Add external Mic jack for Canon T1i/500d

The Canon T1i/500d is a great camera that is capable of taking some great video but it did not come with an external mic jack.  This means that you must use the tiny built in jack or an external audio recorder.  After watching some videos on youtube of other people doing this I realized that it is possible to add a jack.

Step 1: Materials and Tools

Materials

You will need to buy a switching 3.5mm (1/8") female headphone jack.  The important part is a switching style like the one from mouser below.  It should have 5 contact points Left + in and out, Right + in and out, and ground.  We need it to be switching style because we want to still use the internal mic when one is not plugged in, but switch to external only when one is plugged in.  I recommend getting this one or the one just like it with threaded bushing . 

You also need about 2" of 2 conductor wire about 18 - 22 guage.


Tools

Drill 
Drill bits
Multimeter (optional)
Soldering iron
solder
epoxy (optional)
electrical tape
diagonal cutters
small screwdrivers flat and phillips
small file (not shown)

Comments

[rhinken]

Is there a place that you can send your t1i to get this done

[cochinosanchez]

this is a helpful tutorial, but i was wondering if you could explain the wiring of the jack a bit more, or maybe even offer a diagram. i wanna do this with my camera, and I would appreciate the help. :D

[pat_loonytoon]

Hey Robb! Nice Instructable. Yeah the biggest problem I had making it prior to you putting this up was that I drilled a little too low on the camera and had to made the hole slightly larger, luckily everything still fits well though. If you want you can slip in a youtube link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=900H9tru8hI) just in case anyone is thinking of getting ML as well :)