Camera people, I have decided that I may as well get rid of my old Nikon D70 and buy a newer camera. one of the reasons I stopped using it is because it's just too big and heavy to carry around. A look around tells me that I should maybe look at CSC (or micro four-thirds, or mirrorless, or whatever they're called) cameras, because they are a happy compromise between DSLRs and compacts.

If I had about £400 to spend, what camera should I get?

Also, anyone have any recommendations for waterproof alternatives to a Go-Pro? Something that has the mountings available to stick it onto a helmet (no, John, probably not) or the front of a kayak.

Ta.

I'd suggest a Panasonic G3. They're well cheap right now (£210 on Amazon as I write this, with the kit lens that apparently has negative cost, since the body by itself is £277), which leaves you a bit spare for a nice lens (tele-zoom, pancake or maybe portrait) or what have you. You probably won't gain much by getting something more expensive, at least not up to £400 – mirrorless cameras tend to be rather more pricey than DSLRs.

edit: the G3 might look big like a DSLR but it really isn't.

You know go pro do a waterproof housing, right? Otherwise there's lots of Chinese knockoffs which are much cheaper and sometimes not terrible, dealextreme.com have several.

Check out this website www.techmoan.com

Best review videos out there IMO tbh. He reviews loads of the cheaper Chinese knockoffs.

I'd go for one that can use the GoPro mounting system since there's loads of parts available really cheap on ebay.

And more specifically, this one might be of interest - http://www.techmoan.com/blog/2014/2/3/the-sj4000-action-camera-review.html

I absolutely love my GoPro and the waterproof housing is really well built. My biggest complaint is battery life, though - I get around 40 mins recording 1080p @ 48 fps. Extra batteries are cheap enough (Wasabi seem decent), but it's obviously an irritation if your activity is more than 40 mins.

I've just picked up the skeleton housing so that I can connect it to the battery on my bike (which is the main reason I use it), but then that means I can't really mount it on my helmet.

I don't think I'll ever get one. I realised that 99.9% of the footage is just not interesting. To anybody! And for what I'd use it for (mountain biking) it always looks smoother and less steep than the reality anyway.

It's the same for motorcycling, but we've developed a bit of a routine of coming back for a brew while watching over footage of the day. Other than that, I'm yet to do anything with it until something cool happens or I crash.

To be honest, one of my biggest disappointments is that I wasn't filming (Due to battery life) when my friend dropped/placed his motorbike down on an island. I could have teased him for years with that footage, and I bloody missed it.

I'm continuously astounded by the quality, though.

Yeah, essentially cool tricks that only the actual pros can do, or entertaining crashes. Everything else is just about worthless. Although if you're trying to do some sort of coaching they have a use there so the rider can see what's actually happening rather than what they think they're doing. 

I will NEVER get over this "seeing the Quick reply to all link but not the Quick reply one" thing.

Ta very much. I'll have a look a round for a camera shop that has one and see what if feels like.

Out of interest, why an older model like the G3, over something a bit newer like, say, the Lumix GF5? I assume the extra F in the model number means different kinds of specs, and it costs a bit more than the G3.

Yeah, I know, but I'm hoping for something a bit more "streamlined" than a Go-Pro. Sticking one onto a kayak helmet means you just look a bit weird with this square thing on top of your head.

The Sony AS100V is the kind of thing I'm thinking of. As far as I can tell, you can mount it on the side, sort of thing, so it would be on the side of your head rather than on top of it, with a slimmer profile. I've gone through enough rapids upside down to know that anything stuck to the top of my head would have been scraped off, though a lanyard would obviously reduce the chances of actually losing the camera. The only problems are that it's not available here yet, and the case isn't as waterproof as I'd hope.

It's the same in a kayak. Water that most sensible people would be content to spectate from the side always looks like a series of small ripples to a Go-Pro. On the other hand, it would be very helpful with coaching, and you can film the others in the group doing things that you might not want to. And most kayakers are closet egotists who like to see themselves on camera.

Haha that last point though. I've gone down trails in front of someone go pro-ing (which I'm sure can be mounted to the side too, but aerodynamic they are not) and while in your head it's all smooth and totally railing those berms dude and hurtling skywards off jumps, the reality is sadly less than that.

Contour is another name to check, they went bust a while ago but I think may have come back from the ashes.

Our bodies do a good job of absorbing the vibrations!

The problem with mounting the go-pro to a helmet is that it makes you look a twat

chest mounts give a better angle too, it's true.

yj?

(giggle)

The 'F' in GF5 means it's got no viewfinder, hence is rather more diminutive size. The 16MP sensor in the G3 is really no worse than the ones in newer cameras, and the AF speed is already plenty fast so there's no great gain with a newer model. Basically you can spend a lot more money for not much more camera, and at ~£250 the G3 is a right bargain.