Verified answer

they will last with care until they become obsolete, typically 20 years. most pro cameras die of abuse, they are dropped, set on a tripod that collapses, used in rainstorm. i know of one case where the news photographer took it in the sauna, and when tape refused to roll because of the dew sensor, she pulled out a hair dryer and melted the insides. you should be able to get business insurance to cover most instances of abuse that are result of simple negligence.

The higher the hours the more head wear, if the heads go they can be replaced, that said, professional cameras are engineered to handle heavy useage, so long as the heads have been cleaned periodically the came should be fine so long as you stick to the servicing intervals.

The vendor may have had it serviced or offer a guarantee.

If anything is wrong with it the faults will become apparant in use very quickly.

A model number would have helped me to answer your question more precisely.

With panasonic you really want to make sure the model supports DVCPRO25 at the very least, ideally DVCPRO50.

You might want to consider HD formats as well (a used HVX200 would be a good starting point, though these need P2 cards to record full 1080)

Anything Panasonic miniDV isn't pro, go for sony miniDVcam instead.

Panasonic also made a couple of older formats such as Digital VHS, avoid as parts are scarce, tapes hard to find and quality low compared even to miniDV.

If its an EZ model forget it as well. Too old. Go for a Sony PD instead.

The other factor to coniser is that the camera may not have a firewire output, pro panasonics often use SDi instead, you must have a convertor such as an AVID MOJO or a KONA or Blackmagic SDi video card.

Sony (with firewire, i.e. minDVCAM and full size DVCAM) will work with most modern computers using a firewire input.