RK,
I'd recommend a 'DV' camera (not DVD recorder etc.), with optical stabilizer. Most of the guts are similar, you run into differences in lenses, stabilizers and image processing. Canon cameras are vgood. Panasonic and JVC make some nice ones as well. You'll want something that gets close to 0 lux for lamping and night filming. I'll look for some reviews for you and pm you. At long distance, the zooms will be digital and won't hold up well but an optical stabilizer will help. I'd look at a bunch and see what seems easy to handle, which controls are easily accessible etc. as some c