[Evan Donn]

Cameras like this and the sony are just reflections of the fact that many of the small 'borderline consumer' HD cameras shoot high enough quality now to satisfy the production needs of large portions of the market. Unfortunately clients still expect to see the video crew show up with something that looks more 'professional' than the camcorder they have at home - so put the camera in a big shell, add some better audio inputs, and you've got a product that will sell well regardless of what the higher end of the market thinks of it.

Maybe there's a business opportunity there - build housings that look like big professional cameras, but have a compartment in the 'lens' to insert the latest, greatest handheld consumer hd camera. As long as the finished video looks good...