Audio Technica ATR-55 Condenser Shotgun Microphone

This microphone, while clearly not the top of the line, is great in doing what it's meant to do: be a cheap microphone. It's perfect for beginning videographers, interviewers, or sound designers. While the audio quality leaves something to be desired, the positive aspects make up for it. The output is a 1/8 in audio jack, which normally would be a downside, due to loss of quality, but in terms of use, most beginners will be better off with the 1/8th in over XLR as most prosumer cameras have inputs for 1/8 in and not XLR. A great buy!

you kno the old saying you get what u pay for. it doesn't apply to this. this little mic is AWESOME. i really think you could do professional stuff w/ this mic. and for only about 45$ its a no brainier. it does all what it say very well. defiantly pick this up if you want to bring a whole new dimension of quality and professionalism to your next video.

I bought this mic for the usual home videos including vocal performances by my son. The ATR-55 seems to perform considerably better than the microphone built into my older video camera. Sensitivity is better, clarity is better, and the ATR-55 seems to be more directional.

Fair competitve price and excellent performance. Easy to switch between a gun mic and a normal mic.

En cuanto a la entrega del pedido, excelente, sin fallas y en el tiempo indicado.

Respecto al Audio Technica ATR-55, el microfono es muy bueno, pero yo lo recomendaria solo para consumidores, es decir, este no es un microfono para profesionales ya que tiene una capadidad menor de alcance. En el modo NORMAL, nos da una calidad similar a la del microfono de la camara; pero en el modo TELE obtenemos un radio mayor de alcance.

El sonido tiene un buen registro y otra de las cuestiones por la que no lo recomiendo para profesionales, es debido a que el microfono captura en MONO el sonido, lo cual, para alguien que quiera hacer un video serio no es muy bueno.

Insisto, recomendable para quienes graban evetnos sociales y cosas por el estilo, pero no para un "Prosumer".

The ATR-55 performed flawlessly with greater range and sensitivity than expected. A community group HD video production was improved with the addition of this unit

The ATR-55 is perfect for the videomaker on a micro budget, and who needs a hyper-cardioid mike that can plug directly into the miniplug mike jack on a consumer camcorder. It's very similar to the Azden 990, slightly longer, and perhaps slightly more rugged, though I'm only assuming this because it weighs a little more.

If you're buying this for on camera mounting, you may be disappointed in that it might not be much better than the on camera mike you already have. This is the nature of sound recording. Shotgun mikes aren't audio zoom lenses, sound doesn't work that way. Mikes such as this work primarily by dampening the sound to the sides and rear, they don't really appreciably increase the sound to the front. The best way to do that is to move the mike closer, which is what professional audio recordists do. Ultimately, a mike like this is going to work best on a boom, set as close to the sound source as possible, just out of frame.

It does come with two mounts, one for stand mounting, and one for camera mounting.

Watch out for the on off switch, it's easy to accidently brush it and turn it off or on. I use a piece of tape to lock it into position.

I used my ATR 55 for about 8 weeks and it worked fine. Then it developed a hissing noise. Tried new batteries and it didn't work. It is even worse on the "tele" setting! It even seems to be picking up all of the sounds everywhere instead of the sounds right in front of it! It totally ruined one of my productions! What is up with his mic? Do they all go bad like this? Does anyone know how it can be fixed? At first I loved this mic now I think it is garbage!

I am not sure why the actual cord on this microphone is so short, if you are buying this to use with a camcorder as an off-cam mic, you'll need to purchase an additional cord from like Radio Shack. It also seems to have a cleaner sound in the tele setting.

I bought at the same time this microphone, a Sennheizer anti-shock mount, and a Panasonic 3CCD PVGS-120 Mini DV camcorder. The only additions I've had to do to my camera kit are a mono to stereo plug converter, and some cable extensions because, apart from the fact that this little piece of equipment is mono, is a versatile and high quality microphone (better in short ranges and set up in cardioid pattern). I've been using all this things for three years already, and although there's plenty of new options in the market when it comes to video, this mike still does the audio job way better that many others.

