My current camera setup includes a Sony a6400, a Rode VideoMic Pro+ and a Zoom H1n. This gives me a couple options for sound recording:
Is option 1 going to give me significantly better sound quality? And for solo shooting or a barebones crew is it worth the hassle of dealing with two recording devices?
Is option 1 going to give me significantly better sound quality?
No.
And for solo shooting or a barebones crew is it worth the hassle of dealing with two recording devices?
It depends on whether you consider “bare bones” to include a boom op. IMHO a dedicated boom operator is a must for getting professional quality location dialog recorded. If you have a boom op, then they can double as location sound mixer and it’s very often more convenient on location for them to record to a portable device that they wear instead of having to run cables or wireless between boom and camera.
These days wireless rigs can be very good sounding so that may be an option (boom mic to mixer to wireless transmitter to camera for recording with video).
Another reason to have a dedicated recorder is if your camera only records stereo and you want more than two separate tracks of audio. One boom plus two lavs is already three tracks, and that’s a great way to get location dialog with solid post production choices available.
All of this is from the point of view of scripted fiction or docudrama production. For documentaries or journalism, you don’t need the same kind of verisimilitude that is ideal for fiction, so you can go without a boom op and just record right to the camera.
