Mic options for capturing school play on Sony A1/A9

[dearlyphoto]

Hi folks,

I'm a photographer, shooting with the Sony A9 and A1.

I've been asked if I would setup and record the the school play (20-30 mins long) and I've been wondering about microphone options.

This doesn't have to be anything incredibly expensive - it's a school play that will otherwise be filmed on iPhones.

However, if there was an option that allowed me to setup the A9 and A1 middle and to one side of the stage, with some kind of reasonably priced external microphones that would be really helpful.

Can anyone give me some pointers here? I know my gear inside out for photography and whilst I have a bit of video experience in my background, this isn't something I've done in a while so a bit out of touch with options.

Thanks!
--
Sony A1, Sony A9, FE 55/1.8 Zeiss, FE 70-200/4 G, Sony FE 85/1.8, Sony FE 28/2, Leica Q2

 

[Off The Mark]

Some questions that will help us help you:

What do you consider a reasonably priced option? Do you have a hard limit on cost? Or are you more looking for "best bang for the buck"?

Will there be a pa system? And if so, can you ask the person running the sound board if you can plug in a recorder to record sound off the mixing board?

would you be able to place a small stand / tripod somewhat closer to the stage than where you will be standing with your camera?

The one thing I can tell you right now is that you should NOT buy a shotgun microphone and stick it in the hotshoe of of your camera and expect to get good audio. It will almost certainly be worse than the built in mics of the camera.

 

[StoneJack]

Hi folks,

I'm a photographer, shooting with the Sony A9 and A1.

I've been asked if I would setup and record the the school play (20-30 mins long) and I've been wondering about microphone options.

This doesn't have to be anything incredibly expensive - it's a school play that will otherwise be filmed on iPhones.

However, if there was an option that allowed me to setup the A9 and A1 middle and to one side of the stage, with some kind of reasonably priced external microphones that would be really helpful.

Can anyone give me some pointers here? I know my gear inside out for photography and whilst I have a bit of video experience in my background, this isn't something I've done in a while so a bit out of touch with options.

Thanks!
--
Sony A1, Sony A9, FE 55/1.8 Zeiss, FE 70-200/4 G, Sony FE 85/1.8, Sony FE 28/2, Leica Q2

It seems that recording will happen from a certain distance. You may then prefer a specialized mike *shotgun mike and a specialized recorder to capture sound. Even cheapest shotguns will be probably better than anything used on camera itself.

 

[apekkpul]

How about using those iphones to record audio (near actors) and use Sonys to capture video? Or a cheap Zoom H1N?

 

[Andrew S10]

Take a look at this thread.