This is medium quality for a shotgun and high quality for a camcorder mic. If you are looking for a replacement to the mic in a drum on your camcorder, this is the best you can get without installing balanced xlr connectors. Point and shoot. Even canceles out 90% of traffic noise.

Tried this device on the DVX-100B, and no matter how high I would adjust the gains, it just picked up very faint wispers of sound. At this point I thought maybe the problem was in the XLR adapter I used, but when plugged into my computer and laptop, I got the same results. Device was on, used 2 different new batteries... Nothing. I've used various mics before like Azden, so I think I have a decent understanding on how these should perform, and the pickup on these mics are almost nil.

I have used this microphone at a function and was not surprised by it's usefullness. For the price, it gives a good sound and some range. It is a powered mic with one battery and a switch from short to long range pickup. The effectiveness of the long range is exaggerated. I bought it to replace a cheap one and to attach to new video camera.

I've used sennheiser "big" shotgun mics (needing 48V phantom power and XLR connections) that are in the $700 price range and I was pleasantly surprised that the ATR-55 gave reasonable performance for the price. You don't compare it to a 2 foot long mic that costs 15x as much and is clearly for professional use. It's meant for the home moviemaker who is unhappy with the builtin mic on their camcorder which has an external 1/8" mono mic jack -- yes, this is a MONO output so it will likely only appear on one of two channels if you put it in a stereo mic jack leaving the other one empty. You might want to build or buy a dual mono to a single stereo adapter so you can capture audio from 2 mic sources on tape when using this. It will give you more editing options later when you read your tape + 2 audio tracks into your software.

What it does best is replace that built in microphone on your DV handheld recorder that picks up the motor noise and every click of the buttons you press. It does tend to reject your voice if you whisper to the person next to you, perhaps to adjust the lighting. The package comes with two mic holders, one for a hot-shoe (no electrical connections) and one for a traditional mic stand/arm. AT made a complete kit out of this unit.

It uses a single AA battery which should last for a long time. Some advice - toss the included battery in your pile and buy a good one that won't leak. I recommend the L91 lithium AA batteries because of their long life and long storage without leakage. This is a battery you won't be replacing for a couple years so it's best to put a high quality one in to begin with since you'll forget it. The L91 also provides about 2x the usage of a normal alkaline battery, but it costs ~2x as much so it works out in the end as a wash.

One note - the picture shows a nice metal mini 1/8->1/4 adapter but what is included in the kit is plastic and lacks the screw-on threads to keep it from pulling out. The cable is fixed to the microphone and not replacable like professional equipment, but again it's not at that price point.

Use this and your videos will sound alot better. The next step up is a wireless mic and receiver package for really long distances. I have used several of these and they make for excellent tapes of a single subject willing to wear the mic and transmitter. With the shotgun mic you are ready to go no matter who or what you are recording.

I think you'll be impressed with what you get for your money here.

The ATR-55 is a great mic for b-roll or if you don't feel like spending a lot of money on a mic such as a RodeMic. It has a slight hollowness to the audio, but it's not too bad. It features an extended mode (I am not sure what it is actually called) that boasts the gain so you can pick up audio that is further away. All in all for the price it is not too bad.

This mic is worth having on hand in case you need to shoot targeted speakers in a loud area with a consumer level camcorder. Most on-board mics on camcorders will pick up fairly omnidirectionally, so if you're in a crowd watching someone speak and the people around you are talking amongst themselves, you'll pick up all the noise. This mic will improve your capture of a more distant target in front of you and it's fairly inexpensive.

