[gardinrm]

Hey all,

I've had a simple little HD video camera for a while now. It's served me well but recently is clearly on the way out. A few features I really liked were its size (smaller than a mobile phone), its external memory card and that it was waterproof (helpful for Scottish climbing!) However, the battery life was terrible and it did not have a wide angle at all which meant a bit of a trek every time I wanted/needed to switch it on/off.

So, is anybody in the know? I've been looking around and its pretty clear that you get what you pay for. I don't want to spend too much (c £300) but want something decent enough. Gopros look pretty good, but i've seen some comparisons that suggest their video quality isn't as good as others, they don't work well in low light and they are always fish-eyed.

My main criteria are:
 quality - nice clear and crisp image (this is the most important thing)
 battery life - removable battery etc
 external storage - so i can buy a bigger memory card

Many thanks.

Rob

[cheque]

they are always fish-eyed.

I have a GoPro Hero5 Black and it has a rectilinear mode. I've never used it in Fisheye mode in fact.

Sounds like that's what you need- it ticks all your other boxes too.

[turnipturned]

Pansonic Lx100 if you can find one second hand for cheap. I have the lx10 and love it, and you can take some nice photos on it too.

GoPro's have there place, and if its waterproof you need, then thats probably the one. Basically Gopros are ace for action sports, fast moving things as they basically don't get rolling shutter. Also they are super easy to use. But you compromise on image quality and manual features, like depth of field etc.

Hope that helps.

[SA Chris]

If you are on a budget the GoPro Session 5 gives good results too.

[gardinrm]

Thanks for the advice guys.