My own *guess* is that we'll be looking through an HD-quality Leica 12x with built-in wide angle field of view.

Please, please have a built-in wide angle! That was one of the best features of the DVX.

I'll bet you're right.
And I'll add to that that I hope we still have the same 72mm diameter...which would hopefully allow some accessories to port over without much of a problem.

It's hard to tell from the picture what the size really is.

Can't these marketing people throw a quarter into the corner of their product shots for scale?

:)

I'll be surprised if Panny doesn't keep all the good things about the dvx, which include the wide angle and the 72mm lens.

It looks about a third heftier than a dvx to moi.

im with chris on this one..

im also sure theyre goign to keep the cinegamma and colour settings..

one thing that dissapointed me on the Z1 was that its image manipulation was sub par... :(

$20 says it's made out of glass!

20$ says it's a plastic of some form =D

I'll bet it has one of those lovely focus rings that turns and turns and...

It's not going to be a lensless camera?

Oh... tapeless... my mistake...

I hope not. The most stupid thing ever done to a lens is this free spinning crap!

<<<-- Originally posted by Kenn Christenson : I'll bet it has one of those lovely focus rings that turns and turns and... -->>>

If the lens has a focus ring that actually stops at some point and P2 cards that can record 30 Min. of 1080 24P per card, then I'll buy.

Same here, I hope the lens focus ring has actual hard stops, one reason I like the form factor of the XL2 with manual lens better. If it has a manual iris then there would really be no excuse NOT to purchase this camera in my opinion. Nearly everything else has been worked out... pending reviews of course!

I would bet you Chris, but you don't pay back your loss bets. You still owe me a Steak at Ruth's Chris Steak House.

<<<-- Originally posted by Chris Hurd : My own *guess* is that we'll be looking through an HD-quality Leica 12x with built-in wide angle field of view.

Please, please have a built-in wide angle! That was one of the best features of the DVX. -->>>

I hope the mechanical parts of the lens have been improved over the DVX100A.

I love the wide angle, and it was definately better than the original DVX100, but the zoom lever was still too loose to really be usable, and every one I've seen has a tiny little "hiccup" about 1/3 of the way through the zoom range from full wide to telephoto (Almost un-noticable, but I'm far too retentive, and took mine back to the store twice, and even had the salesman check 5 others because I couldn't believe that this was within spec!)

Now what I'd really like is a slightly wider 12x zoom with a built in 2x doubler.

<<<-- Originally posted by Alex Leith : "but the zoom lever was still too loose to really be usable, and every one I've seen has a tiny little "hiccup" about 1/3 of the way through the zoom range from full wide to telephoto (Almost un-noticable, but I'm far too retentive, and took mine back to the store twice" -->>>

Aha! That's some vindication on a personal level for me... I see the same little hiccups too and everyone always tells me I'm nuts. I exhanged my first DVX100 for a new one only to find it had the same problem, so I just assumed it was inherent in the design. I guess it is.

Anyway, since I'm all for keeping this on topic: And to address some of the sub-topics within this thread... I'm going to bet they ship the HVX200 with a single 8GB P2 card in the box.

I hope it has a built-in wide angle, I could never live without it after owning my DVX.

I'm eager to buy now as I have been holding my breath for a good and affordable HD solution (that does 24p and isn't HDV). My workflow could benefit from this camera immensely. However, like many here, I have the concerns over P2 capacity and record times. I know it will improve over time, but by the time the P2 capacity issue is no longer an issue, there could very well be several better camera options available.... Even if this camera can hold two P2 cards at a time, with the initial availabilty of 4GB and 8GB P2s, I'm not too anxious to spend the money on extras like an underwater housing.

Oh, well. I guess I must be patient like everyone else and wait for the NAB announcements.

BTW: High performance 2GB SD memory is starting to show up for under $200. Which means 8GB P2 cards will probably arrive in August in the $650 to $800 range. (just a guess, but I bet I'm fairly close). But I think the best thing we could hope for is for third party manufacturers to jump on the P2 card bandwagon... If all the P2 cards on the market are from Panasonic and only one or two other makers, then we can (unfortunately) expect P2 prices to remain higher than they should be...

If I was of the bet making type, I would place my bet on the manual controls on the lens being all three: focus, zoom and aperture. I would hope the focus to have "real stops", like the FX1:s zoom, but the focus and aperture are propably going to be of that forever spinning type.

This design where they had all three controls on the lens, was already present on those "super-8" form factor mockups. That's one thing I'd guess they would want to have kept from those mockups. But, we'll see.

Here's the "super-8" mockup from NAB2004:
http://www.camcorderinfo.com/images/articles/panasonic-p2-hdv-prototype-3.jpg

Here's a rough sketch by me, based on the preshow picture:

http://pupuedit.sourceforge.net/hvx200_drawing.png

I'd also bet the lens to be 12x or 14x. Propably 12x wide angle, like on the DVX100.