I'm going to be recording some video soon and have decided to record all the audio separately on a more dedicated device. the problem now is syncing. I have a simple slate with a clapper but I'm going to be working at long focal lengths and won't have an assistant to dedicate to running out and putting the slate in front of the camera every take.I was wondering if their are smaller more effective devices? ideally I'd like something small enough to fit in an actors pocket that they could just pull out themselves every take. something small that flashed a light at the same time as playing a tone would be perfect, but I have no idea what something like that would be called so I'm not sure where to look.

Very Good Question, I wondered the same thing. Don't clappers have digital readouts and tone signals they emit at time you smack that clapper? wouldn't this be enough to sync the external sound source?Are you using a lavalier mike to record the subject, and is it going to a professional mp3 recorder. If so couldn't you sync the pro clapper to the mp3 recorder with a cable?I would try this forum:http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/all-things-audio/just search for external sync

the problem with digital slates/clappers is the cost, they are a grand or more. the problem with a lot of these "pro" items is they sell such low quantities the prices stay sky high.I'm not exactly cheap, but I prefer to maximize my production dollars, my productions are going to be fairly short form so I'm not sure if spending thousands of dollars on audio syncing is appropriate.thanks for the link I'll check it out.

Surely if you just call out the shot number it will be recorded both on the external recorder and on the camera's sound track so you can just match up the audio waveforms in editing. -

If you are filming actors just have one hold out his arms and clap his hands. Match the waveform to the video... -- Is it done yet?

I discovered a clever solution for synchronizing an external audio recorder to the 5D Mark II, using the 5D Mark II's audio track as a time code reference track.http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/708844/0#6397372A little lower in the thread he has posted a diagram of his solution. He proposes using a Zoom H4 with a SMPTE LTC time code track already recorded on its memory card. Because the H4 can playback at the same time as it records, he suggests sending the LTC via a wireless link to the 5D Mark II. Then the video and audio will have the same LTC tracks attached and can be easily synchronized in an editor. Credit to "jray" there for this idea.Has anyone tried this? Or what about attaching a portable time code generator with LTC output to the audio input of the 5D Mark II and jamming it to the time code generator in an external audio recorder? Frame accuracy isn't essential, just good lip synchronization. The less manual work needed to synchronize the video and the audio recordings, the better it is for all of us who record sound too.