Ok fellas, I need some advice. I am working on a small doc of the senior boy's basketball team, their season, etc. I'm in need of a better audio system to supplement my camera. What I am considering is purchasing a fairly inexpensive wireless mic to capture some audio from the coach during moments where it is harder to achieve good audio (gameplay, timeouts, those insipiring pep-talks, interviews, etc.) I am not yet willing to fork over hundereds of dollars for an audio system, I just need something basic. I am considering Sony's low end WCS999 wireless mic. However, I have heard VERY bad things about this mic - frequent dropouts (even at closer range), runs at 900mhz (eek), just to name a few. All I really need is something basic, and I'm sure I could deal with the problems this sucker puts out, until I invest in more equipment.

So, any comments about this mic? Any other suggestions? Assistance would be appreciated.

Thanks,

-Bodd

I know its out of your budget, but... if you buy it, it will last you for life.

The new Sony UWP series. Costs $500, but hell, is this a sweet mic. This is the first mic to offer high-end sound and performance at low cost. These things cost nearly $2G's before this was introduced in April of this year.

I bought the portable reciever / Lav combo, tested it, works amazing. Pure sound. Range... I drove over 4 blocks before my friend reported dropouts.

If you can afford it, go for it, otherwise, I don't know much about real low end wireless mics. This is about as low end as I know.

"This is your life, and it's ending one minute at a time"

you get what you pay for, brutha. buy a hundred dollar mic, get a hundred dollar mic. Why not rent when you need it? In addition to camera rental places you could also check out music supply stores--they often rent audio too.

Thanks guys. Perhaps I don't need to venture into the wireless world yet. I'll keep the advice in mind for future projects though.

So, say I just needed a mic to conduct some interviews. Could I just use a cheap mic to clip on to the subject's shirt, and plug that right into my cam through the miniplug? I guess I will have to experiment with that idea and the onboard mic - see which one gives me the sounds I am looking for.