Best cameras / camcorders for the mountain

I've decided to get a new camera or camcorder to film my exploits in the upcoming season. I'm struggling to figure out what the best setup is for capturing mountain fun is.

One option is to go with a digital camera (with video capabilities). The benefit of this is that they are really small and can take great stills and good video. The Canon SD850 / SD870 / SD950 all seem like good options since they have full motion video capability with optical image stabilization, they take great still photos and they will fit in my upper pocket which means I can have them out in seconds. The down side is that you can't really zoom while shooting video and I'm not sure how good the image stabilization is compared to a camcorder.

The Canon S5 seems like a slightly better option because you can zoom while shooting video. The down side is that it's kind of bigger than the SDs.

Then there is the camcorder option. I would really like to take more video on the mountain. It would be super-awesome if the image stabilization was good enough that I could shoot video while riding behind another skier / boarder. The camcorders can record a much longer duration, but honestly I have a hard time imagining that I'd shoot more than 10 mins per day (maybe I'm wrong since I've never had a camcorder). The down side is that you can't take good still images with a camcorder and I'm not sure it'll fit in my upper front pocket for easy access.

Anyway, hopefully some of you have good ideas. I'd like to not spend more than $400 or so.

I've used an SD series canon (SD-400) for the past two and a half years and just recently decided that I was willing to carry a bit more bulk in order to have more options.   The SD's are great little cameras but the lack of a significant zoom and the fact that you have to choose either video mode or camera mode has really started to bug me.   

I just picked up a canon S3 (you can find refurbished ones for $240), figured I didn't need the 8 megapixel sensor of the S5, 6megs should be good enough and the S3 is $100 less than the S5. 
I'll still probably just take the SD on longer trips but for day tours it'll be great to be able to shoot viddy and snap still images at the same time. 

A friend of mine only carries a video camera (which is small/light enough to go in a front pocket) and he creates some fantastic movies with it, but my personal preference is to have mostly still images of ski trips.

One  thing that is super important for ski shots is a long zoom -- otherwise you end up with the "black spot in white background effect"  -- The SD 950 only has a 4x optical zoom -- too limiting IMHO.  The 12x optical zoom on the Canon S3 IS attracted me -- and I got one last spring.  With a 4GB SD card it will hold about 1/2 hour of video.   It does pretty well -- video quality is close to that of a decent mini-DV camcorder.   One added plus is the fact that the .AVI files it creates can be edited using the copy of Movie Maker included with Windows XP -- so you can at least get your feet wet without spending a lot of money on the PC end of things.   The S3 IS is a little bulky for stuffing in your pocket -- that's the price you pay for having a large lense.   Since the S3 IS is off the bleeding edge -- you can get them fairly cheaply -- more info www.dpreview.com/reviews/canons3is/
 
The are a fair number of very inexpensive mini-DV camcorders on the market -- you should be able to get one cheaply -- one annoyance with tape based camcorders is transfering the video takes a long time -- 10 minutes of video might take 15 minutes to transfer onto the PC.  For this and other reasons,  tape-based camcorders are an obsolete technology that the OEMs are really scalling back on -- so selection and quality are dropping.

Another option is the recordable DVD camcorders -- which have actually been pretty popular in recent years.  These make it a lot easier to watch the raw footage -- as you can just pop the little DVD in your DVD player and watch -- note however there are some compatiblity problems -- that not all DVD players will play in all DVD camcorders -- so you might end up have to buy a different brand of DVD player.  Also to edit footage from these DVD recorders you'll need to find some video editting software that supports them.   Along with the mini-DV tape camcorder though, DVD camcorders are a dying breed.

Hard drive camcorders are where the market is moving -- One example is the JVC Everio -- this camcorder can record 7+ hours of video and has a 34x optical zoom and is amazingly light.   Video quality on this camcorder is good -- although slightly blurred during fast motion.   Editting the files created by these type of camcorders also requires purchased video editting software (or buying new PC running Vista Premium).

At the top end (well above the price point you mention) are the High-Definition hard drive camcorders --  these are very spendy and very cool devices -- but life on the bleeding edge is rough -- as very few video editting packages have added support for the H.264 format they use.

I have a JVC Everio and love it, but you'll be throwing down quite a bit more cash compared to a digi cam.
The files it outputs (.MOD) can be a little fiddly, but if you're keeping it simple, the camera comes with basic video editing software that works just fine.

My personal choice was the Pentax W30. While I have a few reservations about the image-taking side of things (the wide angle side of things isn't terribly wide, the lens suffers from some barrel distortion, the lens isn't terribly fast (f/3?), and the highest quality jpeg storage does a little too much compression, and there's a plethora of various modes, but no aperture priority, shutter priority, or manual exposure modes.), I've been quite happy with it. Given all the above, I've been quite impressed with some of the images it has recorded. Paramount in my choice: it's waterproof, somewhat shock resistant, takes reasonable or better quality images, light, and compact.

I've subjected the camera to short accidental drops, and I'm not careful with it at all in the rain/snow. As I learned with my film SLR rig, heavy and delicate cameras often get left behind when you head into beautiful places. It's usable, if a little tricky, with mitts on. W30s suffer a little noise from ISO choices above 200 or so, which limits its highest quality output at low light levels. Low light focusing is occasionally unpleasant, but functional enough, especially if you enable the focus limiter. Its macro capability is pretty impressive, though not terribly relevant to a ski discussion. Given the waterproof options available in mid-June, the W30 seemed like the right choice, and I haven't regretted it since.

That said, I'd easily have paid 25-35% more (if not more, if it were amazing) for a W30 that successfully addressed the issues I have with it.

I have used my Pentax Optio 43WR to take a thousand or so outdoor photos. I originally picked it because of its "water proofness". I like to take action shots and the occasional video. Most of my friends do not want to stand around while I set up a camera. I keep my camera on my hip and I can have it ready in seconds. If you miss the action, it really doesn't matter what camera you have. Of course it has some limitations, but it is good enough to produce a few Telemarktips.com cover page photos.