Advice on Professional Camcorder for YouTube

[doodlealien]

Hello,

I was hoping someone here could help me decide on a professional camcorder for uploading Toy Review and Play videos suited for YouTube. I already do this full time as a career using a very basic camcorder (Canon Vixia HF R400).

I would like to upgrade to a much more professional and higher quality camcorder that has many of the same aspects one would expect from a camcorder such as: image stabilization (I move the camera a lot during shooting), good microphone for ambient sound since the operator behind the camera is doing most of the talking, and a responsive auto zoom.

I don't need extreme 4k quality for YouTube, so I would be willing to sacrifice superior quality for ease of use and all-in-one convenience. Bright, high-contrast colors are also important for what I'm filming. I have looked at some high end camcorders already (Sony NEX-VG30 and Sony FDR-AX100), but I would really appreciate advice from real people who love photography everyday.

Please keep in mind that all of my shooting is done on very small subjects with lots of movement, bright colors, studio lighting and an amateur operator.

Thank you so much!

-Dana

 

[sscarmack]

Budget?


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[doodlealien]

I was looking around 1k-3k. I don't need multiple lenses yet.

 

[Overread18 6]

Microphone wise I would say get yourself a proper external microphone. That way you can get a vastly superior audio quality recording than most on-camera ones will ever give you. You can then sync it in editing or most video recorders of quality have an audio-in port so you can just hook the mic up and away you go.

You might also want to consider some constant lighting sources so that instead of raising the ISO or having dull or shadowed videos you can have some light direction to give a good clear, clean recording - depends on your studio space where you produce your videos and how good the ambient lighting and direction of it is.

 

[doodlealien]

I have a pretty high quality lapel mic I can use, but a camcorder with a decent microphone would be preferred for my shooting environment. I have studio lighting already, I just need a higher quality camcorder. Does anyone have any suggestions of a good camcorder for shooting small, well-lit subjects in motion?