mic recommendation wanted by documentary-maker

Hiya, I'm about to head out to Nepal to shoot one of my first documentaries, and I have a budget of around £1500-£1700 for the camera and microphone(s).

Most urgently I need to know how important it is to have an XLR adapter on my camera, from the point of view of getting good sound recording.   I'm having to decide between buying a conveniently small and light new high definition camera from Sony (the HC1 going for about £1000) which doesn't have XLR plug ins (the same camera with XLR plug ins is £1600+), and the sturdier but heavier+older PD150 which does have XLR plug ins (going for about £1350).  Obviously going for the PD150 leaves me with less to spend on microphones.  But going for the HC1 means that if it really is vital to have XLR plug ins then I will have to buy an XLR adapter (or beach box), which I'm told aren't really that good anyway.

With the money left over (so that's £500-£700 if I buy the HC1, or just £150-350 if I buy the PD150) I'm hoping to buy a radio mic, as well as a good shot gun mic.  Is this realistic?  Can anyone give me any recommendations?  or some idea of where to start looking...

Thanks very much, Beth

If you are going to Nepal, I wouldn't take anything better than that which you actually need - but that said, I would have thought that a PD150 was quite a good choice, in fact. Your budget looks to be just a bit on the slender side, though - so you may have to compromise, although you will probably come to regret it.

As far as microphones go, almost exclusively people use Sennheisers for this sort of work, because they don't suffer from condensation problems. Hot favourites are MK416, MK815, MK816 etc, and I'd say that it is essential that you get a windgag with it. If you want to do this on the cheap, and you are in the UK, PM me and I'll tell you exactly where to look.

It doesn't actually matter as far as sound quality goes whether you use a camera with an XLR connector or not, but in terms of reliability in the field, they can't be beaten at the price. What's just as important is that you make sure that the mic's phantom power arrangements are correct, either from the camera itself, or from an external power pack. The thing you have to watch is that if you get any Sennheiser with a T at the end of the model number, it will use T-power, and this isn't exactly standard... it's the P option you need (usually P48), which is probably what the camera can supply.  

The good thing about MK416's is that with the right pistol grip, you can use them on and off the camera with ease. This is good for all documentary makers - it's definitely the way to go. But, if you are travelling to a foreign country, absolutely the last thing you need (especially in hazardous terrain) is unreliable kit. If any crucial component fails, you might just as well not have gone in the first place. And I wouldn't bother with the radiomic unless you absolutely know you are going to need it - because this will just compromise your already small budget further.

There's a quick update on this one - Beth finally got a PD170 camera, and a Rode NTG2 mic. The Rode is pretty well specified for the price, but needs a bit of padding around it before it will fit on the PD170 mic flexi-mount. Otherwise, it works pretty well with the camera, although the intention is to keep it physically away from it as much as possible.

I know it all works fine - because I've had Beth, with all the kit, sitting on my livingroom floor for half of the morning, and we've checked it all out - she's departing for Nepal this evening, and staying there for about 3 months. She's got this all together pretty successfully (after a slight false start re. cameras) - and I've lent her my spare boompole. So we now await results with interest...

I'd love to hear the results when you get them!

There was a recent review of the NTG1/NTG2 in Audio Media that was very favourable and I've been thinking of one as a "standby" for my faithfull old 416.  The NTG2 model is particularly interesting because of the internal battery power option.

Bob

I'd love to hear the results when you get them!

There was a recent review of the NTG1/NTG2 in Audio Media that was very favourable and I've been thinking of one as a "standby" for my faithfull old 416.  The NTG2 model is particularly interesting because of the internal battery power option.

She was originally going to go for the NTG1, but I persuaded her that she'd end up with a more versatile mic if she got the slightly more expensive NTG2, and its battery option. We didn't try battery power yesterday - it's been running so far only from the phantom supply on the PD170.