Can I use professional microphones with a consumer camcorder?

Can I use professional microphones with a consumer camcorder?

Tim Smith (Camcorder Training Specialist) gives expert video advice on: What kind of sound quality can I expect from my camcorder?; What do I need in order to use an external microphone for my camcorder?; Can I use professional microphones with a consumer camcorder? and more...

Say you've got a very high-end mic or what we'd call a professional microphone. It typically has a connection on it called an XLR connection. But your camcorder may not have that connection. It may only have what's a mini jack or a small jack. There's a lot of third party type of priducts out there, party products made by audio people that will take an XLR connection and then reduce it to the size jack that you need. It's not just a matter about hooking it up to make one jack fit the other. There's things that can impede and things that have to be considered. So really what you should do is just look for something professional that's going to go from XLR to mini jack.