When shooting video your sound is as important as the video itself.  You have many choices for recording sound.  First you could use the microphone that's built in to the camcorder.

This is ok for ambient sound or the sound that will make up the background of a scene but not good for recording dialog. Next, you could use a wired microphone called a shotgun microphone.  This is the long skinny type microphone that you would attach to the top of your camcorder.

This type of wired microphone will cut down on ambient sound and do a bit better job of recording dialog as long as you are not to far away from the subject.  There are also lapel or lavalier wired microphones.  These are usually the best for recording voices.  They are the ones you see attached to the subjects shirt or blouse. 

If you are recording dialog from a subject a lapel wired microphone is the best way to go. 

A wired microphone vs. a wireless microphone.  My opinion is that a wired microphone is always better than a wireless microphone just because you are sure of not getting noise when you use a wired microphone.  But, some cases call for a wireless microphone.

There are many wireless microphone systems available in all price ranges and most of them will do a good job as long as you are not to far away from the subject. You could also use a small microphone mixer and mix multiple sources (wired, wireless, shotgun, etc.) of sound to get even a better "mix" for your videos and movies.

The use of a boom pole with a wired microphone or a wireless microphone will get better results because you can get them closer to the subject.  Only drawback is you need another person to hold the boom pole.

If you have questions, e-mail us at video-editing@mchsi.com, we want to help you with your individual editing needs.

Good luck with your wireless microphone search!!

Roger Bussey
Video-Editing.com