New camera - Panasonic HC V180. Cheapest and pretty much smallest camcorder you can buy. Shoots full HD at 50 fps. This is a camera you can have with you all the time, shoots much better footage than a mobile 'phone. Which is great, since much of my transport is by bicycle.
I'm inspired by filmmaker Richard Leacock, one of the founders of "Direct Cinema', died 2011, who summed it up in a 2008 interview with Modern Times, (www.moderntimes.review/richard-leacock-cinematographer, accessed 29 January 2017): "nowadays the companies that make cameras are making it more and more complicated. Wide screen, high definition, it's all unnecessary... they're ruining it... a tripod will always be in the wrong place." What would Ricky have done with a V180?
Can't entirely agree with what he's saying. Nothing wrong with HD, but UHD is overkill. Prefer 16:9 to 3:4.aspect. The hybrid image stabilisation on the V180 makes a tripod unnecessary. It's so good, you can get a steady hand held shot at the 90X intelligent zoom on this camera. The 50X standard zoom alone equates to a ridiculous 1740mm. I'm mostly aiming to use it at the 28mm equivalent wide. Whatever, if you're filming yourself, something like my little $10 60cm tripod is handy.
Optional full manual control of focus, aperture, shutter and gain but I don't want to bother with it. Nor do I particularly care about shallow depth of field, or shooting flat so I can boost the image more in post. The story is what counts. You don't want to miss the action while you set up your camera.
I'm not throwing out my mobile 'phone, drone or GoPro.
Audio. Can be a problem. It's not great on the V180, and there are no sockets for 'phones or mic. So I'm supplementing it with a Zoom H1. Anyway, complete documentary capture kit for under $500.
