Talking About Camcorders
Camcorders arrived on the planet in the early 1990s and let people record their lifes onto some digitaltape. In the 2000s the tape slowly started losing popularity as digital forms of saving movies became
more popular.
The original tape based camcorders usually had removable tapes. Once the advent of dv and minidv the
camcroder revolution really took off as the quality got considerably better and the tapes became
considerably smaller which in turn led to much smaller compact camcorders.
The main sections of a camcorder include the lens which captures the image, the imager which converts the
light into electronic impulses and finally the recorder which records everything.
As the world gets further into the 21st century there are many devices that aren't classified as
camcorders which are recording video of our lives. Cellphones are getting the ability to record video at
better and larger rates and other portable electronics are beginning to to record video such as portable
media players.
As the mainstream consumer market favors ease of use, portability, and price, consumer camcorders
emphasize these features more than raw technical performance. For example, good low-light capabilities
require large capturing chips, which affects price and size. Thus, consumer camcorders are often unable to
shoot useful footage in dim light (though some units, particularly single-chip units by Sony, offer night
vision capability).
Camcorders have found use in nearly all corners of electronic media, from electronic news organizations to
TV/current-affairs productions. In locations away from a distribution infrastructure, camcorders are
invaluable for initial video acquisition. Subsequently, the video is transmitted electronically to a
studio/production center for broadcast. Scheduled events such as official press conferences, where a video
infrastructure is readily available or can be feasibly deployed in advance, are still covered by
studio-type video cameras (tethered to "production trucks.")