If you're planning on doing any "more serious" shooting -- and I just mean YouTube level "citizen journalism" at that -- you'll need to spend a bit more for the rest of your potential shoots. I would not use this mic for a one-on-one interview with a subject in a quiet room, because as at least one other review has mentioned, this mic has fairly noticeable self noise, a hiss in the sound, even though it's got its own battery. If you're filming indoors where it's quiet, the hiss will get on your nerves. But for out on the street or in a crowd, this should do fine.

The sound it does pick up is a little "thin" sounding -- not very rich in the bass & low midtones. I'm disappointed, b/c I had been using the stereo unidirectional from the same company, the ATR-24, for a couple years for audio podcasting and got pretty good sound from that.

I am probably going to try to hock this mic and look for something closer to the $99 range.

I have used this mic for a number of video projects. It works nicely. The zoom feature doesn't seem to do a whole lot except increase the volume. Nevertheless, it is a good product.

I found the ATR-55 to be a useable mic for my amatuer videomaking, great for those times when the built in camera microphone is not directional enough. However, the self-noise of the mic is much too high for this mic to be used at any sort of distance, and I found myself constantly trying to get it closer to the sound source so that the microphone's own hiss wouldn't drown out the signal. The "tele" setting does more harm than good; it is slightly more directional but much noisier. This mic also has a problem with handling noise: the plastic grommet that holds the cable in place will squeak any time the cable moves. To solve this, you can open the mic and replace the plastic grommet with something less noisy.
I would recommend a low cost Azden mic, which would be more expensive but will serve the amatuer videographer much better than this mic.

This is a good product for the price tag. It does the job... One thing! You must keep the viewfinder on the camera closed or you will create a digital hum through the microphone that WILL be on tape. Other than that, it's decent.

This has good quality for a Mono mic, but its not stereo, plain and simple. You could digitally duplicate the track, but why?

I purchased and quickly sold two ATR-55's. The mics are very likely to have a whine or drone sound during capture that was worse than my Canon XH-A1's on board mic. They are extremely succeptible to wind noise and the two modes it offers (a wide and a tele) are laughable. I would not purchase these under any circumstance.

This mic was purchased for use with a Canon HV-20 camcorder and will be used for home (non-professional) video taping. Notable features: Uses a single "AA" battery (supplied), rather than a more-expensive type like CR-2032 or "N" size photo battery. I prefer gadgets that use "AA" for easy, cheap replacement of the battery.
BUILD QUALITY: Better than I expected! The "body" of the mic is aluminum tubing (at this price I'm surprised it isn't plastic). The user-accessible electrical components, which include the power switch, cable, and battery contacts, appear to be of good quality. The mic comes with a foam windscreen which fits firmly over the barrel.
PERFORMANCE: About what I expected for $55.00. There is a little audible static at high gain levels, and this mic is (surprisingly) actually less sensitive than the mic built in to the Canon camcorder, i.e., I have to boost the camera's audio gain control about 3db to get the same sound volume with the ATR-55. The comparable Rode shotgun mic is probably a little more sensitive, and probably offers a better signal-to-noise ratio; depends on whether you think $150 buys you enough added performance to justify the price increase. This mic is probably not sensitive enough for professional videography, or even for amateur use if the sound you want to record is more than about 15 feet away, like birds up in tree or something. It is useful for close-in videotaping when your primary need is to eliminate internal noise from the camera's tape drive mechanism.
The mic comes with mounts for the standard videocamera accessory shoe, and for a mic stand. The mounts are molded plastic, and attach with a tight "snap-fit" to the microphone barrel. I question the long term durability of these parts, as plastic under tension tends to fail sooner or later.

The ATR-55 is a monaural microphone: when connected to a Stereo mic input jack on a camcorder like the Canon HV-20, it will produce a signal only on the left audio channel. If this is a problem for you, an inexpensive Mono-to-Stereo adapter is available from Radio Shack (p/n 274-374, $3.99) that duplicates the output from the ATR-55 to both the left and right channels (this sounds better, at least to my ears).

