In reply to Jamie Simpson - Alpine Dragons:
> To answer the questions:
> Budget: On one side I have nothing and on the other side if I get a grant together, possible a more prof production
I'm just a punter and my audio and video is on a shoestring.
For audio I chose two products by Rode. One was a stereo microphone that captured sound from all around me. I like this as when I'm on holiday I can pick up the ambience and atmosphere of what is going on around me.
If you wanted to drown out the background noise and focus the sound on who is speaking then a shotgun type microphone is probably for you.
I also have a small microphone that can be fitted to a person's collar, just like TV presenters and News Readers. This little microphone can then be either connected to your camcorder/camera to capture sound.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Camera-Photo/R%C3%98DE-Stereo-VideoMic-Pro-On-Ca...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Camera-Photo/R%C3%98DE-VideoMic-GO-Camera-Microp...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rode-VIDEOMICPRO-On-Camera-Microphone/dp/B00YAZHRZ...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rode-Smartlav-Lavalier-Microphone-Smartphone/dp/B0...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/R%C3%98DE-SC3-iPhone-Accessory-Black/dp/B00L6C8PNU...
If you plan on capturing any sound outside then I suggest that you buy one of those furry covers to go over the microphones. They may look silly but they do kill the wind noise that will destroy any sound that you capture. Rode make them for their products. Don't forget to get some for the little mics that pin to clothing. They are a Lav mic.
As for capturing the sound, you have many options however some of the cheapest do a good job, well for my ears at least. One option is to use your own phone and buy an app called Rec Forge 2
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=dje073.android.modernrecforge...
Another option is to get an audio recorder where you plug your microphones into. These are as expensive as you want. I chose a cheap and light recorder. It may be cheap but it captures good sound, provided you keep it in WAV rather than MP3.
It comes in Version 1 and Version 2 with a ten pound difference. The only difference is the firmware update and more than likely what you buy will have the latest firmware anyway. So why pay the extra tenner just because of marketing?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Zoom-H1-Handy-Recorder-Matte/dp/B0144JHW4E/ref=sr_...
As for video capturing, then Smartphones do indeed capture good footage once you work out how to keep them stable. Gimbals are the best bet here for handheld on the move shooting.
Don't discount GoPro's either just because they have wide angle lenses. I have a GoPro 4 and it can have its angle settings reduced from fisheye to normal telly viewing scales. Admittedly the GoPro does not have a screen but this is not a problem because you can connect it to a Smartphone and use the phone's screen to compose the shot infront of you.
And, like the phone's video capabilities, once you remove the camera shake then the image quality is breathtaking. Gimbals are your friend here as well. I have a Gimbal and love it for its smooth capture of footage.
This little video was taken with my GoPro and a Gimbal. The sound isn't great as I used the GoPro microphone. In my defence I hadn't got a scooby about how to capture good sound at that point.
This video was captured with a Mobius camcorder I got direct from China. Its smaller than a box of matches.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Sports-Electronics-Gadgets/Mobius-Action-Camera-...
And some footage when connected to a gimbal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiVpuMklJXk&t=45s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMPuBD2BMcY&t=7s
If you want to go down the road of camcorders then you get more bang for your buck. This is because camcorders have gone out of fashion which means that they have to pack in a lot of tech to get people to buy them. When I started my little movie project last year for my friends at work I eventually plumped for a Sony camcorder with image stabilisation. The camcorder had a gimbal inside it and was amazing to watch the
lens wobble around inside the camera housing while it was filming. The images were stunning. Its a shame that I did not have a 4K TV to watch them. I chose a Sony AX53 as it had just came into the country and had loads of whistles and bells such as 4K and loads of manual settings, which most importantly included sound quality.
http://www.jessops.com/online.store/categories/products/sony/ax53-4k-handyc...
If you want to keep costs down, then either consider a trip to eBay for a second-hand version or choose the model before it called an AX-33
http://www.jessops.com/online.store/categories/products/sony/fdr-ax33-4k-ha...
However, and this is the bit that blew my little mind after I bought my camcorder, which I was exceptionally happy with, the camcorder had the exact same size sensor inside it as my GoPro 4 camcorder. Aggggg
Those GoPro's pack a lot of tech into a tiny device. However they are not the only action-cams on the block and just because they are expensive does not mean that cheaper action-cams can compete with them either. Check out the Techmoan site for a review of cheap action-cams.
http://www.techmoan.com/blog/category/action-cameras
Later on in the year I got all giddy and sold my camcorder and went mirror-less. This got me an image sensor considerably bigger and allowed me to continue with my photography. I was able to sell my camcorder and dSLR camera+lenses and replace it all with a mirror-less camera. Did I make a wise move? Who knows but I'm enjoying the steep learning curve.
If you do decide to pony up and buy an expensive mirror-less camera make sure that it has the ability to continuously record. Quite a few mirror-less cameras and dSLR cameras have a recording time limit of something like 30 minutes because they over heat and have to cool down before you can continue shooting.
In my humble opinion a camcorder with a small image sensor will only show its weakness when shooting indoors in poor lighting. If you have good lighting indoors or you are outside in daylight then you would be hard pressed to spot the image difference captured by a smaller sensor.
Making movies need not cost a fortune, but skill and artistic talent is priceless.