Audio Recorder/mic for casual dslr setup

R

radicalkat

Hello,

I've got a friend who is a teacher and is asked now and then to record events at school. Plays and stuff. He has a Nikon D7000 and wants to do better with his audio. He asked for advice on a recorder and mic combo. He wants to mount the mic on the accessorie shoe of the camera. He's looking to spend under $200. Any advice?

I have a Tascam Dr100 mkII and an AT short shotgun that I use for indie shorts. It's too expensive for him. I'm not familiar with the less expensive Tascam or Zoom recorders. Mic advice would be welcome, also.

Thanks!
 
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harmonica44 said:
Why not just use an external recorder with better pre-amps, and therefore better audio?
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Because for the casual hobbyist that is complicated, and usually much more than the $200 he want to spend. The RVM plugged into the camera will yield far superior results than the camera mic, but nowhere near even low/no/micro/mini budget filmmaking quality. He also wants to mount the mic on the camera (everyone here knows how much I am against that, but...).
 
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That's true. I was at a wedding this weekend and I noticed that the guy doing video for it, had a Rode Videomic plugged into his DSLR aimed at the bride and groom, but from far in the back, while shooting with his long lens.

I shot a wedding last year with my DSLR. It overheated cause of the whole 12 minute thing and couldn't finish the video. But I had a separate sound recorder plugged into the motherboard, and recorded directly from the mic the bride and groom were speaking through and it sounded really good compared to mounting on a camera and being too far away, mic wise.

But it is complicated for the average hobbyist like you said.
 
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He don't have enough money and bought the wrong camera. The best he could possibly do is a radio shack PZM on the stage floor and an interference gathering cable all the way back to the cam, possibly through an auto recording gain defeat barrel.
If the events are going through sound reinforcement maybe just get a feed out from the mixer into a laptop?
 
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Chrisk said:
He don't have enough money and bought the wrong camera. The best he could possibly do is a radio shack PZM on the stage floor and an interference gathering cable all the way back to the cam, possibly through an auto recording gain defeat barrel.
If the events are going through sound reinforcement maybe just get a feed out from the mixer into a laptop?
Click to expand...

Yeah I think that is pretty good advice. Boundary mics (PZM's) are often overlooked when doing this sort of thing, but they can work well for it, and would yield better results than a camera mounted mic if sensibly placed. A spaced pair of them can be even better.
 
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Boundary mics are cool, but now the hobbyist is required to run wires - something 99% of amateurs want to avoid.

Most hobbyists want point & shoot, and do not want to be bothered with anything that cannot be held in their hands or put on their tripod.
 
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