Replying to What's a good step up for filming equipment from an action camera?

I've been filming skiing stuff for a couple years now and I'm wondering what kinds of cameras and setups filmmakers might use beyond GoPro and other action cameras.
GoPro is great for portability and its ability to take a beating, and I've learned a lot over a couple years of using one to make footage that is a bit more interesting to watch, like using a gimbal/mount to stabilize the shot, shooting as close as possible to the subject, and trying to get more creative angles. This usually helps make the footage a lot more fun to look at than some shaky helmet mount cam view.

However, GoPro and other action cameras that I've seen have pretty terrible dynamic range (whites are washed out and dark colors are too dim) plus they can't zoom to capture action that's a little further away. I'm wondering what the "next step" for filming equipment might be - within a reasonable budget (preferably not more than a new pair of skis so like 600-700 dollars). I've seen crews at Brighton with DSLR/gimbal setups and a lot of edits look like they might have also been filmed with a camcorder or something.

What have you guys been using / what would you recommend?