Uhh. Panasonic? Dudes? You’re making my eyes bleed.

Welcome everyone, to the Panasonic AG-HMC70, by far the ugliest camera I have ever seen. Seriously, I hope there’s an aftermarket bodykit for this or something. Maybe with some ground effects and flared wheel arches …

Oh yeah, it’s a three chip, AVCHD camera that records to SD cars with an OIS leica lens. So that’s all pretty neat. You get XLR jacks plus both an LCD and a viewfinder. AVCHD is still a bit of a funny format – I’ve seen very good AVCHD, and very bad AVCHD. Hopefully this tilts towards the former.

No price on this yet, though I’d expect it to come in under the HVX-200. Which really begs the question of why Panasonic, which has thrown all of its weight in the prosumer and professional field behind P2 and DVCProHD/AVC-Intra, would jump into the market with an AVCHD camera recording to SD. So very confusing.