FX7 snowboarding
 

I think im going to go with the FX7 and was wondering if anybody one here could help me out. I want a camera that is light, somewhat small and portable. I will be filming will boarding and when im not it'll be in my backpack. Is the FX7 like this. I would hate to have to carry around this bulky, heavy camera all day.

It would partly depend on what you're used to, compared to something like an SR12 its about 3 times the size, but it is a bit smaller than an FX1000. The handle would help while boarding I would have thought, but I probably wouldn't call it small. It's not the sort of thing you could slip into a small backpack along with your lunch etc.

If your main focus for the day is getting good video footage, I would highly recommend it over any of the smaller camcorders (like SR12) - it's more stable, the handle is great for low shots, and the manual controls are somewhat manageable with gloves on.

If your main focus is boarding, and you want to grab the camera out of your backpack a few times at choice locations, then it's going to feel annoyingly large and bulky ... on those days I presently grab my HC1 .... and have been eyeing the latest tiny AVCHD models.

My $0.02.