Indeed, I recently sold a lot of my video and audio gear at Ebay (Lots of unexpected expenses needed to be paid!) I parted ways with my Azden SGM-2X shotgun microphone. This means that I had no way of recording in camera good and reliable sound.
It just happens that I bumped into a review for the Rode VideoMic Pro vs Shure VP83 (Link provided if you’re interested) provided by Mr. Dougdale and I decided to look the models up on BH website:
I like both brands, and for professional video mics I personally might lean toward Rode instead of Shure, but to my surprise I discovered a very interesting thing at the BH store:
The Rode VideoMic Pro “Compact” shotgun is retailing at their site for $220:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/744768-REG/Rode_VIDEOMIC_PRO_VideoMic_Pro_Compact_Shotgun.html
Yet, a slightly equal microphone – Rode VideoMic Pro Shotgun – retails at $208 with the addition of a “dead cat” or wind buster kit:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/997376-REG/rode_videomic_pro_compact_shotgun.html
This is definitely a nice deal if you’re interested in an on camera shotgun for your set-up. It’ll be interesting to test both models to see if there are actually any differences between the audio quality of them both.