On Mon, 28 Apr 2003 19:29:29 GMT, "Magnusfarce" <magnusfarce@earthlink.net> wrote:

>Most of my shooting will continue to be casual compared to those of you who

>do more formal coverage of weddings and things of that sort. Setting up

>external mics isn't going to be a useable solution for me, except perhaps

>for very special occasions. I realize that no camera-mounted mic I buy for

>a hundred bucks is going to satisfy all my complaints. My question here is:

>will any of the mics I listed (or others in that price range) noticeably

>improve directionality (and thereby reduce "local" noise) without giving up

>significant sound quality.

>

>David Ruether (from whom I've gotten very helpful advice in the past -

>thanks again) suggests that I stay away from zoom mics. That leaves me

>looking at the ECM-Z37c, which is unidirectional but not a zoom mic. (I

>didn't include the Z157 because I'm not sure I will be able to find one.)

>The ECM-MS908c is not unidirectional but has a switchable pickup angle.

>Will either of these two reduce local noise and still produce good overall

>sound, i.e., equivalent to the built-in microphone?

> -- Magnusfarce

The 908c will not be more directional, but will likely

be at least a bit nicer-sounding, with less camera-noise

pickup, than the built-in mic; the z37c will likely sound

good enough to trade its somewhat greater directionality

for its lack of stereo, for your purposes. I would buy

that one from a source that will accept returns/exchanges

"gracefully", and try it. If this doesn't work, the more

expensive and larger Sennheiser MKE-300 may - though

it is not truly "unidirectional" (no mic is, and you would

not like the sound of it with panning, if it were...).