Most interesting camcorders of CES 2009

I'm not a big fan of ultralong zoom anything--mostly cameras and camcorders with 20x-plus lenses are good only for stalking--but you've got to admire the type of technology that goes into the compact, industry-longest 70x zoom lenses that Panasonic has put in its latest models. Plus, at that length, you really can shoot the moon.

Sony debuts two camcorder firsts in its XR500 series models: built-in GPS with geotagging and the use of a back-illuminated CMOS for (we hope) a leap in low-light video quality.

These are most notable because Sony isn't known for making inexpensive products, and the straight-to-Web mini camcorder market is defined (in part) by cheap prices. Also, in general, orange looks to be one of the hot colors for cameras and camcorders in 2009.

Panasonic's update to its rugged camcorders means you can take this model 6.5 feet underwater or drop it from 4 feet. Plus it comes in lime green, another hot color for 2009.

The ruggedized construction of the Kodak Zx1, combined with the decent video quality it should inherit from the Zi6, make this a potentially pocketworthy gadget. True, RCA was first to market with its rugged version of the Small Wonder, but it was ugly and had poor video quality.