honestly I am so fed up with the internal mic on this ZV-1. I thought the little fluffy wind screen thing it comes with would actually help but my audio still sounds like im standing in a wind tunnel and its driving me crazy because I have a huge trip to Kyoto starting this Friday and I cant have my vlogs sounding like absolute garbage. I was thinking about getting the Rode VideoMicro because its tiny but then my logic was maybe I should go for the VideoMic NTG for better quality? But that thing looks huge on such a small camera and I dont want to block the flip screen. My budget is like 150 max. Does anyone actually have a setup that works without being a total mess...
Kyoto is going to be amazing! You definitely need better audio for those streets. I have spent a lot of time testing setups for the ZV-1 and found a few fantastic options that stay under your $150 limit without making the camera look like a total mess. The most logical choice for a clutter-free setup is definitely the Sony ECM-G1 Ultracompact Shotgun Microphone. Since it is designed for the Sony Multi-Interface shoe, it is a fantastic solution for these reasons:
Building on the earlier suggestion, I have had some pretty disappointing runs with budget mics on the ZV-1. Honestly, most of them are just not as good as expected once you actually get out into the wind and crowds.
Like someone mentioned, the wind is a total killer for vlogs. In my experience with these small rigs, you need a setup that is technically simple so nothing fails. I've tried many mics and these two are solid: