Well, I tried for a while to research this myself but I've decided I
just don't know enough about the subject. So hey, maybe one of you lot
does.

I am looking for a digital video camera to take on mountaineering trips. It needs:

* to be compact (and light)
* to have as long a battery life as one can feasibly get (I don't mind
buying an extended batttery)
* good night operation (we usually start climbing in the dark)
* operating temperatures that stretch to -20 or below (so a Lithium Ion battery)
* external video input (so we can film with a separate bullet camera)

What I would really like on top of that would be:
* the ability to remotely switch on/off the camera and start recording
- we could then strap the bullet camera onto a helmet and leave the
actual dv camera inside a rucksack; of course I don't mind buying more
external kit to do this
* the ability to take pictures or video onto either SD or CF memory
card (I can stick those into my PDA and mail the pictures about, to
impress my friends and relatives)

My budget is really as low as I can manage - I would like to spend
somewhere around $600 on a second-hand camera, but I could spend more
if need be. The extra bits I can play by ear. I don't care about
having an outdated model, and I don't really care very much about
picture quality. Given the choice of battery life or picture quality,
I'd rack up the battery life. I don't care about the tape format
either, so something slightly outdated like MicroDV would do me - I
will really just be recording onto one or two tapes and then sticking
it straight onto the computer to edit. I am not much keen to buy one
with a touch-screen as ideally it has to be operational with very
thick gloves on.

The research I've done so far points to Sony cameras being both good
quality, generally having AV-in sockets and featuring a LANC connector
which looks to me like I might manage the remote-controlling things
too. Do other manufacturers use LANC, or is it a Sony thing? Who has
the best battery life?

Any help appreciated - I've become a bit stuck.

Chris