Is it a black XL2 ? Looks like it - but no, its the New HDV camera from Canon. Canon was holding its card tight until the last moment. When JVC and Panasonic was going media blasting with their HD Cameras everyone was looking at Canon - ‘Dude, are u going to say something?’ where is ur HD cam??‘. Now that Canon spilled the beans about its new HD Cam - there are two possiblities why it didnt announce it earlier in March at NAB @ Las Vegas (where traditionally new broadcast equipments are announced)

1. It was ashamed of its megre HD offering
2. It was waiting to steal the thunder in the final over of the day (sorry - cricket anology)

I think its a mix of both. Even though Canon knew of Panasonic and JVC’s plan 6 months back (coz they announced their plans back in March) its counter-offer is lukewarm at the best. But they are rushing to the market this November, one month before the Panasonic HD cam hits the market in December.

This new cam features:

• 1080i resolution (that is ‘interlaced’ hence the “i”)
• HDV - 15GOP (sucks! - its one thing to have stupid HDV - but 15GOP? when JVC has a cool 6GOP - thats a dumb move)
• 60i, 30F and 24F (hmmm… no 24p - but we can give them the benefit of doubt when they say 24F=24P)
• Uncompressed HD-SDI and SD-SDI output (thats cool for studio people to get RAW 4:2:2 data)
• $9000 ships November (one month before Panasonic HVX200)
• Intechangeable Lens system (this rocks!)

Except the Interchangeable lens mount - no other featureset seems to hold interest for me. And its almost 2-3K more expensive than JVC HD100 (which has interchangeable lens mount too)