New AG-HMC80 from Panasonic is $2895, coming in September. Shoulder mount AVCCAM

Memory Card Camera-Recorder "AG-HMC80"
AVCHD and DV camera shoulder support both low-cost

Just twitted by studio daily and one japanese site, any info will be appreciated especially from those attending NAB 2010.

I wonder if it is a HMC40 in a larger form factor. If so it could be a very nice camera except for low light. The price point seems right since the HMC40 has such a low price point already.

Panasonic USA Pressroom (http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/prModelDetail?storeId=11301&catalogId=13251&itemId=407081&modelNo=Content04082010103536709&surfModel=Content04082010103536709)

here is the press release. It also links to a zip file with a bunch of high res images. From what I can tell it does sound a lot like the HMC40 in a large form factor. Killer product for the price.

Will this cam not be in direct competition against sony nxcam at price point? hope it will not have buffer problems associated with nxcams recently.

Not really. The Panasonic HMC40 while an amazing camera it still uses 1/4" Cmos chips which means the low light is not very good compared to other cameras. If the HMC80 is using the same chips then I would expect the low light to be fairly equal to the HMC40. If you need a robust camera to shoot in low light or any light situation then a higher end camera will still be better.

In decent light however the HMC series of cameras is equal in quality to cameras costing 4x as much. If you know you will always shoot in good light then these cameras will blow you away.

What we don't know yet from the press release is if the Cmos sensors are 1/4" like the HMC40 or bigger. Given the price point of the camera I am going to assume that they are 1/4".

Well I am only looking at it from the price angle since both are recording AVCHD, low light capability might be the same given the technology of 1/3inch imager of HPX 307 vs 1/2inch imager of sony EX3