Just a few more comments about Foley from a rerecording mixer's perspective. In most cases foot steps get played in the final mix at a level that is very low. Unless they are a plot point or played hyper-real like in the beginning of "All The President's Men", I find that if I play them loud enough for the director's attention to be drawn to them, he/she will often tell me to take them out completely. Of course, during music sequences you may have to play the Foley up, but then there is a lot of sound that masks noise problems.
Props may be played louder at times, but the bigger sounds are generally performed at a loud enough level to enable you to keep the noise level down.
The worst Foley recording sins IMO are poor performance and micing too close, not background noise. I really don't want pristine recorded tracks in most cases. The Foley has to fit in naturally with the production dialogue, which is often not spectacular quality. Close micing and lack of texture in the performance make the Foley stick out in the mix like a sore thumb, which means it will probably get dumped in the domestic final mix. I have almost never had anyone comment negatively on the Foley or tell me to dump it because it was noisy, regardless of how bad the noise was. Of course I want the background noise to be as low as possible, but not at the expense of the sounds being recorded.
By texture I mean a "messy" enough performance so that when the Foley is played in context at it's proper level, you still hear the subtleties and are not just left with the transients. The nuances shouldn't get overwhelmed by the transients, so they need to be overplayed so that when they are naked and played up in volume they almost sound sloppy. When you lower the level and play it in context, it sounds great. Yes, a compressor really helps, but it is best to record it so that the compressor doesn't need to be working too hard. I'd rather have a noisy background than poor performance and too close micing, which generally emphasizes the transients. Check the Foley at a realistic level against the guide track when you record it, that will help you determine what reality is.
The last thing I have time for in the mix is having to massage the Foley, so it needs to be presented pre-degraded and pre mixed to match the production sound. Even on decent mid-budget features, I often am unable to allot no more than 1/2 to one full day to predubbing 5 or 6 reels of Foley (if I'm lucky). During the final mix no director is going to sit around while I mess around with Foley, there are always bigger fish to fry. In fact, I know many directors who categorically state, "I hate all Foley, take it all out." Of course you need it and it can really improve the film, but if they recognize it as Foley or see me taking any time with it at all they will flip out.
BTW, you can always record low level sounds using a Cat 43 or equivalent if you absolutely had to, just figure out how to use it correctly first.