Budgeting for Mic on T2i

I'm no expert, but this has been hashed out quite a bit on here and the consensus seems to be that you will need an external audio recorder because the t2i's automatic gain control will screw up and compress any audio that it records. A.k.a. unusable.

The popular (and most affordable) recording device is the Zoom H4n. Which if you get lucky on eBay will still eat up 2/3 of your budget. The best/popular 'inexpensive' shotgun mic seems to be the Rode NG-2. It's recommended that you also get a cardioid condenser mic for shooting indoors.

And you will always need some sort of boom pole or stand with a shock mount.

I know it doesn't fit your budget, but that seems like the minimum of what you stated that you needed.

Time to rob a bank?

I saw a couple of threads that said similar things, i just desperately hoped there was an alternative

That said can anyone say whether this would suffice: http://www.videogear.co.uk/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=77

It probably won't, it's an expensive world after all....

How bad is the audio through the camera? Does anyone have an example?

Cheers for the input though

Rode generally makes very nice gear at a budget price - the NTG-3 is rapidly finding its way into many pro kits - but the Rode VideoMic is aimed at the consumer market and has several serious drawbacks for anyone wanting to create a professional product.