Panasonic HDC-SD1 light/mic help!

[wesalli]

Hi there

Great website!

I am all very new to shooting movies and have recently purchased the Panasonic HDC-SD1.

I've spoken to a friend who is an experienced BBC cameraman who recommends I get a there small light that is as ‘light’ (no pun intended) as possible. He says there are some tiny ones around and thinks the one Panasonic recommend is too big and bulky.

He suggests gettong one that will run off the same battery as the Panasonic camera, or its own internal one....he says "You don’t want to end up buying incompatible batteries."

Does anyone have any recommendations?!

For microphones, he recommends Sony and one that comes equipped with, or can easily attach to, a wind gag and with a really long lead. And if possible it should be a clip-on (tie-clip) microphone – he claims the ‘on-camera’ ones are crap – unless you pay £500+ !!!

Again, does anyone have any recommendations?!

Your help is much appreciated...

 

[redsox_mark]

Lights: You can get lights which directly draw power directly from the camcorder (i.e. share the camcorder battery) for some camcorders, but these tend to be low power. I think what your friend is saying is that if you get one powered by an external battery it is best if it takes the same battery type as your camcorder, which I agree with. That way you can share batteries and chargers. I have a Sony light which takes the same batteries as my Sony camcorder. I'm not sure about lights for the Panasonic.

Mic: Your friend is a pro so who am I to agrue... though the problem with talking to a pro is his definition of "crap" may be different. What do you want to do with your external mic? If you are shooting a film, or doing interviews then a "tie clip" mic is ideal. But if you are doing more "run and gun" shooting then a camcorder mounted shotgun mic is useful. I have a Rode Videomic (shotgun mic), and I'm very happy with it. For broadcast use it may be "crap", but for amateur use it's good. I've used it for shooting a school play for example, and it picks up the audio of the children much better than an internal mic. A tie clip mic would not have worked for me, as there were 130 children in the production!

 

[wesalli]

Mark - thanks for the response.

With regards to the mic, I am looking to do mainly 'interview' stuff, though there will be occasional stuff with audiences.

Stuff will be broadcast online as internal training clips. We don't expect it to be BAFTA winning quality, more Blair Witch perhaps! But still looking for it to be audible and clearly understood by the viewers!

Thoughts?

 

[redsox_mark]

Then a lavalier (tie clip) mic should be your priority. I've borrowed one before but don't own one and can't really recommend a specific one, hopefully others can.

For the general stuff with audiences a shotgun mic would be useful, either mounted on the cam, or on a boom pole, for this I can recommend the Rode Videomic.

 

[wesalli]

Thanks Mark - if anyone can help, I'd be much obliged!