Hey guys and gals, I'm on a tight budget (2000$ max.) and I'd like to know what's the best camera for outdoor and indoor shooting. Also, does anyone know what type of sound equipement I could use? Such as wireless mini-mics,etc.

Thanks in advance!

Chrix

Well, for starters, regarding the camera, a quick search on this forum returned these threads from within just the last few months:

http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......2&22

or

http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......2&25

These are just two threads with some excellent points and cameras reviewed by several members of the Café.

If you have any other questions feel free to ask.

But honestly, asking "what's the best camera?" is like asking "what's the best car?" They all have their own pros and cons.

Warm regards,
Scott

Oh shoot, I should've searched. Thanks for those links, Scott. I think I know what camera to get, but that all depends on the price of the mic. I went through those two threads, and managed to find this:


What wireless mic do you guys recommend? (If there isn't realy a specific wireless mic to get then just tell me.)

P.S: I'm probably going to get the DVX100B off of e-Bay for a cheaper price.

Thanks again,
Chrix

Ok, I've managed to find a good lavalier microphone wireless system for about 200$. Problem solved.


Thanks Scott,
Chrix

A shotgun mic on a boom is the way to go. That's what we use and it works great. You can pickup the audio from a small area or from a distance and if you buy a good shotgun, you won't get unwanted noise because of how well they are made.
-Tyler

Shotgun eh? Hmm, I'll consider that. My budget is quite low so I'll stick to the lav mics for a while. When I get enough money, I'll see what kind of deal I can get for a shotgun.

Thanks for the help
Chrix

Where are you located? If you're near a major city you can always rent a camera. However, I can say from several years of experience in the business, the mic on the camera (even a $2000 camera) is pretty sad. You'll want any other mic. Even a Sennheiser or AT can be found for pretty cheap on eBay. I bought a Sennheiser K6/ME66 combo unit shotgun mic for around $650.

Or even better, I've got a Sennheiser unit (EW-100 I think is the model number) that was $750 new. It's got a "butt plug" which is a box with an XLR input. It transmits to a wireless receiver that plugs into the camera. So you can plug the monitor out of your sound system into this butt plug and it transmits that wirelessly to your camera. Very nice.

This way you'll be able to use the lav. A lav is usually the best bet in a performance situation since you'll want to get the mic as close to the mouth as possible. And with your lav, you'll be a few inches away.

On a side note, here's a bit of info regarding shotgun mics. They shouldn't be used to pick up sound from far away. It isn't an audio equivalent to a telescope. Instead it blocks sound coming in from the sides. The "reach" is still similar to other mics. It's just very good at canceling out the noise from the sides.

Many people use this feature to pump up the gain on the mic, which will pick up noises from further away, but at a cost of worse signal to noise ratio (in other words - bad sound). Always best to get the shotgun as close to the audio source as possible (that'd be your mouth!). You'll notice in film (watch behind the scenes stuff on DVDs) that the shotgun is held on a boom literally inches from the talent's mouth, usually a few inches above and just a hair out of frame.

Good luck!
Scott

I cannot imagine why someone would recommend a shotgun over wireless lavaliers. We use some low-end Sony's, and they are fantastic. We shoot all over, and the Sony's pick up me, my participants and any other important sounds just great. I suppose if you want to commit to your cameraman being very close to you, or you perform in a theater where there is no other noise (and you live on a planet where wireless lavaliers don't exist) then maybe you can get by with a shotgun mike, but if you ever wnat to shoot on location and can't afford a boom man, inexpensive wireless mics are a gift from the tech gods. I think mine cost less than $150. Also, they can be piggybacked if you need to mike more than one person. We have 4 sets.

Josh

With a shotgun, not everyone needs to have a mic on. You may not like it as much, but almost every tv show that does outside filming uses them.

There is a special type of shotgun mic that picks up audio from long distances.

Our Theater department at High school uses them for plays. I used one there so people could hear what the audience members on stage were saying.

Tyler,

They all use boom mikes, not shotguns. Very different. Boom operators and equpment in my area would cost me about 10 grand.

I perform quite often with just a lavalier on me, and it picks up everyone around me. I would only use two if there is another part of tha action, more than 25 feet from me, that I need to pick up the sound from.

Lavs and shotguns both have their place. It's like saying "Why would someone want a motorcycle instead of an SUV?" Both have a purpose.

When I am hired to do a shoot, I use both. The lav is on the talent, the shotgun is in the audience pointed at the talent (normally).

Then you mix the two channels in post. This way, you can remove audience/room ambient during certain parts and just have a clean audio of the talent. Or you can bring up the audience laughter/clapping at select points.

I just like to have as many options when I'm in the edit suite.

Also, there are times when having a shotgun mic hardwired with an XLR cable into the camera is a GOOD thing. Wireless lapels are great at times, but when you are in a live shoot and suddenly you are getting a bad signal because of interference and you've now got audio dropouts, you'll be glad you've got a backup hardwired mic.

It's not a matter of if a wireless will fail, just when. Always have a hardwired backup.

Again, I'd like to restate what I said a few posts up regarding shotguns:

They do NOT pick up audio from "long distances." They use noise reduction in the form of specially designed slots in a long tube to cancel out audio from the side of the mic.

This is a VERY important point regarding mics. I can't stress it enough. If you use it to capture audio from far away, you'll be disappointed. Your audio will have extra noise due to the gain being cranked up. The mic should be placed as close to the sourse as possible.

Think of in a visual way. An ommidirectional mic would be your normal field of vision. A shotgun (or hypercardiod or any other directional mic) is like putting blinders on or looking through a tube. Your vision is actually restricted. It is NOT like looking through a telescope, bringing the picture in closer.

Warm regards,
Scott Sullivan

Josh, a "boom mic" is just a shotgun mounted on a pole (the boom). I use a shotgun on a stand during shoots and don't need to hire a boom operator. My shotgun cost around $350. My other one cost $1250. Just for the mic. There are different mics in different catagories. But you are right, an operator with a field mixer, mic, boom and monitoring headsets can be costly.

For theatrical productions, a better mic is actually a PZM style pickup. It's a flat looking square thing designed for that type of use. They lay flat on the stage and pickup in a hemisphere shaped pickup pattern.