Interesting. I own and EX3, basically the same camera as an EX1, and I have never been pleased with some aspects of it's performance. Your sky test was revealing. When I shoot a scenic mountain scene, with snow capped peaks, basically the camera must recognize different shades of white in order to represent the subtle folds in the hillside. The EX3 doesn't really do it justice. I wonder if that is compression, or sensor. I have heard of a device called a nano flash that will allow you to capture footage virtually uncompressed, with bit rates over 200 mbps. I wonder if such a beast would make a difference.