What's a (relatively) cheap shotgun mic that works with a basic A/V input on a camcorder?

Q. I have a Panasonic HDC-SD9 camera. No XLR input. I don't have the money to get a converter and and XLR-capable shotgun mic. I have around $140 I'm able to spend on this. The Azden SGM-X mic looks like what I need, but I'm unclear on whether it would work with my camera, since it's not a "mini-DV" camera.

A. Since there are no consumer camcorders under about $1,800 with an XLR mic connector, this is no surprise - most consumer camcorders have no mic jack at all - and when they do, it is a 1/8" stereo mic jack.

The Panasonic HDC-SD9 does not have a 1/8" mic jack. AV is OUT only, not in. There is no way to connect an external microphone with any kind of jack to this camcorder.

Camcorders do not need to be "miniDV" to have a mic jack. MiniDV is just a storage media type - like hard disc drive or flash memory. The Canon FS10, FS11, FS100 and HF10, HF11 and HF100 are flash memory based camcorders that have a 1/8" (3.5mm) mic jack.

Original Question

Can anyone suggest a camera for £400 or less with these specs?

Q. I need a camera with these features,

manual & auto focus
a mic input with either 3.5mm jack or xlr input
full HD capabilities, mainly with 25FPS but 50 is ok
manual & auto iris control

if anyone can find or suggest a camera with these features id be very grateful, thanks

A. Yes, but closer to £450. The Nikon D5100 has those features.

But you should know more about using a still camera to shoot video

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/camcorders/cam-cam.shtml

The additional cost of video accessories can exceed the cost of the cameras itself.

Original Question

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