I just have a question regarding monitoring and mixing audio on the set.

I'm assuming that a boom mic with a mixer and headphones to monitor audio is pretty standard? Or at least standard to those who wish to monitor audio?

I'm wishing to monitor audio on the set, however, I'm on a very tight budget. I've got two questions.

1) What kind of mixers are we talking about here? Passive? Battery powered? Or are they powered through standard AC?

2) Would I be able to split the mic output into both the headphones and camera? Or would that probably not be a good idea? I'm just interested in hearing what's being recorded with the mic. Any volume issues can be fixed in post.

Any help is appreciated.

Generally the mixers used are referred to as "field mixers" and are usually small. The prosumer/low level ones that a lot of us here use are battery powered and mount to the bottom of the camera. Some have headphone outputs.

Others, however, don't, and you have to use the headphone jack on your camera instead. You'd be hard-pressed to find a camera that doesn't output what it's getting in (from a mic) to somewhere, whether it be a headphone jack or the A/V output.

And not all volume issues can be fixed in post. Don't assume that low levels can just be pushed up--because with it will be all the lovely ambiance and noise and distortion. It's like blowing up a thumbnail to an 8x10, to compare it to printing pictures--the low quality becomes evident.