Clip the camera on your clothes, attach it to your helmet or place it anywhere you want; or combine camera and body into one with an included case for shooting one-handed. You can shoot your adventures on the slopes, the beach, or the waves with the A500, as both units are dustproof and waterproof, happily swimming down to 3 metres for 30 minutes.
Other shooting options include gnarly Levelling Correction to automatically straighten tilted videos; rad Image Stabilisation function to cut down on blur as you're bumping and bouncing across track or piste; and sick slow motion at 200 frames per second, 100 fps in 720p, or 50fps in full HD. The camcorder connects to other devices via near-field communications and Wi-Fi, talking to the Panasonic Image App on a tablet to edit, share and even broadcast your extreme adventures live to the Internet.
Slightly less wearable new cameras that shoot 4K video include the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH4 camera and Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone. Other, lower-resolution wearable cameras include the Looxcie 3, the always-snapping Autographer and the mighty GoPro Hero3+.
The Panasonic HX-A500 goes on sale in the UK in May 2014, costing £380 ($626). Oh, that, plus the four grand to buy a TV you can actually watch your video on.
