Camera introduction; all information that you need to know camera, camera angles, shots.

1. Camera
A camera is a device that records images that can be stored directly, transmitted to another
location, or both. These images may be still photographs or moving images such as videos or
movies. The term camera comes from the word camera obscura (Latin for "dark chamber"),
an early mechanism for projecting images. The modern camera evolved from the camera
obscura.
Functional description
Cameras may work with the light of the visible spectrum or with other portions of the
electromagnetic spectrum. A camera generally consists of an enclosed hollow with an
opening (aperture) at one end for light to enter, and a recording or viewing surface for
capturing the light at the other end. A majority of cameras have a lens positioned in front of
the camera's opening to gather the incoming light and focus all or part of the image on the
recording surface. The diameter of the aperture is often controlled by a diaphragm
mechanism, but some cameras have a fixed-size aperture. Most cameras use an electronic
image sensor to store photographs on flash memory. Other cameras, particularly the
majority of cameras from the 20th century, use photographic film.
A typical still camera takes one photo each time the user presses the shutter button (except
in continuous-fire mode). A typical movie camera continuously takes 24 film frames per
second as long as the user holds down the shutter button, or until the shutter button is
pressed a second time.
Mechanics
Image capture
Traditional cameras capture light onto photographic film or photographic plate. Video and
digital cameras use an electronic image sensor, usually a charge coupled device (CCD) or a
CMOS sensor to capture images which can be transferred or stored in a memory card or
other storage inside the camera for later playback or processing.
Cameras that capture many images in sequence are known as movie cameras or as ciné
cameras in Europe; those designed for single images are still cameras.

2. However these categories overlap as still cameras are often used to capture moving images
in special effects work and many modern cameras can quickly switch between still and
motion recording modes.
A video camera is a category of movie camera that captures images electronically (either
using analog or digital technology).
Lens
The lens of a camera captures the light from the subject and brings it to a focus on the film
or detector. The design and manufacture of the lens is critical to the quality of the
photograph being taken. The technological revolution in camera design in the 19th century
revolutionized optical glass manufacture and lens design with great benefits for modern
lens manufacture in a wide range of optical instruments from reading glasses to
microscopes. Pioneers included Zeiss and Leitz.
Camera lenses are made in a wide range of focal lengths. They range from extreme wide
angle, wide angle, standard, medium telephoto and telephoto. Each lens is best suited a
certain type of photography. The extreme wide angle may be preferred for architecture
because it has the capacity to capture a wide view of a building. The normal lens, because it
often has a wide aperture, is often used for street and documentary photography. The
telephoto lens is useful for sports, and wildlife but it is more susceptible to camera shake.
Focus
Due to the optical properties of photographic lenses, only objects within a limited range of
distances from the camera will be reproduced clearly. The process of adjusting this range is
known as changing the camera's focus. There are various ways of focusing a camera
accurately. The simplest cameras have fixed focus and use a small aperture and wide-angle
lens to ensure that everything within a certain range of distance from the lens, usually
around 3 metres (10 ft) to infinity, is in reasonable focus. Fixed focus cameras are usually
inexpensive types, such as single-use cameras. The camera can also have a limited focusing
range or scale-focus that is indicated on the camera body. The user will guess or calculate
the distance to the subject and adjust the focus accordingly. On some cameras this is
indicated by symbols (head-and-shoulders; two people standing upright; one tree;
mountains).

3. Rangefinder cameras allow the distance to objects to be measured by means of a coupled
parallax unit on top of the camera, allowing the focus to be set with accuracy. Single-lens
reflex cameras allow the photographer to determine the focus and composition visually
using the objective lens and a moving mirror to project the image onto a ground glass or
plastic micro-prism screen. Twin-lens reflex cameras use an objective lens and a focusing
lens unit (usually identical to the objective lens.) in a parallel body for composition and
focusing. View cameras use a ground glass screen which is removed and replaced by either a
photographic plate or a reusable holder containing sheet film before exposure. Modern
cameras often offer autofocus systems to focus the camera automatically by a variety of
methods.
Exposure control
The size of the aperture and the brightness of the scene controls the amount of light that
enters the camera during a period of time, and the shutter controls the length of time that
the light hits the recording surface. Equivalent exposures can be made with a larger
aperture and a faster shutter speed or a corresponding smaller aperture and with the
shutter speed slowed down.
Shutters
Although a range of different shutter devices have been used during the development of the
camera only two types have been widely used and remain in use today.
The Leaf shutter or more precisely the in-lens shutter is a shutter contained within the lens
structure, often close to the diaphragm consisting of a number of metal leaves which are
maintained under spring tension and which are opened and then closed when the shutter is
released. The exposure time is determined by the interval between opening and closing. In
this shutter design, the whole film frame is exposed at one time. This makes flash
synchronisation much simpler as the flash only needs to fire once the shutter is fully open.
Disadvantages of such shutters are their inability to reliably produce very fast shutter
speeds ( faster than 1/500th second or so) and the additional cost and weight of having to
include a shutter mechanism for every lens.
The focal-plane shutter operates as close to the film plane as possible and consists of cloth
curtains that are pulled across the film plane with a carefully determined gap between the
two curtains (typically running horizontally) or consisting of a series of metal plates (typically
moving vertically) just in front of the film plane.

4. The focal-plane shutter is primarily associated with the single lens reflex type of cameras,
since covering the film rather than blocking light passing through the lens allows the
photographer to view through the lens at all times except during the exposure itself.
Covering the film also facilitates removing the lens from a loaded camera (many SLRs have
interchangeable lenses).
ComplexitiesProfessional medium format SLR (single-lens-reflex) cameras (typically using
120/220 roll film) use a hybrid solution, since such a large focal -plane shutter would be
difficult to make and/or may run slowly. A manually inserted blade known as a dark slide
allows the film to be covered when changing lenses or film backs. A blind inside the camera
covers the film prior to and after the exposure (but is not designed to be able to give
accurately controlled exposure times) and a leaf shutter that is normally open is installed in
the lens. To take a picture, the leaf shutter closes, the blind opens, the leaf shutter opens
then closes again, and finally the blind closes and the leaf shutter re-opens (the last step
may only occur when the shutter is re-cocked).
Using a focal-plane shutter, exposing the whole film plane can take much longer than the
exposure time. The exposure time does not depend on the time taken to make the exposure
over all, only on the difference between the time a specific point on the film is uncovered
and then covered up again.
For example an exposure of 1/1000 second may be achieved by the shutter curtains moving
across the film plane in 1/50th of a second but with the two curtains only separated by
1/20th of the frame width. In fact in practice the curtains do not run at a constant s peed as
they would in an ideal design, obtaining an even exposure time depends mainly on being
able to make the two curtains accelerate in a similar manner.
When photographing rapidly moving objects, the use of a focal -plane shutter can produce
some unexpected effects, since the film closest to the start position of the curtains is
exposed earlier than the film closest to the end position. Typically this can result in a moving
object leaving a slanting image. The direction of the slant depends on the direction the
shutter curtains run in (noting also that as in all cameras the image is inverted and reversed
by the lens, i.e. "top-left" is at the bottom right of the sensor as seen by a photographer
behind the camera).
Focal-plane shutters are also difficult to synchronize with flash bulbs and electronic flash
and it is often only possible to use flash at shutter speeds where the curtain that opens to
reveal the film completes its run and the film is fully uncovered, before the second curtain
starts to travel and cover it up again. Typically 35mm film SLRs could sync flash at only up to
1/60th second if the camera has horizontal run cloth curtains, and 1/125th if using a vertical
run metal shutter.

5. Film formats
A wide range of film and plate formats has been used by cameras. In the early history plate
sizes were often specific for the make and model of camera although there quickly
developed some standardisation for the more popular cameras. The introduction of roll film
drove the standardization process still further so that by the 1950s only a few standard roll
films were in use. These included 120 film providing 8, 12 or 16 exposures, 220 film
providing 16 or 24 exposures, 127 film providing 8 or 12 exposures (principally in Brownie
cameras) and 135 (35 mm film) providing 12, 20 or 36 exposures – or up to 72 exposures in
the half-frame format or in bulk cassettes for the Leica Camera range.
For cine cameras, film 35 mm wide and perforated with sprocket holes was established as
the standard format in the 1890s. It is still used for nearly all film-based professional motion
picture production. For amateur use, several smaller and therefore less expensive formats
were introduced. 17.5 mm film, created by splitting 35 mm film, was one early amateur
format, but 9.5 mm film, introduced in Europe in 1922, and 16 mm film, introduced in the
US in 1923, soon became the standards for "home movies" in their respective hemispheres.
In 1932, the even more economical 8 mm format was created by doubling the number of
perforations in 16 mm film, then splitting it, usually after exposure and processing. The
Super 8 format, still 8 mm wide but with smaller perforations to make room for substantially
larger film frames, was introduced in 1965.
Camera accessories
Accessories for cameras are mainly for care, protection, special effects and functions.
Lens hood: it is used on the end of a lens to block the sun or other light source to
prevent glare and lens flare (see also matte box).
Lens cap: covers and protects the lens during storage.
Lens adapter: sometimes called a step-ring, adapts the lens to other size filters.
Lens filters: allow artificial colors or change light density.
Lens extension tubes allow close focus in macro photography.
Flash equipment: including light diffuser, mount and stand, reflector, soft box, trigger
and cord.
Care and protection: including camera case and cover, maintenance tools, and
screen protector.
Large format cameras use special equipment which includes magnifier loupe, view finder,
angle finder, focusing rail /truck.

6. Battery and sometimes a charger.
Some professional SLR could be provided with interchangeable finders for eye-level or
waist-level focusing, focusing screens, eye-cup, data backs, motor-drives for film
transportation or external battery packs.
Tripod, microscope adapter, cable release, electric wire release.
Camera designs
Plate camera
The earliest cameras produced in significant numbers used sensitised glass plates and are
now termed plate cameras. Light entered a lens mounted on a lens board which was
separated from the plate by an extendible bellows.
There were simple box cameras for glass plates but also single-lens reflex cameras with
interchangeable lenses and even for color photography (Autochrome Lumière). Many of
these cameras, had controls to raise or lower the lens and to tilt it forwards or backwards to
control perspective.
Focussing of these plate cameras was by the use of a ground glass screen at the point of
focus. Because lens design only allowed rather small aperture lenses, the image on the
ground glass screen was faint and most photographers had a dark cloth to cover their heads
to allow focussing and composition to be carried out more easily. When focus and
composition were satisfactory, the ground glass screen was removed and a sensitised plate
put in its place protected by a dark slide. To make the exposure, the dark slide was carefully
slid out and the shutter opened and then closed and the dark slide replaced.
Glass plates were later replaced by sheet film in a dark slide for sheet film; adaptor sleeves
were made to allow sheet film to be used in plate holders. In addition to the ground glass, a
simple optical viewfinder was often fitted.
Cameras which take single exposures on sheet film and are functionally identical to plate
cameras are still used for static, high-image-quality work; see Large-format camera, below.

