What mic should I buy for my camcorder?

Looking for a mic that works with a camcorder?

• Hi there. I'm going to be filming some movies soon on a camcorder of mine and wanted to get a mic that can be hooked up somewhere on a persons body(probably like the neck part) Like they do in jackass. It cant be a cord it has to be a wireless mic. Does anybody know what I'm talking about? Where can I buy a mic like this? Anything will help. Thank you.

• Answer:

  Before you buy a mic, it would be helpful to know which camcorder you are planning to use. Since many camcorders do not have a mic jack, buying a mic would be a waste of money unless you plug the mic into a filed recorder like a Zoom H2 or H4 or some other field recorder like those from Tascam, Edirol, M-audio and many others... Back to the mic... What is your budget? Wireless lavalieres are very useful. I use some from Sennheiser. Audio Technica, Shure, EV and a few others make good ones. UHF is best. VHF is acceptable. Those in FM, 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz, and 5.4 GHz bands are in "shared spectrum" with portable cordless residential phones, wifi, garage door openers and many other RF emission sources. You should stay away from them or risk recording interference with the audio. I have nothing good to say about Samson or Nady (other than I would not suggest them). The mic element is connected with a cable to a body pack. The body pack transmits the wireless audio signal to a base station. The base station can be portable (Sennheiser and Audio Technica make good ones in the mid and high end) and battery powered or the base station can be large and AC-powered (Shure makes good ones as do Sennheiser and Audio Technica and several others). bhphotovideo is a good source for all video items including audio for video. Adorama is another decent source. Guitar Center carries some of this stuff online - not too much stock in the stores. Good wireless gear is not inexpensive.