I bought a Canon 5D Mark II with the understanding that at some point, I'd like to take amazing HD footage. Awesome footage is made or ruined with sound quality, and I looked at multiple reviews online and at sites [...] and others, and the Rode Stereo VideoMic got good reviews for a "starter" microphone.Being a photography buff, I figured that this would be good enough for me to get started with. I'm amazed at the sound quality and range that I get with the microphone. With the onboard mic from the 5D, I'd sometimes catch myself breathing heavily (which sucks to have good footage ruined by that.) With the Rode mic, it's gone. The mic fits into the Canon's hotshoe and plugs in just fine. The Rode mic also includes the awesomely named Dead Kitten, to block wind noise (Canon's internal microphone is pretty good at picking it up.) I'm really surprised at how much it blocks. While shooting friends goofing off outdoors over the weekend, I got to shoot video with my point and shoot and the 5D + Rode rig. The point/shoot picked up more wind noise than my friends and the Rode mic didn't pick up any of the wind.I haven't gotten a chance to do anything indepth, such as use Magic Lantern for the 5D Mark II so I can do things like manual gain control, look at on-screen audio and things of that nature. I bought this because I wanted a good stereo microphone without having aspirations of making the next big feature at Sundance. The fact that I can put the microphone on a boom pole and have it work well is just an added bonus (but then I'd have to bribe friends to hold it for me since I only have so many hands!)I'm happy with it, and I generally dislike most electronics. That says a lot.