DSLR Rig and Audio

I have done more documentary shooting and run and gun style narrative film making lately and my need for sound directly in to the camera has increased. This type of shooting requires sound be in the camera, both for reference and for a quick cut. I have spent more hours than I care to mention lining up audio with slates and wave forms with the old 5D Mll in camera mic audio than I care to mention. So when I started to use this new system I was relieved.
The way that it works, at least with my rig, is I use the H4N as a mic pre amp. I have mounted it to the back of my shoulder rig and run a splitter off of the line out / headphone outlet and then run a mini cable to the camera while still being able to monitor the audio from the headphones. Now, if you are using this system you need to be careful because you can not monitor, on camera, the audio levels so you must use the bars on the H4N and get a feel through the head phones of what your levels are like. Of course you'll need to set the levels on manual in the new 5D firmware. I choose to keep them very low, maybe 3 or so clicks from mute and use the pre amps in the H4N rather than the cheap ones in the camera. This results in less noise and a bit more control by using the two volume settings on the H4N ( headphone / record volumes).
Another obstacle with using the H4N is the amount of battery power that it sucks up. When using mics that need phantom power be prepared to change many batteries. I use a mic that takes a AA so it reduces the amount of juice that the H4N sucks up. Here are a few pictures of what the rig looks like when set up with Zeiss lenses and a Light Panels Micro Pro light to take away some of the face shadow for indoor run and gun. These pictures where taken while covering a political rally for the legalization and taxation of marijuana in California on 420. This was through a LA production house called www.newlovefilms.com