
Had a Canon superzoom once and yes, audio has always been a bad factor on these. But also on the DSLR cams the built in mics aren't the best, these are designed to put on external mics. Still, better than the compact ones. Canon is great in everything photo and video, but they really suck on audio facts.
I finally opted for TZ101 and TZ91 for the upcoming shows. Took the 101 to Kiefer Sutherland - I was frontrow and shooting photos with ISO 3200 and they look amazing, really beautiful. Biting myself for not taking more pictures. The 1" sensor is absolutely great. (TZ202 is the follow up with a 15x zoom instead of 10x)
As the question went up, yes you can take photos while filming with the current Panasonic cams.