I started shooting video back in 2007, using YouTube to promote my slack key CD by creating "Look At Me Play Guitar" videos. I borrowed my wife's DV tape camera and recorded audio on a handheld recorder then merged the audio and video in post. Transferring files to the computer was real time, so a one hour shoot took one hour to load for editing.
My first HD cam was a Flip Mino HD shooting 720P and transferring files over a USB connection. I still recorded audio separately but I was constantly scanning the market for cameras with better audio, mic inputs, manual level control. I tried webcams, pocket digital video cams, point and shoot still cameras, and camcorders, but none of the ones I tried did the job on the audio side. I have some terrible sounding YouTube videos to prove it.
The first camera I found with HD video and decent audio was the Zoom Q3HD. I shot a fair amount on that, did some comparos and tutorials, but due to tech progress and budget creep I found myself moving up to Panasonic Lumix GH series compact system cameras and those have been my main shooters for the last few years, even though they still required parallel audio recording. I've stayed curious about cameras designed to record music, with directional mics and clean preamps, and I've bought examples like the Zoom Q4 and the Sony HDR-MV1. Bought them, but then realized that I'm hooked on the higher video quality and greater flexibility of my CSCs.
I've read posts about shooting LAMPG video that recommend more recent consumer camcorders, especially the Canon Vixia HF series. When I started scouting the used market I was impressed with how low the prices had gone so I gave in to the impulse and added an HF R500 to my camera collection. Just for fun I put together a comparo between my Sony MV1 and the Canon:
I also did a writeup with a little more info at the Homebrewed Music blog:
http://www.homebrewedmusic.com/2016/...canon-hf-r500/
Hopefully somebody will find this rambling useful.
Fran