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Aputure is shipping their new microphone: "Aputure Deity" (meant to be a competitor to the Sennheiser 416, like the Rode NTG3 is)


IronFilm

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The Deity will retail at $369 USD or $429 in a kit with a Rycote Lyre shock handle.

Their launch video from yesterday:

 

Curtis Judd reviewed it:

 

TubeShooterMag also reviewed it:

http://tubeshooter.co.uk/2017/01/01/aputure-unleash-chinese-deity-on-the-world/

 


Other coverage:

http://www.redsharknews.com/audio/item/4251-aputure-takes-aim-at-prestigious-rivals-with-new-shotgun-mic

http://thehouseofvideo.com/2017/01/11/Is-the-new-Aputure-Deity-shotgun-mic-a-Rode-killer/

 

 

 

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They have no heart. You mustn't develop anything that looks like a 416 and has the same dimensions.

 

Sound seems not as good as you would expect from a mike looking like this. But I find the elimination of rumbling noise impressive, with the Rycote Lyra.

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1 hour ago, Christian Spaeth said:

Definitely a step up from counterfeit 416s. They even got their own logo!

:D and they got a gold one !  http://www.4kshooters.net/2017/01/10/aputure-deity-is-a-new-affordable-pro-grade-shotgun-microphone/

15 hours ago, Philip Perkins said:

If it sounds less harsh and midrangey than the Senn ME66 etc then I'd recco it to my OMB doc peeps for sure.

Sure, I'll let them try it ...  :D 

At that point and considering it would mainly be mounted to a camera, I wonder how it would compare to the Ambient TinyMike?

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On 1/14/2017 at 2:07 PM, Rick Reineke said:

Also has the about the same sensitivity as the 416p (25mV). it 'a p p e a r s'' impressive. Is it built in China? I know little to nothing about the the Aputure company.

Aputure is quite a large company (by filmmaking hardware standards), with a wide range of products. They're much more well known in the lighting world, for delivering a lot of bang for your buck. Even referred to often by people as the "Blackmagic Design for lighting!"

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  • 1 month later...

Listening to the comparisons, it really can't live up to the 416. It's just so muddy side-by-side. However, if it proves to be as tough as they are claiming (which it seems it might actually be), then it would serve well for particularly unsavory situations (heavy rain, snow, etc). Compared to the other mics in it's price point, it sounds pretty great. Might make a good backup for cheaper kits.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I have a set of "Arri" lights of the same brand name. They serve my purposes well because I don't use them everyday to make a living- I shoot a feature every two years. The light weight sheet metal they are made from doesn't affect me. The bulbs they came with, which blew in less than two hours, were replaced with brand names. If I did depend on them day to day, I would spring for the real thing, which costs 4x the money. I suspect the mic is similar- spec wise as close as they can get it, but inferior in materials and build quality. I certainly wouldn't try to hammer a nail with it. Or try to make a living with it.

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  • 1 month later...

I listened to one of these, and found it had a very high noise floor, I thought there was something wrong with it. I contacted the company, and sent them sample audio files. They acknowledged the noise, and sent me another mic. . It was just as noisy as the first.  It's an electret condenser design, using a cardioid FET electret microphone element, and a preamplifier . Of course, I took it apart. While a simple Class A, Schoeps-type amplifier design would have been easy to implement (and much quieter), the Diety's amplifier circuit is a multi-stage affair that uses an unidentified op-amp and several transistors with rows and rows of surface mount passive components. The sales material suggests the mic is "waterproof." Several youtube video reviews show users subjecting the mic to water. I don't understand this, and not only as a matter of principle. The interior of the mic uses a fibrous filter "paper" wrapped around the mic's interior tube, and secured with clear tape. These parts don't look like they would survive water exposure. The mic is an enigma to me. The included case is a pelican type would survive a nuclear blast, and is overkill. I'd rather they put the money into a better mic capsule and amplifier. 

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Those Peli style cases cost near nothing to make but by putting this mic the manufacturers have conferred a quality to the item your 'tear down' clearly demonstrates the mic doesn't deserve. Perhaps they meant to say the case was waterproof and not the mic ;- )

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I tested their A.Lav a while back because i thought it would be nice to have a cheap lav with battery power for certain applications. It was also very hissy so that I sent it back because it's practically unusable for anything that I want to do.

They do make pretty cool lights though. 

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I have a 416 as my main outdoor mic, so I was curious how the Aputure Deity compared to it. I found a video recently that compares the two and throws a SuperCMIT into the mix as well. Around the 1:20 mark, the reviewer (who I believe is a member of this forum as well  - Matt Price) tests the mics outside and the 416 has a lot of noise going on, so much so that it sounds significantly worse than the Deity. I have not had this experience with my 416 and I'm wondering if anyone else has?

Also, thanks for the tear down and review of the Deity, Pete. The CMC4 you modded for me last year is sounding great!

 

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416 sounds better than the Diety to me on decent headphones. The 416 seems like it is picking up a bit more background noise just because its a hotter mic - if the mics were level matched i bet the noise would be similar, if not worse on the Diety. The Diety just sounds small and compressed to me whereas the 416 sounds more full and natural. 

-Mike

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I like the gold deity 3CPO. I wonder if one can remove the black paint somehow? to me the diety sounds really amazing. Very low self noise, and very directional. 

In my cheap monitors the 416 sounds a lot more natural but with more background noise. The deity sounds a lot more directional but with a strange colored sound compared. It reminded me a little of how camera mics sound sometimes, not in a bad way tho. It might work nicely in SOME situations. The CMIT 5u, is as directional and sounds very natural i felt.. 

Screen Shot 2017-04-26 at 12.54.39 AM.png

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They gave away about 6 of these at the jwsound party this year and I was a lucky winner. Upon inspection it looks just like a 416 but it is heavier. When looking closer you can see the differences between it and the 416 such as the tip of the microphone design, the splattered paint, the points where the preamp meets the capsule. The connector does seem solid though which is a plus. I don't ever plan on booming with it since it is significantly heavier than my other mics but would make a great on-camera mic. I haven't listened to it yet but plan on doing so soon and will report back. 

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  • 7 months later...

My vlog got fancy, latest one was shot on a Panasonic EVA1 (first EVA1 in the country!), but also I was using that day the Aputure Deity (which just for this, I ran straight into the Panasonic EVA1. Although of course I otherwise normally always use it with my F4):

 

 

 

(footage is in vlog.... for a vlog, ha! Yes, is an amusing pun I just realised this second)

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