Rode NTG2 Shotgun Mic

[CBP3]

Hello,

Please forgive my ignorance, I'm a relative newcomer to sound and was told recently for a first time mic (That's reasonably priced) the Rode NTG2 Shotgun is an excellent buy. I only need something for a two person dinner scene and I wanted something reliable and doable for my first time dealing with sound solo. Will I need to buy a cord for it as well? Or would it plug directly into my Canon Vixia HV30? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Rob

[Alcove Audio]

It's a decent mic for its price range. If you only need a mic for the one shoot you may as well rent.

Traditionally the mic is mounted on the end of a boom-pole and constantly adjusted so that the mic is facing the actor that is talking. If the mic is going to be camera mounted you may want to consider the Rode VideoMic or VideoMic Pro or a similar mic. Even then you are only going to marginally improve your audio quality.

[ROC]

In my humble opinion I don't like this mic at all.

It's battery powered and starts to make noise when the batteries are almost out.

It also doesn't output enough level to sound good with consumer-brand preamps.

I think a better buy is the Rode NTG-1. It gives a slightly higher output but you'll thank yourself you got it in the end - and it's cheaper by about $40 last I checked.

[Alcove Audio]

The problem is that, if he gets the NTG-1, he'll need to buy a pre-amp, too; the HV30 can't supply phantom power.

But then the two of us have endlessly written about the myriad of problems when going cheap on audio.

[josh-ozirigpro]

I went for the NTG-2 for that exact reason when I used to shoot with my HV20.

Sure, there are better mics out there, but they also require a lot more in terms of equipment.

With the NTG-2 you can plug directly into the mic input on the HV30.
It's not going to give you the best audio in the world, but I think if you are in a controlled scene you should be able to handle the AGC and other issues.

I have found that audio playing through a pair of monitors does NOT sound exactly how it's recorded on the HV series, so do keep that in mind. That may be because the sound is "pre-boost" or a byproduct of the analog->digital conversion... not 100% sure as that side of things isn't my strong suit.

[CBP3]

Thanks for the advice, I appreciate it. As I said before I'm relatively new to having to think about sound, but there's no time like the present, I guess. Thanks again.