The video camera I use for filming RC planes

This is my Panasonic MX500 3CCD camcorder. I've had it for nearly 10 years and it's served me very well.
Although it's only a standard definition camera, it does do wide-screen (16:9) and the image quality is very good -- helped a great deal by the powerful manual controls that are very easy to use while actually filming.
The optical viewfinder is an essential feature that is missing on all but the most expensive consumer-level camcorders today -- but is crucial for getting good outdoor shots of flying models in bright sunlight.
It uses MiniDV tapes (gasp!) and has only 10x optical zoom, plus an optical image stabilization system that works using solid-state gyros and mirrors/prisms.
When I purchased it (in 2001 or 2002) it cost an astonishing NZ$3,000, which was a lot of money but it certainly seems to have been worth it.
Unfortunately, it's now getting rather old and tired, as you'd expect from a tape-based camcorder that has done so much work.
Now I need to replace this camera with a more modern (HD) camera so that I can produce even better videos for all you YouTube viewers. Unfortunately, it's a damned difficult job finding something that has the same level of manual-control (without using an LCD touchscreen) and which also offers the essential optical viewfinder.
If anyone has any suggestions then let me know.
BTW: Sorry about the poor quality of this video -- it was taken with my $40 keychain camera under artificial lighting - hence the strobing.