As an update regarding my equipment, we have never returned to the Zoom, which we found to be unsatisfactory, and we are still using my old Canon SX40, which is still offering a sterling performance; we have, however, upped our game and bought one of these, which has performed impressively in our home test. We'll report back when we have some live footage.
Its setup is, however, a lot more complicated (and expensive) than the Canon's point, zoom and click (this is a stock photo)
Edit: forgot to say we're using my older, entry-level DSLR, which has been superseded on photo duty by my Canon 70D.