Remarkable for the price, worked very well for the purpose of recording small lectures. Mono limitation not relevant to me. The two-position switch acted more like a gain enhancer rather than a narrowing of the receiving angle, and was more effective for doing so. Receive angle was wider than expected, but again, the central gain made this work well for lecture notes. A little noisy on background signal-to-noise, not a limitation for lectures but may be important to music recording. Very simple to set up and use - I suggest having headphones to hear what the result will be like, and choose mic position and set incoming levels to suit. Build quality a bit light, but well enough made to be robust with care in handling. Absolutely recommend as an improvement to using built in mics, and it's not just a toy, even at this low price.

I bought the microphone for the its directional pattern. That turned out to be good. But I am disappointed with the high self-noise level of ATR-55. The hissing noise is very noticeable. There is no self-noise specification for this microphone from Audio Technica. The sensitivity of ATR-55 in the normal mode is very low, less than -50dBv/Pa. This makes the normal mode virtually useless. The sensitivity of the tele mode is barely enough (-46 dBv/Pa). But the high self noise makes the recording noisy. The low sensitivity is made worse by the extraordinary high output impedance of 2200 ohm. This reduces the gain of normal MIC amps.

I've rented the high end gear before (Seinheiser shotgun with full zeppelin setup) and I've got to say that this little mic is an odd little option that I like having in my bag of tricks for shooting movies.

It is VERY easy to use. I love the tonality in the 'standard' mode, though the range is quite low when compared to other high end mics. So, as a 'shotgun', the standard mode is pretty useless. However, it delivers a very rich and engaging tone and I find myself using this mic in 'standard' mode very often for regular vocal performances.

The 'tele' mode definitely extends the range...Quite a bit further than the high end mics in fact. The problem is that the overall sound can become a little thin. It definitely doesn't have the same warm quality as the standard mode. However, if you can't get a boom in close enough (and you don't have LAV's), the telescopic mode can really get you out of a jam.

Standard mode = great sound with good directionality, but poor range.
Tele mode = thin sound, good directionality, very good range.

Either this product is just plain bad of I just wasn't lucky and received a bad copy.
The thing is that this mic was so insensitive that in order to record a clean sounding voice I had to put it about 1" away from my mouth. Otherwise you wouldn't hear a thing. Tele setting was better but still, it would record only sounds within a few feet. Also a lot of noise was present.
Built quality is good though, nice, sturdy metal casing that seems to be rugged.

I contacted customer service, but never got any answer.
Too bad that a company like Audio Technica allows for such a bad quality.

While this microphone does give you decent sound quality and performance for a good price, they aren't built very well and don't last long. In September '06 I purchased ten of these microphones for teachers to use in their classroom with students. It's now May, and all but two have failed.

The problem is that the wire used for these is so thin and delicate that it breaks after only a few months of normal use/handling (rough use cuts that down to a few weeks). What's more, most electronics repair shops refuse to repair these because of the poor quality of the materials used. Azden makes a similar microphone for a few more dollars. I've had better luck with it, even though it appears to be made of only slightly better materials. As these break, I'm replacing them with the Azden SGM-X (about $110 new). So far, so good.

I tried to be as frugal as reasonably possible in my video spending (Canon ZR 800 cameras are doing OK so far...) but it appears that a decent shotgun microphone that you can expect to last for more than a year starts at around $110. Best of luck; not an expert in this area, so would appreciate any advice from those "in the know" for good mics to use with younger students. THX

The mount creaks a bit on my Canon HV20 hotshoe. I think that a semi-pro rubber shock mount would have worked great instead.

I bought this for use with my digital video camera and it provides excellent audio quality. I am filmmaker and the audio quality on this microphone rivals that of much more expensive mics. If you want excellent sound and don't want to waste money on an over-priced mic, pick this up. The only downside is the short cord, but extensions are cheap too.

This microphone completes my camcorder. The sound quality is excellent, and the amplified feature really works. The option to use it or not is a bonus.

