed forward and the other one backward.
Why would anybody want a mic facing backward? well if you are a vlogger or documentary shooter that does run and gun type shoots and needs to narrate something or talk to the camera on the go, having the option to get fairly clean audio while facing your subject instead of trying to self vlog is a huge advantage.
The mic has two options that you can control using a switch. It can send only the front-facing mic to the camera or split the signal into two channels to be recorded in the camera so you can use (or discard) each of them based on your needs in post.
The other interesting innovation is the option to connect a second mic or input to the mic so that you can do a dual recording in other ways. Maybe the most useful application of this option will be for connecting a wireless lav into the mic (and into the camera) this way the sound will be split into the forward mic and the lav mic (in this scenario the lav can be the main mic and the forward mic will serve as a backup but there are other ways to configure this as well of course).
Other than that the mic is very similar to the Rode although it comes with two dead cats (one for each capsule) and is more balanced. Both mics sound fairly similar (you can listen to McDonough’s test and decide for yourself) and both have a similar shockmount and do not require any type of additional power to operate (they get it from the 3.5mm jack of the camera).
As for pricing, the Rode Video Micro typically sells for $59 (if you can find it available these days), there is even a cheaper version from MOVO which looks pretty similar that sells for just under $40. The Deity D4 DUO is a bit more expensive selling on pre-order on the Deity website for just under $90.
If you don’t want to miss any new photography product be sure to check out our product photography section on our photo gear channel.
Iddo Genuth 
You can support LensVid by shopping with our affiliate partners
Affiliates: Amazon, B&H, Adorama and E-bay.
Why should you trust us?
The fact that Deity adds mic facing backward sounds great. This feature makes Deity is on step forward.