Boom mic cable length?

I'm no expert but, I originally bought a 25 foot XLR and went out and purchased a 50 footer four days later. Twenty five is a waste of $ in my opinion because it seemed too short for booming and too long for on-camera use.
 
There's no "ideal" boom cable length, and you never want to have just one cable. There are some situations where 50' will be so much more cable than you need that the excess can get in the way. There are also situations where you'll use nearly every bit of that 50' cable.

The best kit has a variety of cables, and always a pair of each in case one goes bad in the field. If your fish pole is internally cabled, a 15' cable is more than enough for run-and-gun bag audio work (wearing a gear bag with mixer while holding the pole). If your pole is not internally cabled, 25' will do in the same situation.

For situations where you aren't located right next to the mixer or camera, you'll want longer.

But have long cables and short cables. Get a couple of 1.5' shorties, a couple of 10' or 15' cables, a couple of 25' cables, and a couple of 50' cables. And again, buy in pairs so you always have a backup. It's also not a bad idea, if you don't already, to learn to solder and keep a solder kit with you. Down time after a shoot day is a great time to fix cables so you start fresh the next day.

And make sure that you have some way to monitor if you are away from mixer or camera. Get a headphone extension cable (or two).
 
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Cool thanks guys for the help and advice.

Do you think one day they will invent a wireless boom mic?
 
Londude said:
Do you think one day they will invent a wireless boom mic?
Click to expand...

As jambredz said, it's already here. It's called a brick, or plug-on transmitter. (Also referred to as a butt plug, but I just can't convince myself to use that term...)

It's a small transmitter with XLR connection that plugs onto the end of a mic (or internally-cabled boom pole). The downside is that these transmitters use the mic/mic cable as the antenna and the signal strength is not always as stable.

But they are available for everything from the Sennheiser G3, Sony UWP-V1, and Audio Technica 1800 systems up to Lectrosonics and Zaxcom.
 
I say "plug on" (or sometimes "cube") too.
You don't want to be on location with a woman and yell out to crew, "Hey! You got the butt plug?!"
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