Perhaps this would work well in an area with alot of noise, such as a sports game, but I wouldn't recommend this for any other reason. In fact, I returned this mic because it wasn't as good as my Panasonic GS180's internal stereo mic. I did identical tests with this mic, and with my camcorder's mic.

The Atr55 did pick up better on voice clarity and depth when in close range, but it brought in too much outside/ambient noise, and the cable makes alot of noise! It's hard not to rub against the cable with your fingers when it's mounted on a small camcorder.

The Bottom Line: you may want to do research on a more expensive mic like the Rode Videomic, I hear it's great, yet haven't tried it yet. I guess you get what you pay for.

Which is exactly what you'd expect from a shotgun mic. I'm still very very impressed by just how well it works. Good stuff.

Well, I did considerable research for comparable low-budget microphones. I have a 3-chip Panasonic consumer video camera and I'm interested in producing documentaries, shorts and travel videos. My goal was to enhance the audio that came standard with my PV GS300 when filming and capturing both near and far-range audio.

I performed a few mic. tests to create a standard for evaluation. I filmed six scenes. 3 scenes at close-range with these 3 mics, and 3 scenes at long-range using these 3 different mics. I used iMovie to import my recordings to evaluate the audio. For this review I tested my on-board stock mic., a Radioshack lavaliere mic. and the Audio Technica mic. My results are as follows:

I. Out-of-the-box standard mic.: Performs with mediocre results, less than desired by Current.tv standards. The recorded audio has a slight echo/ reverberation, it performs like a stock mic. is expected to perform and produces a somewhat muffled sound.

II. Audio Technica Mic.: Disappointing sound quality. For $53 I expected this mic. to improve upon my equipment's stock microphone; it did not. The regular setting was just as loud and clear as the stock mic. The upside is that it had slightly less of an echo than the stock mic. but it also delivered a softer audio recording. The Tele setting essentially acted as a volume increase; the subject was louder, but so were ambient noises. Overall it was difficult to distinguish between this mic. and the on-board mic.; and certainly not worth the extra duckets.

III. Radioshack lavaliere mic: The audio was significantly enhanced. When interviewing a subject sitting 3 feet away the recording of both my questions and the subject's answers were louder and clearer. Down-side : this mic. is less convenient because it requires attaching a corded microphone to the subject's lapel. There are ways around this like a wireless receiver but what is gained in audio might be lost by creating technical intricacies with your subject. Don't forget to switch the mic. on; this one also requires a stereo adapter.

I was hoping this Audio Technica mic. would provide an increase in performance worth the additional cost. The lesson I learned is that it is all or nothing. Shell out $200 for a pro/pro-sumer grade mic. or get by with what you have. You can improve your situation with a lav. mic. but so far I have not discovered a budget shotgun mic.

As stated above; this mic on my camcorder {Sony VX2100} is better in the tele mode than normal. #1. because my on-board mic is better {stereo} and #2. produces equal sound levels in doors at 3, 6, or 9 ft. away, but this one in mono.
My use for this will be only for distance, whether indoors or outdoors.

In the tele mode it is quite strong and really amp's the sound. It's very one directional, in front, and will not pick up strong sound from talking behind your camcorder and if off to the side, abreast of it, it doesn't pick up well either.
Now, I new this going into it, and thats what I want. So, therefore a SHOTGUN MIKE! But my favorite is still the wireless from; AUDIO TECHNICA PRO88W-R35 Microphone. Outdoors I got to 80' with clear reception. But your limited to one lapel mike. A shoutgun will pick up everybody standing close together! 5 stars because I like there line of products, and the average camera guy can buy quaility "stuff" without it costing and "arm and a leg"!

If you are starting off and want a descent mic without breaking the bank this mic gets the job done. Just make sure you power it off after each use or you'll burn through batteries very quickly.

