Thank you for your in-depth review. You are absolutely right about the cost differential. I paid $75,000 in 1970 dollars for the Ikigama, and $650 deflated $s for the palmcorder.
I can live with the lens clarity and low-level noise, as a travelogue is only a few steps up from a home movie. What I can't live with is the unstable camera moves (which I suspect are more the fault of the editing software, since the playback is silky-smooth on the camera). Still shots are sharp and clear, but the quality goes in the tank on pans and tilts.
My editor defaults to de-interlacing, but all I see are interlaced blurs on any camera moves. I'm going to try adding interpolation to those segments and see if it helps.
Thanks for your valued input,
Jim