Rode offers new tools for mobile AV creators

NAB is always a big time for the AV crowd, and Australia's own Rode often makes a splash. This year they showed off three new products and every one fills a handy niche in the mobile professional toolkit.

The Interview PRO

A new broadcast-quality handheld condenser mic that works with the RODE Series IV Wireless system. That means you can use it with your Wireless PRO, Wireless ME, or Wireless GO II systems. I've been using a mic-style mount for a wireless unit so this feels a lot more fit for purpose (though the other setup has worked great so far). It also pairs directly with a RODECaster Pro II, Duo, or Streamer X setup.

Rode says the mic will deliver 200m line of sight range plus 32GB of onboard storage and a dedicated start/stop button to offer 40 hours of recording directly on the mic. I'm always a bit wary of using condenser mics in uncontrolled environments as they can pick up a lot of background noise, but if you know what you're doing you know when you want condenser over dynamic. The Interview PRO is $399.

The Phone Cage

You might have seen these kinds of mounting systems for smartphones before, but here we have a cage that attaches via the Apple MagSafe system which is also now the Qi2 system for the wider smartphone ecosystem. You get a dazzling 33 mounting thread points and five cold shoe slots so you can setup your mobile video rig just right. The Phone Cage is $199.

Magnetic Mount

The Magnetic Mount is a smaller, more modular cold shoe mounting system for MagSafe / Qi2 than the Phone Cage, and I think it's my favourite. Just magnetically attached the mount and you can then attach whatever accessories you need to the phone so you carry all your key tools with minimum fuss.

It has a modular set of three removable arms with handles, 1/4-inch thread, and tripod mounting options so you can setup just the way you want with light, microphone, wireless receiver, or whatever you need. The Magnetic Mount is $149 and I'm getting this one right away.

All up it's another really nice accessory line up from Rode, which keeps delivering great audio hardware that has a solid understanding of what people need in the field.