adam in reply to your question about why pana wont put larger ccds in their cams is in my view because of size constraints. to make the same lens project onto a 2/3 inch chip instead of the 1/6 chip, you would have to increase the focal length and to do this i imagine that you would have to place the lens further away from the ccd. imagine it like an overhead projector and pulling it back further. I know that in the pro cameras you ahve to match the lenses to the size ccd(ie a lens from a 1/2 inch camera wont fit a 2/3 inch camera. I think also that larger chips probably cost more. just a guess.

Justin