REVIEW: Schoeps miniCMIT

[Ty Ford]

Nice little addition to your gear bag,

 

https://tyfordaudiovideo.blogspot.com/2017/12/schoeps-minicmit-small-light-superior.html

 

Regards,

 

Ty Ford

 

[Jan McL]

Nice review. Meant a lot at the moment.

 

Plan to test a rental unit toward knowing how it does at 12V with ZMT Phantom and a shout. If it holds, might have to get one for the kit and those low ceilings amd battery life.

[hiro nakamura]

mini Cmit seems picking up more room echo than other shotguns. I sold and bought microphones, so no serious A/B comparing testing tho... I had cs3e, 8060, 416 as shotgun, MKH50 as interior mic. I never expecting the mini cmit has the same pickup pattern indoor as the MKH50, but it feels quite a bit echoey, maybe it's only from me. 

Hiro

[BAB414]

I played with one and it seemed to be very sensitive to the whooshes from what I'd consider to be a normal speed boom swing. This is the only thing holding me back from getting one.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk

[roundbadge]

Some one I know tried using the minis mixed with standard cmits on 2/3 boom shots and said there was a noticeable difference in sound.

anyone compare directly?

[hiro nakamura]

From what schoeps stated. They should match exactly the same. I would assume in most of situations,they would perform the same. 

 

[Nate C]

I've only used the Mini in conjunction with the CMIT in a two hander interview situation with a 641 on the interviewer. To me the mini and the CMIT sounded the same.

 

If anything the mini needs slightly less gain. I really need to test and confirm that.

 

In regards to the whoosh wind noise on quick movements I've found the CMIT and Mini on par using the Foamie or a BB Windkiller. Though with the short preamp you really have to be careful about the placement of the foam/softie. One thing I have noticed due to it be being a lighter rig (Added the ZMT PH at the same time) I am more tempted to throw the mic around more freely, in detriment of good sound.    

[old school]

In my experience (6 months now) with the miniCMIT, it has become our outdoor mic of choice. Very happy with the sound of it. The reach is location dependent as with all mics. If conditions suck (rain, wind or both) we use the MKH 70 (a workhorse supreme) just to save the miniCMIT from that kind of abuse. Interior sets I've used the mini and 641 together and solo and was pleased for how we used them. I've never done a side by side comparison of the big n mini. I'd guess there are differences, but environment most likely would render that difference null. Nice review Ty. Thanks.

CrewC

[marcvonstuerler]

for me a very nice sounding piece of gear and make the boom op happy!

using for doc itw and dialogue

small, light, schoeps sound...

M.

[Johnny Karlsson]

Reviving this thread,

Now that the mini has been out in the wild for some time - I’m wondering what users have found to work well (or not) in terms of wind protection and shock mount?

I am looking at the Cinela Cosi, but would like some input from someone who has been using it - or something else - for a while.

Thanks!

[Lucas]

I've used the MiniCMIT in a Cinela Pianissimo, and that combination works very well as far as handling and wind protection goes.

My only frustration with the MiniCmit is that (as mentioned above) it's sensitive to humidity. 

It is kind of annoying that halfway trough the day you have to swap mics because of pops are getting into your recording. 

I've experienced it on several occasions, also when it was a bit moist, but certainly not raining. 

 

I'm only using it in documentary style shoots so it's not always predictable what's around the corner shooting/weather wise. 

Generally be careful when transferring into different environments.

Other than that, great mic!

[RCarew]

+1 for Cinela Pianissimo. Haven't experienced any moisture issues. Never had any issues with my 641 either and I live in a wet country.

[Johnny Karlsson]

Thank you Lucas and RCarew!

[Trey LaCroix]

Out of curiosity, has anyone tried a cinela osix 1 with a mini CMIT or other similarly sized mics? Seem like it might fit. Don’t know how effective the suspension would be?

[OnTheSoundSideOfLife]

18 hours ago, Trey LaCroix said:

Out of curiosity, has anyone tried a cinela osix 1 with a mini CMIT or other similarly sized mics? Seem like it might fit. Don’t know how effective the suspension would be?

 

I don't have the MiniCmit, but I was looking at the Osix 8060 as a suspension for the Mini. I tried to kind of measure it (how much it covers the Mkh 8060 in relation to the size of the Mini) and imo it should fit. My only concern is the diameter (21mm vs 19 mm).

[cineli]

Dear all,

the OSIX 8060 will not fit correctly for different reasons: mike diameter, isolator flexibility (too stiff) and one of the most important: the limited distance between the slits and the cradle edge. You will not be able to slide the foam completely, up to the end, and this will make a noticeable reduction on the wind performance (swings).

A nice dedicated MiniCMIT suspension is a project...that we have to do. Many prototypes are currently in use, with satisfaction, and the pressure to do it becomes high... We are on a big move (to a much elegent/convenient location) but we'll do it asap.

