If you give us more information about where you work, what you were looking to advertise yourself as, your experience, etc, then we will be able to answer your questions more thoroughly.

"We all have the potential to be great. It is our inability to do so that makes us miserable." C.S.Lewis

I'm in FL and I would like to work with a movie crew / documentaries.. maybe post production. I have worked as a sound engineer in a studio environment "musicians" before but now I am trying to get into this field.

?url? http://www.sennheiserusa.com/newsite/?/url?
Sennheiser is the mic most used by professional sound recordists. They are expensive and worth it. Check out the ME-66 and the ME-67. The MKH60 is the best if you can afford it.

?url? http://www.audio-technica.com/?/url?
Audio-Technica is cheaper. Check out the AT835B. It?s a workable mic, a little muddy and not as directional as it should be. The AT835ST is a good mic for the price, but it, too, sounds a bit muddy - the vocals don?t sound crisp enough for me.

?url? http://www.schoeps.de/E-2004/menue-start.html?/url?
These are excellent mics. And expensive. If you?re making a living as a location recordist then the CMIT5U is well worth the investment. The MK41 isn?t good as a field mic but is excellent for ambience and foley recording.

?url? http://www.azdencorp.com/?/url?
I?ve never used Azden mic?s.

?url? http://www.rodemic.com/?pagename=Home?/url
An inexpensive mic and is okay for recording insterments in a studio but useless in the field.
A great place to check prices and purchase is ?url? http://www.bhphotovideo.com/?/url?

The further away the mic is from the actors, the higher the volume needs to be. The higher the volume, the more ?noise? you get. Your goal is to have a very high signal to noise ratio - more signal (the dialogue) less noise (the background). Even a very good, expensive Sennheiser mounted on the camera will pick up a lot of background ambiance because it?s far away from the actors.

You'll need a good 3 or 4 section, expandable Carbon Fiber, Graphite Fiber or Aluminum boom pole. The lighter the pole the better.

The standard for field recording is still the good ol? Nagra
?url? http://www.nagraaudio.com/pro/index.php?/url?
I know a lot of recordists who still use the analogue Nagra 4.2 but they now offer excellent digital recorders.

Even though Sony stopped selling DAT it?s still used by a lot of location recordists. But HDR (hard disc recorders) are gaining in popularity and use.

?url? http://www.edirol.com/?/url?
Roland makes the R-4 Pro - one of the best field recorders available. With a price tag to match.

?url? http://www.fostex.com/index.php?file=home?/url?
Check out the FR2LE.

?url? http://www.marantz.com/?/url?
The CDR-420 is a HDR with a 20GB hard drive.

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The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress.
Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824)