When I my initial filming in June 2007, I had brought the following camera equipment with me:
.5x Wide Angle Lens – Recommended for any type of shooting…except closeups.
Two D8 (Digital8/Hi8) Camcorders – One that belonged to me, and the other being my friend’s.
Generic RadioShack Microphone – After two years of much use and abuse, the mic was beginning to not work on me. I figured, this is its last trip.
Borrowed a Panasonic GS80 – Good camera for sub $300 range.
Since filming last time was mostly interviews and people, this setup wasn’t so bad. I did realize that when I shot the outdoor sequences I would need more appropriate equipment. This time around since most of my shooting will be outdoors I decided to purchase some new equipment.
I bought the following:
Zoom H4 Handy – Wav audio recording at 96Khz
Sennheiser MKE300 — I needed a shotgun mic, and according to people’s recommendations, this was the best one to get under $300.
Sony MDR-M150 Headphones – I had these last time I went, but my little sisters broke them. Bought the same exact pair. Excellent set of headphones. Don’t let your little siblings play with your equipment with out supervision.
Hoya Polarizing Filter — Without this, outdoor shots will appear washed out or extremely bright.
Panasonic GS80 – Its a good camera if you don’t want to spend more than $300. I bought this out of necessity. Some of the down sides to this camera is that there isn’t much manual control. One can adjust the iris, shutter, and focus, but only through the ‘joystick’ which isn’t very convenient. There is not mic jack or even a headphone jack. It’s one of the reasons why I bought the Zoom H4 Handy.
.38x Super Wide Angle Lens – Since I want to grab the imagery of the outdoors, I figured this would be appropriate.
Just to show you the difference with and w/o a wide angle lens:
Without the .38x Super Wide Angle Lens
With the .38x Super Wide Angle Lens
One of the challenges I found was mounting the z4 Handy with the camera and mic. I decided to detach the slate from my tripod and “MacGuyver” it the camera and H4 Handy. This is what I resulted with:
Pretty good if you ask me 
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Filming Locations – places I want to film:
- French Corridor
- St. Bernard Parish Chalmette
- 9th Ward
- 17 St. Canal
- Food & Aid Distribution Centers
- More personal stories of individuals involved in Katrina…
31 Jan 09
2:29 am
Assalaamu alaykum, Keep up the good work bro. I was wondering if you could explain why you use the shotgun mic and the H4 handy? Do they both record sound? Is the sound recorder from the camcorder not very good? I’ve been thinking about doing some semi-professional filming and your film has certainly inspired me. Now I’m trying to get a better idea of what equipment I need. Thanks for the help.
31 Jan 09
1:57 pm
There are a number of reasons for choosing the H4 Handy + Shotgun mic over the camera’s min - the main reason is that the camera’s built in mic is pretty much useless. The sound captured is no where near professional in its clarity
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Re equipment you need, I suggest you read the following article i wrote on Message Mastery:
http://messagemastery.com/what-camera-should-i-get-20.htm