What should I be looking for in a shotgun mic?

Question

I am by no means a sound person. I really don't have experience with sound and especially with mics. However, I am trying to buy a shotgun mic to capture audio for video. Since I don't know a whole lot about sound, I really have no idea what I'm looking I should look for in a shotgun mic. How do I tell if a certain shotgun mic is good or not?
Edit: I haven't really received a satisfactory answer on this question. All I got was a mic recommendation. I will stress that I do not want mic recommendations. What I want to know is: when I look at a shotgun mic online, what characteristics/features should I be looking for? I basically want to be able to distinguish between good mics and okay/bad mics.

Answer 1

I'm an indie filmmaker. I've done sound for my friends sometimes as well as my own stuff.

I have the Rhode NTG 2 http://www.rodemic.com/mics/ntg-2 (about $300) It uses XLR cables which can be a pain in the but for getting it in to your comp. I know lots of sound guys who swear by it.

But my Rhode Video mic is my favourite.
http://www.rodemic.com/mics/videomic (it's cheaper and doesn't use XLR cables) ($150ish) This is super popular with all my indie film friends and I'm likely buying a second since my first is over 5 years old and I still use it all the time.

It works great on a boom but you can also put it on top of your camera (I do videography as well so it comes in handy for run and gun interviews etc)

I recommend the Rhode Video mic