I wanted to comment on someone else's comment that the mic's "shotgun setting just boosts the signal though, rather than cutting out sound from the sides". Most of you are clearly using this mic for video, whereas I'm using it just inches from my face for VO work (Voice Over). On the "tele" setting, the directionality is SO sensitive that I can't use it. If I accidentally moved my mouth just a half inch from one side to the other, I lost it. I have to use the regular setting. There is no doubt whatsoever that the "tele" setting makes this mic far more unidirectional. It's not just "boosting the signal".

If you want a mic for VO work, this is very near the bottom of the scale (for ones that are good enough to use for this purpose), but it was all I could afford at the time, and it's good enough to use for most of my professional work.

It helps in isolating sounds so that you "mostly" pick up whats in front of you. However, the rubber grommet or connection that is at the base of the unit and secures the cable is extremely noisy. If you are not careful, you tend to pick up a constant squeaking sound from the movement of the cable. All in all, I'm satisfied with the product but not impressed.

If you can afford the Sennheiser MKE300 for about $170, buy it! (If money's tight and you're smart you'll get a cheaper camcorder and then get the better mic instead). The ATR-55, however, is a decent mic - not great, but good, and a good value for the money. It's a bit long for smaller camcorders so be careful. Still, I've not found anything better in this price range.

this is a pretty good microphone, way better than on board camcorder microphones. A lot of people complaine that they can hear the camcorder motor noises with this boom microphone, but that is only because they are directly mounting the mic on top of the camera. If you can you should always have an extra person holding the mic and one person running the camera, that way the person with the mic can aim and concentrate on getting really good audio from whoever. the tele setting is kind of cool but i dont know how useful it will be except for sporting events or large crowd type venues. I think this microphone is definently a cheap beginners mic that will work well for most projects, but some audio nuts might want to pay $5000 for a better mic that has "better" sound quality. However for most people, it will work great

Just had to post a response to one of the other comments. This is a SHOTGUN microphone. There is no such thing as a Stereo Shotgun microphone. What would be the point?

For that matter, most microphones are mono...period. There is no way I would ever expect a microphone to be stereo unless it was specifically stated.

I haven't used this mic, although I have used other AT products with good results. I just have a problem with someone who gives a bad review to a product that they clearly don't understand. It's like someone buying a food processor and complaining that it doesn't keep food hot.

Not a bad mic, not bad sound quality, but it is not stereo, which can cause grief (no sound on playback) when trying to edit video in Premiere or playback video using Power DVD etc.

If your camera supports mono recording, or a mono-stereo converter jack works for you, then fine. Otherwise, in Premiere, you need to add an Audio effect, such as Effects->Stereo->Fill Left, then you will be able to get the sound audible and playing from both channels.

Shame on AT for not saying upfront that this unit is MONO.

The mic worked great. Shipment arrived faster than advertised. The price was very good compared to other vendors.

This mic is not directional enough to be considered a shotgun mic. The cardiod setting seems to be great. I think it's a little more directional than a regular cardiod. The shotgun setting just boosts the signal though, rather than cutting out sound from the sides.

You will probably want a shock mount for this (or any) mic in camera mounted or pole mounted applcations. Otherwise, you'll hear your hands on the camera.

This mic is amasing quality for the price. Just as everyone else has said, it captures crisp quality on the whole range. The one thing that I want to caution people on is the problem that I have had. When using an extension cable, I get a high-pitched whine. I haven't been able to troubleshoot enough to say what the problem is, and the sound is able to be corrected using many filters in post production, but it is a pain to fix and makes playback annyoing.

Other then that one fault, this is truely a great mic. If I end up getting another mic, I will probably still end up using this one when it is approperiate to have a mic on the shoe atop my camera.

This is a very well built mic in terms of quality. But it should not be mistaken for a long distance shotgun mic. It will NOT magically capture audio from a long distance and avoid everything in the back or the sides.

