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first off, the lens is extremely important. It's a lot more important than the digital zoom number, which as has been mentioned, is essentially bullshit.
Zeiss lenses are extremely good for consumer lenses. They won't begin to approach the quality of prosumer or professional lenses, but then TV stations routinely pay well more than $10,000 for a lens.
btw, a few tips. Always use a tripod. Very few people outside of the television industry are good enough to make a video steady enough to not look like shit. If you have to follow action around, put the camera on the tripod, then hold the tripod's head and run the camera that way - the legs hanging down form a counterweight, and you have a poor man's steadi-cam.
if you have to shoot off the sticks, RELAX. The more tense you are, the more you jerk. Breathe with your stomach, you'll be steadier. If you're following someone, match footsteps with them - their left to your left, etc. That will eliminate the swaying you get from walking.
Avoid pans and zooms they almost always look like crap. Hold your shots. Don't shoot one thing for 2 seconds, then zip off to something else. Count to at least ten with EVERY shot you make.
Above all, remember that you're telling a story, not just fucking around with a camera. As such, figure out what that story will be and shoot accordingly.
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