Let’s face it, no camcorder has decent onboard sound. When I first bought the Canon HFS100, I sprung for the

Canon DM-100 stereo mic that fits on the mini hotshoe. While the sound is marginally better than the onboard offering, I still wasn’t able to capture anything that didn’t have the camera right on top of it. I knew if I was going to have decent sound in my films I would need a more professional sound solution, meaning an XLR shotgun mic with boompole. Rode Microphones are made in Australia. I’ve been seeing these mics on numerous small-budget film shoots and I thought I would give one a try. The newest model shotgun mic, the NTG-3 was a little out of my budget at $699, but the slightly older NTG-2 was right in there at $269. The NTG-2 still has dual power options with 48v phantom or a 1.5v AA battery and is prabably the least expensive sg mic out there that still has the choice. I needed the battery option because the XLR adapter I got to plug into the HFS100 isn’t powered. When I powered everything up and placed the NTG-2 on a shockmount at the end of a K-tek 6 ft. boompole, I was amazed! The sound is so clear compared to what I have been dealing with. True, I now need a boompole operator, but I guess I just needed one all along and tried to make cheap/convenient solutions work. The NTG-2 has a super-cardioid pattern and comes with a nifty high pass filter set at 80db to knock out that low frequency noise that sometimes creeps into recording. The mic also comes with a highly-adequate foam filter and a stand mount, all in a zippered vinyl case. For its price, this shotgun is a “must-have” for low-budget filmmaking. All Rode mics carry a 1 year warranty, but they extend the coverage to 10 years when you register the mic online.