7. Large-format camera
The large-format cameras, taking sheet film, is a direct successor of the early plate cameras
and remain in use for high quality photography and for technical, architectural and
industrial photography. There are three common types, the view camera with its monorail
and field camera variants, and the press camera. They have an extensible bellows with the
lens and shutter mounted on a lens plate at the front. Backs taking roll film and digital backs
are available in addition to the standard dark slide back. These cameras have a wide range
of movements allowing very close control of focus and perspective. Composition and
focussing is done on view cameras by viewing a ground-glass screen which is replaced by the
film to make the exposure; they are suitable for static subjects only, and are slow to use.
Medium-format camera
Medium-format cameras have a film size between the large-format cameras and smaller
35mm cameras. Typically these systems use 120 or 220 rollfilm. The most common image
sizes are 6×4.5 cm, 6×6 cm and 6×7 cm; the older 6×9 cm is rarely used. The designs of this
kind of camera show greater variation than their larger brethren, ranging from monorail
systems through the classic Hasselblad model with separate backs, to smaller rangefinder
cameras. There are even compact amateur cameras available in this format.
Folding camera
The introduction of films enabled the existing designs for plate cameras to be made much
smaller and for the base-plate to be hinged so that it could be folded up compressing the
bellows. These designs were very compact and small models were dubbed vest pocket
cameras. Folding rollfilm cameras were preceded by folding plate cameras, more compact
than other designs.
Box camera
Box cameras were introduced as a budget level camera and had few if any controls. The
original box Brownie models had a small reflex viewfinder mounted on the top of the
camera and had no aperture or focusing controls and just a simple shutter.

8. Later models such as the Brownie 127 had larger direct view optical viewfinders together
with a curved film path to reduce the impact of deficiencies in the lens.
Rangefinder camera
As camera and lens technology developed and wide aperture lenses became more common,
rangefinder cameras were introduced to make focussing more precise. Early rangefinders
had two separate viewfinder windows, one of which is linked to the focusing mechanisms
and moved right or left as the focusing ring is turned. The two separate images are brought
together on a ground glass viewing screen. When vertical lines in the object being
photographed meet exactly in the combined image, the object is in focus. A normal
composition viewfinder is also provided. Later the viewfinder and rangefinder were
combined. Many rangefinder cameras had interchangeable lenses, each lens requiring its
own range- and viewfinder linkages.
Rangefinder cameras were produced in half- and full-frame 35 mm and rollfim (medium
format).
Single-lens reflex
In the single-lens reflex camera the photographer sees the scene through the camera lens.
This avoids the problem of parallax which occurs when the viewfinder or viewing lens is
separated from the taking lens. Single-lens reflex cameras have been made in several
formats including sheet film 5x7" and 4x5", roll film 220/120 taking 8,10, 12 or 16
photographs on a 120 roll and twice that number of a 220 film. These correspond to 6x9,
6x7, 6x6 and 6x4.5 respectively (all dimensions in cm). Notable manufacturers of large
format and roll film SLR cameras include Bronica, Graflex, Hasselblad, Mamiya, and Pentax.
However the most common format of SLR cameras has been 35 mm and subsequently the
migration to digital SLR cameras, using almost identical sized bodies and sometimes using
the same lens systems.
Almost all SLR cameras used a front surfaced mirror in the optical path to direct the light
from the lens via a viewing screen and pentaprism to the eyepiece. At the time of exposure
the mirror flipped up out of the light path before the shutter opened. Some early cameras
experimented other methods of providing through the lens viewing including the use of a
semi transparent pellicle as in the Canon Pellix and others with a small periscope such as in
the Corfield Periflex series.

