Camcorder external microphone recommendations?

Question

I'm shooting video with a little Canon Elura 100 mini-DV camcorder, which has a jack for an external microphone. I'd like to interview people and capture their voices up close better than the built-in mike is doing from a few to several feet away.
Maybe a wireless lapel mike or something of that sort would be the best way to go, although if those are too expensive I wouldn't mind hanging a mike on a stick connected to the camera by a long wire. I know next to nothing about microphones so don't know what to look for.
Anyone have any recommendations on where to get a good external microphone that would serve this purpose?
Thanks,
Tom

Answer 1

I guess you were right, Ian; a little wired lavalier mic turned out to work just fine. I bought this little Audio Technica one <http://tinyurl.com/ywo6av> for just $20 and the recorded sound is amazingly good--although it's almost too sensitive if you get it too near your mouth, so it works best held out a ways or clipped to your shirt front. The wire eliminates all the problems I was reading about with wireless mics. There is still the battery to worry about so I'll get some spares to keep handy.
I still wish I could figure out how to power the fancy old stereo shotgun mic off my ancient Hi-8 Canon L-1 to use on the little Elura videocam for outdoor recording. It plugs right into the Elura's mic jack, but it has a second wire that plugs into the L-1 for power. The Elura has no second jack, so the mic would need some sort of external battery, maybe like those on the Rode mics you other fellows mentioned. Perhaps one of the local electronic stores can figure out what kind of power it needs. This old L-1 mic, being stereo and with its adjustable angle of sensitivity, is actually fancier than this Rode stereo mic that looks similar to it and costs $250 on Amazon <http://tinyurl.com/23qw63>. There is also the cheaper Rode mono mic <http://tinyurl.com/yqalew>, which takes a 9V battery inside. Maybe the old L-1 mic would work with a 9v like that.
Anyway, at least I'm all set now with this lavalier mic for indoor voice recording. You were right about the improved quality of an external microphone. My daughter even played a banjo into this lavalier mic and the recorded music and her voice sound very realistic, even heard through the cheap external Altec speakers connected to this Mac. This little Audio Technica lavalier mic has top user ratings on Amazon, but only four people reviewed it (maybe it's a new product) so I still had reservations after ordering it. But it turned out very well.
The mono sound is a minor drawback, but at least I can copy and paste the single audio track onto a second audio track in Final Cut to get the sound to come out of two speakers.
Thanks again for all the help and suggestions.
Tom B.
G4 Quicksilver 1 GHz DP Mac OS X (10.3.9) 1.5 GB of RAM