Yeah, it’s less risk shooting from a distance. I’m not too interested in getting banned from a store, harassed by angry Karens, or getting the police involved. Maybe it’s just because I’m older and have a family and have so much more to lose nowadays.
When I was a newer man I used to get up real close:
You know a person standing around with a big ass camera is there to take pictures. Get another plot
You’re entitled to your opinion, but getting long distance shots of subject’s without their knowledge fits the definition of candid. It’s more of an art form for me, like street photography only enjoying the female form.
This is a matter of personal taste, so if you don’t like the long distance shots then don’t look at them. I’m not sure why you’re complaining about it.
There is a lot of risk involved with my close up techniques. I need to use short focus lenses and have to be really up close to get those shots. I can still get caught by the subjects or their angry significant others, or even get noticed by some white knight or angry Karen.
I use a Nikon and stay at home, otherwise it’s the phone. you can get a good used one on the internet for a sub 100 price bridge cameras are the best affordable option.
even with at home i feel a risk because you never know who might catch me its been touch and go ive wanted to get caught by a particular neighbour though would be kinda hot i suspect.
It has a burst function for proper continuous shooting I have only started using it for candid this week and what I have to share without even leaving the house is great. I prefer it to video because you can zoom and crop and more detail than 1080p video can record but even then the videos arent bad but I just prefer stills.
I won’t shut down any open and honest debate so long as it stays friendly.
I also prefer close-ups but the thing is - I stand out a lot in a crowd full of college girls in bikinis. And I’ve gotten caught trying, and got some footage to show for it 
- won’t go into that but suffice it to say it’s a lot easier to film from a distance where I’m not recognized.
I am pretty sure a mid-high end Nikon compact camera will do the trick, I don’t know how people say I need to spend 10.000 dollars on optics unless they think I’m trying to document the close anatomy of a fly on some girl’s butt. 
I plan to splurge on the P1000 under the assumption that it’ll probably last me many years.
And - obviously I plan to conceal it. One of the main features I am excited about is that it can stream the feed to your phone, so you don’t have to look at the camera while it’s operating.