Comica has taken a fun approach to wireless mic solutions for mobile recording, by designing a wireless lav solution that not only works well with smartphones (when using smartphones to record video content), but it even holds the smartphone within a tripod for you.
The new WS60 wireless lav kit works similar to some of their normal kits (and the kits of many comparable companies), outside of the design of the packs look drastically different. They feature plastic bodies with all of your settings available via physical buttons and switches instead of being buried within menus.
The receiver connects to a tripod that comes with the kit and features mounts (small little arms) that hold your smartphone against it.
These little arms can be adjusted to for phones of different widths, allowing it to work with just about any modern model out there. You slide the phone out to the side just enough so that the phone’s camera is exposed and you now have a complete audio and video recording solution.
Of course, it does work with just about any device you want to plug it into. Beyond Smartphones, it will also work with tablets, computers, and cameras (ie, DSLR). It comes with a short pigtailed cable to go between the receiver and the device. The cable features a TRRS connection, which could limit it normally when it comes to what device will support it, however, the receiver has a physical switch on the front allowing you to switch between camera or smartphone support. So essentially, it is like swapping between a TRRS and TRS connection. This way you have one cable to carry around that works with everything.
So now, you have a wireless lav kit that you can use for recording video with your smartphone but can also use the same kit with a DSLR as you grow or diversify your gear.
This proved to be an amazing competitor for some of the more expensive names and options out there. It both performs and sounds just as well as Comica’s other lav solutions/kits, and comes decently close to some of the bigger names like Senn and Shure, which is a major selling point thanks to the price of this kit.
We did a side by side comparison/test between these mics and the Shure kits we use in-house usually for recording and found that they strived very hard to sound similar. You, of course, can hear the difference between the two companies (a better mic is a better mic). However, it comes so close, that the price tag might as well have a neon sign around it saying “Buy this now!”.
Setup (settings) of the transmitter and receiver is a cross between a normal lav solution and an external pre-amp for a camera. As mentioned, instead of burring everything into menus of the packs, all of your options are available to you as physical switches and buttons. So setting everything up is completed much quicker than surfing around menus. You can split the two lavs into separate channels (left and right) or combine them into one mono feed. You can easily switch between smartphone and camera with a switch on the front of the receiver so that you don’t have to carry around two different cables (TRS vs TRRS). The transmitters have a low-cut switch, and the receiver has volume wheels on the side to adjust the gain of each mic separately with.
They only support 12 channels of pre-set frequencies to choose from, so you won’t be using these at locations where there is a lot of wireless traffic. So major conventions or other similarly-sized events may not be an option. This is where the more expensive kits come into play. However, when using them indoors in your home, office and other locations where interference (by similar RF devices around you) shouldn’t be an issue, you should be completely fine. Again, these are set up to be user-friendly when it comes to settings and setup.
Distance between transmitter and receiver is also pretty good. This kit is highlighted for smartphones, so you normally won’t be getting too far away anyway. Yet, it still has an amazing distance to it that allows you to cover most situations with. So if you are using it with a DSLR and want to stand 20-50ft away from the camera, you should be perfectly fine. Given, you do also have to consider (once again) any potentials of nearby interference that might lessen the distance you can get from the receiver).
It comes with everything, so you get all of the accessories to get started with. They come with fur screens for the lavs in case you are recording somewhere with high winds (ie, outside in windy weather). So let’s say you are shooting an interview in the winter months outside in Minnesota about the ski conditions of your favorite mountain. You should be able to pull it off just fine without any wind noise wrecking your content.
You get a small tripod that the receiver/phone can mount to, as well as an adapter that can go in between that allows you to swivel it around. The adapter can also work with anything that uses the same threads. So if you are using it with a DSRL and want to connect it to a cage/mount you have the camera fixed into.
You have your 3.5mm cable to run between the receiver and your video source, and a USB cable that can be used to charge the packs with if you have rechargeable batteries inside (clearly you shouldn’t use it if you have normal batteries inside).
Our Conclusion
This proved to be an amazing competitor for some of the more expensive names and options out there. It both performs and sounds just as well as Comica’s other lav solutions/kits, and comes decently close to some of the bigger names like Senn and Shure, which again, is a major selling point thanks to the price of this kit. Instead of burring everything into menus of the packs, all of your options are available to you as physical switches and buttons. So setting everything up is completed much quicker than surfing around menus. The only drag is that it only supports 12 preset channels. So you won’t be using it in a heavy RF populated area where you might run into a higher potential of interference. Distance between transmitter and receiver is pretty good. This kit is highlighted for smartphones, so you normally won’t be getting too far away anyway, yet it still has an amazing distance to it. So in the end, it wound up getting a wonderful score from us.
| Buy from Amazon | |
Our Rating | Average Price* $228 |
*Average price is based on the time this article was published
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