Although I've yet to use the Varicam I have extensive experience with the Panasonic ADJ700P. The 700 is a DVCPRO cam that only shoots at 29.97fps in 4:3. Its very popular amongst videojournalists because it is lightweight, fairly simple to master, and has superior detail and color reproduction. I used it with a Fujinon zoom lens and I was amazed at how "true to life" the colors were, when balanced properly. I usually shot with a pol to increase contrast, traditionally something video does not capture well. What I found frustrating on this camera, and many others, was that they lacked the ability to manually white balance. There were times, especially in mixed light situations, where I need a balance of say 4.4k. But the camera, when balancing to white paper, would bounce between apx 5.6 and 3.7k. The camera really needed the ability to either pre-program and store multiple balances, it could store two pre-sets, or in a more ideal case, simply allow the user to input a specific number. I wonder if the varicam has answered this problem? Of course the challenge with these cameras as a videojournalist, is the viewfinder is B&W so you need to learn from experience what is the right white balance, otherwise you might blow it. Additionally I have noticed that many, many video cameras cannot handle fine lines and patterns. The patterns break up and create a weird sea-like motion that is distracting, to say the least. On more than one occasion I had to ask my reporter to change ties or dresses so they don't look like they fell out of a Hunter S. Thompson novel. Does the varicam solve this? Or is it also an effect of the monitors?