I go with Hank on the fact that shoulder mount is super, but not just for dancing.
There is nothing worse that having to do off the Tripod work – hand held is such a pain – especially if the camera is small.
I video tape “Youth orchestra” and “Big band” concerts that my son performs in and have two fixed camera and one on a dolly.
It is surprising that the bigger and bulkier the camera- the more professional people think it is .
I learnt very quickly that a good mic is very important. I am now multi mic, come back through a mixer then back into the cameras – dolly unit excepted
I am busy experimenting with 5.1 sound. Like usual its new and I am playing around.
I went to Vanuatu late last year and came across a Sony professional camera. It was going real cheap $ 3,000 same model in OZ was $ 7,000
Came so close to buying it. Stopped just in the nick of time – darn thing was that funny format – you know- what you Americans use – NTSC We use Pal in OZ. So it’s back to window shopping again.
