Which Mic?
 

I need a mic for some low-budget short films coming up. The more versatile- the better. The crew would only be me or me +1. Budget $800.

Right now im thinking the Sennheiser ME66 kit from B&H.

Any input would be helpful...

Article on DV Info
 

Try this link to hear the difference between the MKH416 and ME66. It will give you sound samples.
http://www.dvinfo.net/articles/audio/tanaka2.php

As I understand it, the ME66 is a standard mic on low budget projects.

Sennheiser ME66/K6 is still amazingly popular, even though you can get somewhat better Rode NTG-1 (phantom only) or NTG-2 (battery/phantom) for much less. NTG-1 is also shorter which makes it a better on-camera mic if you have to do that.

For the price of ME66/K6 you can get Rode NTG-1 shotgun and Octava 012 hyper for indoor work. Those are the cheap indie audio workhorses of today.

Do not forget that wind protection costs the same no matter what mic is inside that zeppelin. $800 gets you a cheap mic and decent wind protection, which is better than (half a) great mic and no protection.

Rode's "dead cat" for the NGT-1/2 is about $40. Is it any good as wind protection goes?

Some folks like the AT-897 at roughly the same price point as the Rode NGT1/2. I have a NGT-2, but have not used it extensively enough yet to form a strong opinion, but no observed problems so far.

Rode dead cat helps some, but as we know, in real world a Rycote zeppelin (and Windjammer) is what the doctor describes...