Each ccd is only about half the size of a normal 3ccd camera. but they are still really nice. Panasonic makes good cameras because they dont take away alot of features just to make the camera easier to use. My sony doesnt have a manual focus dial on it. I gotta go through the menu's to change it, it sucks. but on that one, you can change it on the lense, so much nicer. Hard drives are nice though for skiing. The shock on tapes can hurt footage if your going to take the camera off jumps. hard drives are resiliant to the shock (if you have the option turned on through the menu).