we've been using a canon 20D for pics and are now going to be shooting with 2 still cameras since i got my 30D.m we started out shooting with a panasonic lumix fz30, but while the pics looked fine for the members, blown up or in print they were a little noisy,and they were also making the pics bigger in file size than they needed to be.

dean, what lens or lenses are you using? arie's getting good results with his 18-55mm but i can't wait to use my 50mm f/1.8 and my 55-200 f/3.5 - i like the idea of being able to get really clear shots with the prime lens and also be able to zoom in for a body parts shot with the 55-200 without getting in the model's face.

i've seen some very good content come out of cheap camcorders with the right light, and some pretty bad content come out of camcorders that cost over $2500 with poor light. if your Panasonic DVC-7 is the one i'm thinking of, it's a great camcorder that probably won't require replacement at this stage of the game unless you want to shoot HD. maybe learning a little more about lighting will make your vids come out more like you want

http://samys.webphotoschool.biz/
this is a "free sample" of their paid program, but i found some VERY useful stuff about lighting in these free lessons. in fact, these free lessons alone got my lighting my first few vids, and they were not as good as it gets, but they were very acceptable.