Heh, you still nedd to narrow your search because there is a filed of camcoders but most of them offer the same...don't buy dvd cam,look for mini dv or hdd (if you wan't to speed up the video transfer from camera to your PC, size of integrated hdd depends on you budget, most of the cams have a good encoding integrated), and take a good care about resolution(higher is better) and minimal lux(lower is better, unless you have a great lightning equipment, but still lower is always better).
Most of camcoders have a good lenses so there's no problem there, try to find camcoder that has manual focus(on ring,not only on display), if specifications mention image stablization or higher than 25 fps rate than that's great...
Now, with app 5000$ you can get great HD semi-profesional cam, with 2000-2500$ you can get good HD cam, and with less than that sum you can get cam without HD(and there goes away your "professional" from your "semi-professional", so it leaves only "semi" and you don't want that). Also it depends where are you from because range of prices in most of the countries are different (prices that I mentioned are for Croatia, so If you are from let's say US than prices are lower).
I hope I helped, but it would be great if you would be able to see desired cam in action before buying one, so start looking for turists with camcoders and if you're polite enough maybe they let you try it so carry your PC with you all the time.
Regards