It will work great for capturing audio in interviews where your subject is close to the camera. It will definately work better than your usual onboard mic but it still will pick up noise from the camera. Ideal use would be to use it closer to the subject, hidden or on a mic stand.

You will want to buy another shotgun mic after this, but it's worth the price for trying this out and learning why.

Used it to shoot two features, and the third this summer. Great product. Our film distributor wondered how we got such good sound, and he said he was surprised because most indpendent films have sound quality that sucks. Want a great mic that doesn't suck? Get this!

I did some quick tests with the Microphone and the sound is good. I wanted to use it with a small DV camcorder though, and the Microphone is just huge sitting on it. My DV is maybe 4 inches long front to back, and this microphone is twice as long. The case I got to travel on vacation with the camcorder will not allow the microphone to fit in it. This is more of a "Pole" microphone you see sound guys holding in film production. For using around the home base it will work well, but to pack it on a vacation, no way. I just wish they included the dimensions in the description of the product. Also it is mono, so the finished video will need some dubbing to make stereo.

This is a great microphone. I bought it and tested all functions the same day. I am shooting some non-budget short movies and it comes in very handy. Very clean sound. Deep base and crisp high tone. The price is outstanding, I feel like I'm ripping off Audio-Technica. What a steal! I don't see any reason not giving it 5 stars. It does what it promises for so little money. My only wish is that the cable would be a little longer, but then it would loose on quality, because it's not an XLR connector. Who cares though, most camcorders don't come with XLR anyway (not mine). I say buy it, you won't regret it. It's gold for peanuts.

this is a good mic
i just got back from our first shoot using this thing insted of onboard camera mics
what a difference
the range in incridble
we had someone just walk out and keep talking, i switched the mic to tele and i could hear him allmost 100 meters away from the camera on headphones
has both tele (for long distance, often picks up to much back ground noise, and is not best for close up situations) and normal(which has decent distance as well and works fine indoors)
the only problem was that we kept getting it in the picture, but thats not a mic malfunction, just me being stupid
the windscreen is very useful, i have allways had trouble with wind using onbard camera mics, and this works much better
yes, it is mono, only putting out sound to the left ear, but using premeire you can just duplicate the left audio track and it comes out fine.

well worth it
only downside is the tele pickup gets a bit fuzzy with background noise

Been using my ATR-55 for over a year. Really like the amplified TELE feature that seems to reach out and grab sounds, without picking up hardly any surrounding noise. But hey, its uni-directional, so that's one of the things it's supposed to do. Nevertheless, the NORMAL zone is about a 120degree V in front of the mic, and the TELE is about a 90degree V-zone. Was videotaping our school's football game, and filmed one half in TELE mode, and the second half in NORMAL mode. The TELE mode was almost eerie, because you could pick up the voices out on the field, but all the surrounding noise (fans) could hardly be heard. The NORMAL mode picked up a little more audience noise, so it sounded more natural, but nevertheless still filtered out the other people talking in the press tower with me. The TELE mode is very nice for lectures, so that it doesn't pick up distracting noises, including that of the camcorder's mechanism - that's why I go this in the first place, because the OMNI-directional microphone in the digital camcorder was picking up too much noise (including its own motor) during really quiet lectures. Just be aware that this unit is _not_ stereo - you should either get a mono-to-stereo adapter to use with it, or set the sound input on the camcorder to mono. Otherwise, you'll just get sound coming out of one speaker on stereo play-back. If you need stereo, get the ATR-25, which is very nice and also uni-directional, but lacks the ATR-55's TELE feature. Basically, TELE was more important to me than stereo, but it might be different for you. I wear headphones plugged into the camcorder while filming, this way I can better monitor the sound pickup, and make a determination between whether TELE or NORMAL is best for any given situation - the difference is noticeable. I gave it four stars because it is very good, but I'm sure units like a nice Sennheiser are better, but for much more money. This is a nice looking, solidly built unit, and a decent value to boot.