The video output will be soft , primarily because of the small sensor and low bitrate codec used , and will be fairly heavily compressed . Other than that there ' s not much else different from a higher end camcorder , you ' ll probably get slightly better audio and image stabilization on a higher end model as well . Something to look into is the Panasonic Lumix G 7 , it ' s $ 497 right now with a lens and it does far better video than any camcorder does . However the onboard audio isn ' t great so you may need an external mic , and the image stabilization isn ' t as good as a camcorder so running around with it handheld will be shakier . For anything with some preplanning like interviews , music videos , documentaries , etc . The G 7 would do very well .