About COSI (version L-21), it is a real perfect fit for the MiniCMIT. It's a good compromise for indoor (fast swings) and outdoor. The wind performance cannot be as good as the bigger Pianissimo, but it is definitely much more imprtant than any other windscreen for that kind of size. The only tool you have to keep if you finish your life in a desert island.

P. Chenevez

[Trey LaCroix]

You’re doing God’s work over there. I’ll be anxiously awaiting. All my mounts are Cinela except for my mini CMIT mount and for the sake of sound and my OCD I can’t wait for them all to be Cinela.

 

I love my Cosi, but find it a tad to big when trying to dodge overhead flags and the like. No other complaints!

[Elusive Sounds]

Im considering upgrading to a Mini Cmit from an 8060. Now that it has been on the market for a few year, I would love to hear more about user's eperiences using the mini cmit as primary mic for documentary stile work? How often do you find humidity to really be a problem? Do you have another mini cmit as backup to swap out or are you swapping out for sennheisers?

[Trey LaCroix]

12 hours ago, Elusive Sounds said:

Im considering upgrading to a Mini Cmit from an 8060. Now that it has been on the market for a few year, I would love to hear more about user's eperiences using the mini cmit as primary mic for documentary stile work? How often do you find humidity to really be a problem? Do you have another mini cmit as backup to swap out or are you swapping out for sennheisers?

I use both a cmit and an 8060 for different things. The 8060 is more directional which can be helpful in uncontrolled environments. The CMIT sounds lovely but sometimes let a bit too much in. I would recommend a cmit but I wouldn’t call it an upgrade. It’s just another tool in the tool bag.

[Fred Salles]

Hello, does anyone have tried real life shoot comparaison between the MiniCmit and its older brother the Cmit5 ? Any reasons that would make you choose the longer Cmit5 rather than the Mini? 

(apart from the High boost).

Thanks

[The Documentary Sound Guy]

My impression (based on booming for other mixers with their mics, so it's not as comprehensive as it would be if I owned them myself) is that the MiniCMIT can sometimes make actors sound congested, particularly female voices.  I've never had this happen with the CMIT5.

I would love to hear if other people have noticed anything similar.

[Trey LaCroix]

13 hours ago, Fred Salles said:

Hello, does anyone have tried real life shoot comparaison between the MiniCmit and its older brother the Cmit5 ? Any reasons that would make you choose the longer Cmit5 rather than the Mini? 

(apart from the High boost).

Thanks

I just mixed a movie with a CMIT5u on boom 1 and a mini CMIT on boom 2 and I couldn’t tell them apart.

[DSatz]

Just wanted to mention that it is the absolutely identical capsule. The capsules are in fact made without knowing which model of microphone they will become part of.

 

--And on that topic, the company has put a lot of work during the past two years into making the capsules of their shotgun mikes more resistant to the effects of high humidity. With no public announcement they introduced a new generation of capsules (same acoustic design/performance/sound/specs as before) and watched as complaints decreased. There's now an upgrade program in place if you want to have a new capsule installed in your CMIT 5 or MiniCMIT -- see the fourth item in the "Service FAQ" on https://schoeps.de/en/support-service/service.html (English) or https://schoeps.de/support-service/service.html (German). (That text is preliminary and may change somewhat by the end of this week, but the essentials are there.)

 

They've also posted some advice on their Web site about how to avoid the problems in general, though it's fairly common-sensical and will be well known to many people here ( https://schoeps.de/en/knowledge/knowledge-base/schoeps-microphones-in-extreme-weather-conditions.html in English, https://schoeps.de/wissen/knowledge-base/schoeps-mikrofone-bei-extremen-wetterbedingungen.html in German).

 

--best regards

[Jim Rillie]

On 4/26/2022 at 3:37 PM, The Documentary Sound Guy said:

My impression (based on booming for other mixers with their mics, so it's not as comprehensive as it would be if I owned them myself) is that the MiniCMIT can sometimes make actors sound congested, particularly female voices.  I've never had this happen with the CMIT5.

I would love to hear if other people have noticed anything similar.

We have been using both the CMIT and CMIT mini for several years and have never noticed that. In fact, no noticeable difference at all.

[Kambor]

On 4/25/2022 at 3:18 PM, Elusive Sounds said:

Im considering upgrading to a Mini Cmit from an 8060. Now that it has been on the market for a few year, I would love to hear more about user's eperiences using the mini cmit as primary mic for documentary stile work? How often do you find humidity to really be a problem? Do you have another mini cmit as backup to swap out or are you swapping out for sennheisers?

Recorded a fake documentary style short film in january, Canary Islands. 3º to 15º celsius, high humidity. A mini cmit and cmc6/41 developed noise almost inmediately the first day, we had to resort to lavs to keep the one cmc6/41 we had alive dry, to record an important dialogue we had to film the last day.

 

I was booming but the sound mixer was very experienced in documentary and feature films, so no user error.

 

I wouldn't get a schoeps if doc is your goal, they seem too delicate. I'm saving for a 4017B myself.