Videocam for live concerts

[TickTock]

For several years I've used a GoPro Hero 5 to record indoor concerts at the local sci-fi convention. I'm looking to upgrade and not happy with the fixed lenses on the GoPro. I'd like to stay under $500. Anyone with experience in recording live concerts, what do you suggest? I've been looking at the NearStream VM33.

ETA: I do some basic editing and then post the vids to YouTube. I'm not looking for professional quality here.

 

[Golden Mean]

Can't help, I have a Panasonic LUMIX FZ1000 II, but it looks like that is no longer available new.

You might ask the mods to move this post into the technology forum.

 

[djdawson]

My wife has been recording/live streaming via Facebook the Wednesday night Blues Jam at a local bar for the past few years and so far the best camera she's found has been the one on her Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra smart phone (though the camera on my iPhone 16 Pro is comparable, but she's an Android gal). You could see her videos if you have a Facebook account and look for the "Goat Lips Chew and Brewhouse" page there. She uses a cheap table-top tripod to hold her phone and it usually works very well. None of the videos she posts have been edited in any way, other than possibly trimming a few seconds off one or both ends, but she seldom does even that. Note that Facebook usually (always?) down-samples the videos to 720p, but the quality of the sound and low-light video recording is still evident. It's easy to underestimate the quality of the cameras in recent smart phones, but they're surprisingly good these days.

 

[Pointby2]

Have you looked at the Insta360 8K?

 

[TickTock]

Insta360 8K. $550 new. I'll look at it. Thanks!

 

[TickTock]

The insta360 looks interesting. I went to their website, read through it and watched a ~45-minute company video.

My concern is that it has a fixed focal length, which is one of the reasons I'm looking to move on from the GoPro. The NearStream VM33 has a 10x optical zoom. Maybe the 8k resolution makes digital zoom okay; I'm not sure.

I've also posted on a Facebook music group that I belong to and no replies there. Does anyone know of an amateur/semi-pro video cam forum that might be appropriate for this? Stright internet searches are not yielding much.

 

[TickTock]

Update: Still no answers from the Facebook group, and I've not found an appropriate videocam forum. I don't really need the 360-degree view of the Insta360 8k. I'm strongly leaning towards the NearStream VM33 for $360. Runner-up is the Panasonic HC-W580K for $400.