On the video above videographer, Bart Johnson looks at two shotguns side by side – the (relatively) new Aputure Deity and the tried and true Sennheiser MKH-416.
The Sennheiser MKH-416 has been an industry standard for booming for decades it has been used by many industry professionals on film and video productions and it is both high quality and exceptionally rugged. The only problem is it’s price – at around $1000 it isn’t a cheap mic.
Finding a mic that can do more or less the same job, be as robust (if not more), and cost significantly less is an ambitious goal. Aputure decided to take on the challenge and created the Deity. Although it has a different pick-up pattern (super-cardioid polar pattern) which is a bit wider and more forgiving than the Sennheiser which is a more directional pick-up pattern (but has a risk of losing some sound if the mic is not exactly pointed at the sound source).
Johnson does a few tests in the studio to test both mics in optimal conditions and the results show that the Aputure is very similar to the Sennheiser in terms of sound quality (although it does bring in more low-end sounds). For a full kit costing $430 including a few extra goodies and a hard case it less than half the price of the Sennheiser alone.
This isn’t the first time that we have looked at the Aputure Deity here. Curtis Judd has been testing this mic on its own and as part of a 5 mic comparison and we have published both videos here on LensVid.
On LensVid we have a very extensive section devoted to sound recording for video productions which covers both equipment and techniques here on LensVid as well as a channel dedicated to photography gear guides.
Iddo Genuth 
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