scottfs, I know where you're coming from but I think you have to take the good with the bad so to speak. You're coming onto a board with professionals and asking questions. You want top notch advice and you're getting it. Otherwise, you'd be over on the kiddie board with people who don't know the difference between good sound and crap. These guys are going to give you PRO answers. That's why I read this board. But like me, you need to filter through and decide what fits your need and your budget.
Btw, I'm just like you. I do this for fun and absolutely NO pay. In fact, I might have to pay someone just to do work for them (that's about my level of quality). But I do enjoy learning about the craft and these guys have a lot to offer. Me, I listened to Chadfish's comparision of shotgun mics and hypercardoid mics boomed indoors and I'm slightly embarrased to say, I couldn't tell the difference with my eyes closed. That tells me I'm not ready for that level of differentiation. I'll stick with a quality shotgun indoors until I can hear the difference. Now the pros won't do that, but I'm happy with it and until I can tell the difference, I'm just wasting money.
I think the most important thing mentioned on this thread (in my noob opinion) is the "law of diminishing returns". At the lower levels (cost-wise), you can get a lot of bang for your buck by upgrading, or as Chad says, waiting to buy. As you go up in price, each new price jump gives you slightly better quality that not many outside of professionals can discern. The one thing I will tell you about quality audio equipment though is it holds it's value over long periods of time, sometimes decades. It's a whole different world than the video side, where the latest and greatest sensor makes your stuff obsolete after 2-3 years. So if you do spend a little more than you wanted to, you can expect the value to remain OR you can offload the gear for a very good price.
I've done a single doc project and really enjoyed the process. But I realized that sound, on docs, is even more important than pretty pictures. This time around, my sound equipment will be MORE important than my video equipment.
Best of luck to you.
Btw, I'm just like you. I do this for fun and absolutely NO pay. In fact, I might have to pay someone just to do work for them (that's about my level of quality). But I do enjoy learning about the craft and these guys have a lot to offer. Me, I listened to Chadfish's comparision of shotgun mics and hypercardoid mics boomed indoors and I'm slightly embarrased to say, I couldn't tell the difference with my eyes closed. That tells me I'm not ready for that level of differentiation. I'll stick with a quality shotgun indoors until I can hear the difference. Now the pros won't do that, but I'm happy with it and until I can tell the difference, I'm just wasting money.
I think the most important thing mentioned on this thread (in my noob opinion) is the "law of diminishing returns". At the lower levels (cost-wise), you can get a lot of bang for your buck by upgrading, or as Chad says, waiting to buy. As you go up in price, each new price jump gives you slightly better quality that not many outside of professionals can discern. The one thing I will tell you about quality audio equipment though is it holds it's value over long periods of time, sometimes decades. It's a whole different world than the video side, where the latest and greatest sensor makes your stuff obsolete after 2-3 years. So if you do spend a little more than you wanted to, you can expect the value to remain OR you can offload the gear for a very good price.
I've done a single doc project and really enjoyed the process. But I realized that sound, on docs, is even more important than pretty pictures. This time around, my sound equipment will be MORE important than my video equipment.
Best of luck to you.
