I shoot Tennis matches with my HC! (HC1) hung up on the 10 ft high fence with a sweet monopod/ manfrotto head setup and need your advice on a mic. The internal mics don't work well for this application. (they record birds overhead great )

Since I film outdoors with lots of surrounding noise, picking up camera noise isn't a problem for me.

I would like a small setup connected as simple as possible to the camera which would only pick up sound in front. (without recording all the other matches.)

My camera.... with the wide angle lens... attached to the manfrotto head....stuck on the manfrotto monopod.... hooked to the top rail of the fence.... is starting to look like a one eyed monster up there and I was hoping to get a mic that wouldn't make it worse. Kids already stare at it as it is, so some huge two foot shotgun mic with a giant furry foot long sock would send then running for cover for sure.

Any suggestions?

I think I'll try one of the sony smart shoe mic's (ecmh-qp1)and see how it works. I've heard they sound pretty good and not having to supply power seems simple and attractive.

Does anyone know how much effect these mic's have on battery run times?

I'd setup two mono microphones, preferably hypercaroids, down where the net meets the edge of the court each pointing to one side of the court so they look like a "v". Put that into a Beachtek, then run a long extension up to the camera (if audio quality isnt too much of a problem, just extend the 3.5mm, otherwise pony up on some long XLRs). I figure that's what i would do.