How bad is it Dr?
 

I am planning on shooting a feature length film this fall, mostly outdoors in the woods. I have an oktava mk012 with all 3 capsules. I will be using a XL1 with the mike on a boom with a line running to the camera. I will probably have access to other equipment for part of the film, but my question is this: if people bail on me and I have to rely on just the xl1 with oktava on a boom setup, am I #&#*ed, or can I get worthwhile audio??

PS: it is the russian version of the oktava.

The Oktava with the hypercardioid cap will be fine, but I've seen it written that the Oktava caps are very sensitive to air movement so you'll probably need to invest in a wind screen system.

How about a Baby Ball Gag?

Ball gag
 

I am actually going to construct a homemade blimp with fur cover. I think it will work?

If it's made correctly, it will work just fine.

What are you going to make the blimp part out of?

Blimpies
 

I have some plasticized window screen material that I am experimenting with. It will be more flimsy than a normal blimp, but should allow sound through easily. I figure spring wire supports inside, then the screen material, perhaps a layer of panty-hose material, then light, loosly woven fake fur.

I think that the key would be to have nothing capable of moving under any breeze or wind conditions except the fur.

If money wasn't an issue I'd probably go with
something that's pre-fabricated, such as
the Baby Ball Gag.

The only thing not mentioned here is a good limiter.


Ty Ford

What's a limiter?
 

At the risk of looking totally clueless (Not a stretch) what's a limiter?

A limiter is an electronic device that limits the peak sound. It goes between the mic and the recorder or camera. Most have several settings to determine how quickly it begins, how long it continues after a peak and how much "limiting" it does.

As Jesse said ...

The reason you need one is, unlike analog sound recording like with a cassette tape recorder, there is absolutely no "headroom" for digital recording such as DV. When the signal gets to zero db on the meters, you've "run out of bits" and it can't get any higher - the waveform is clipped off right there. When this happens your sound get's terribly distorted. A limiter in the line reduces the gain before this can happen, preventing the distortion from creeping in accidently.