If I were taking part in this project, I would say GoPro w/ small gimbal. If your taking photo's, just have it click away for the whole flight. It doesn't take long to delete the shots you don't want. If shooting video, put it in narrow mode and you will get rid of most of the fish eye effect. Can't imagine flying a point and shoot instead of the gopro.
What is the job of the camera in this project? Video? Photos? Both?
We use the Canon S100 with CHDK. Great pictures with GPS embedded.
There seems to be an awful lot that you don't understand, The GoPro does not have any focussing system, it is set and fixed. If it is not sharp then refocus it. The metering is excellent.This is what I can't understand - why is everyone still so gung-ho enthusiastic about the GoPro while at the same conceding the long list if problems? Poor focus, dodgy metering, no manual control, complex distortion, awkward mounting, no lens shading, poor battery life, and so on, ad infinitum!
............EDIT............
thanks for the replies everyone....it looks like i'm going to have to head to the camera shop for some hands-on time with a few options...
the S100 was discontinued, fwiw, and the replacement seems to use GPS from a nearby smartphone rather than onboard
the Lumix might be an option as might be the Olympus but I need to see if either can be triggered remotely and in 5 or 10 second bursts
i'll look at that dpreview site as well, very helpful, thanks!
bart