Are there any digital cameras and/or camcorders offering optical zoom in video mode?
All “real” camcorders have optical zoom and digital zoom. It sounds like you are using a very low-end flip-like or toy camcorder or a camera that is primarily used for taking stills (and happens to have a “video” feature). MiniDV tape based camcorders provide the best available video quality – but they use firewire (not USB) to transfer video to your computer. USB is only used for transferring stills from the camcorder’s memory card or webstreaming (of the camcorder has either of these features). Adding a firewire port is typically not difficult – and it is pretty cheap. Canon ZR800, ZR950, Sony DCR-HC52, HC62 and Panasonic PV-GS320 are good, entry-level, examples. Hard drive and flash based camcorders compress their video a lot, but the quality isn’t too bad… Video is transferred using USB. Sony DCR-SR45 and Canon FS10 are examples. They typically cost more than miniDV, but that does not mean the video quality is better – compression of the video information translates into lost dat
