Hi:

I am inexperienced with cameras, would be grateful for some help.

I have an 8 year old Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30, this was an $800 camera, little used by me. I am doing a lot of close-in videos of artists drawing on a small canvass, say 12 in by 12 in or less. Or on an ipad. I've been doing this with a cheap Canon in macro mode, I'd like to improve the quality of the videos and use higher resolution, say 1200 px instead of the 640 max on the Canon. But the panasonic does not do movies.

Question: can I use the Panasonic DMC-FZ30 lens and buy an up-to-date body that will shoot video? Or am I as well off just buying a whole new camera? Maybe I don't need an expensive one, given my narrow interest in its use. maybe I should get a video cam? Will they produce sharp video close in? All my videos are short clips which I transfer to my Mac for processing in iMovie. A decent microphone is desirable since I use narration and maybe also would like to connect another external mic as an option.

Thanks much for any recommendations.

Swelters

I think you cannot change your Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30 fixed lens.

If you only shot video close-up, I suggest you to find a video camera if your main use are movies.

All the DSRL and mirrorless/micro 4/3 cameras have full HD video and are full of record capabilities.

Of course is a completely different price range.

I don't know so much about point-and-shoot or 'bridge' cameras, but technology is so quickly developing and I'm sure there are several good for your purpose.

My suggestion is to consider first a good lens (quality, macro capabilities, sharpness)