9. Twin-lens reflex
Twin-lens reflex cameras used a pair of nearly identical lenses, one to form the image and
one as a viewfinder. The lenses were arranged with the viewing lens immediately above the
taking lens. The viewing lens projects an image onto a viewing screen which can be seen
from above. Some manufacturers such as Mamiya also provided a reflex head to attach to
the viewing screen to allow the camera to be held to the eye when in use. The advantage of
a TLR was that it could be easily focussed using the viewing screen and that under most
circumstances the view seen in the viewing screen was identical to that recorded on film. At
close distances however, parallax errors were encountered and some cameras also included
an indicator to show what part of the composition would be excluded.
Some TLR had interchangeable lenses but as these had to be paired lenses they were
relatively heavy and did not provide the range of focal lengths that the SLR could support.
Most TLRs used 120 or 220 film; some used the smaller 127 film.
Subminiature camera
Cameras taking film significantly smaller than 35 mm were made. Subminiature cameras
were first produced in the nineteenth century. The expensive 8×11 mm Minox, the only type
of camera produced by the company from 1937 to 1976, became very widely known and
was often used for espionage (the Minox company later also produced larger cameras).
Later inexpensive subminiatures were made for general use, some using rewound 16 mm
cine film. Image quality with these small film sizes was limited.
Instant picture camera
After exposure every photograph is taken through pinch rollers inside of the instant camera.
Thereby the developer paste contained in the paper 'sandwich' distributes on the image.
After a minute, the cover sheet just needs to be removed and one gets a single original
positive image with a fixed format. With some systems it was also possible to create an
instant image negative, from which then could be made copies in the photo lab. The
ultimate development was the SX-70 system of Polaroid, in which a row of ten shots -
engine driven - could be made without having to remove any cover sheets from the picture.
There were instant cameras for a variety of formats, as well as cartridges with instant film
for normal system cameras.

10. Ciné camera
A ciné camera or movie camera takes a rapid sequence of photographs on strips of film. In
contrast to a still camera, which captures a single snapshot at a time, the ciné camera takes
a series of images, each called a "frame" through the use of an intermittent mechanism.
Ciné-Kodak Special II - 16mm movie camera (ca. 1948)
The frames are later played back in a ciné projector at a specific speed, called the "frame
rate" (number of frames per second). While viewing, a person's eyes and brain merge the
separate pictures to create the illusion of motion. The first ciné camera was built around
1888 and by 1890 several types were being manufactured. The standard film size for ciné
cameras was quickly established as 35mm film and this remains in use to this day. Other
professional standard formats include 70 mm film and 16mm film whilst amateurs film
makers used 9.5 mm film, 8mm film or Standard 8 and Super 8 before the move into digital
format.
The size and complexity of ciné cameras varies greatly depending on the uses required of
the camera. Some professional equipment is very large and too heavy to be hand held
whilst some amateur cameras were designed to be very small and light for single-handed
operation. In the last quarter of the 20th century digital camcorders supplanted film motion
cameras for amateurs. Professional video cameras did the same for professional users
around the start of the 20th century.
Digital
The advent of digital technology emerged with the release of the Sony D1, a device that
recorded data in an uncompressed form, thereby requiring an enormous amount of
bandwidth for its time. In 1992, Ampex used D1 "form-factor" to create DCT, the first digital
video format that utilized data compression. The compression utilized the discrete cosine
transform algorithm that is used in most modern commercial digital video formats. In 1995
Sony, JVC, Panasonic and other video camera manufacturers launched DV, which quickly
became a de facto standard for home video production, independent filmmaking and citizen
journalism. In the same year Ikegami introduced Editcam—the first tapeless video recording
system.
High definition (HD)
Panasonic launched DVCPRO HD in 2000, expanding the DV codec to support high definition
(HD). The format was intended for use in professional camcorders and used full -size

11. DVCPRO cassettes. In 2003, Sony, JVC, Canon and Sharp introduced HDV, perceived as the
first truly affordable HD video format due to its utilization of inexpensive MiniDV cassettes.
Tapeless
Sony then pioneered the XDCAM, the first tapeless video format, in 2003, introducing
consumers to the Professional Disc (PFD). Panasonic followed this in 2004 with its release of
P2 "solid state" memory cards as a recording medium for DVCPRO-HD video. In 2006,
Panasonic and Sony introduced AVCHD as an inexpensive consumer-grade and tapeless high
definition video format. Presently, AVCHD camcorders are manufactured by Sony,
Panasonic, Canon, JVC and Hitachi. Sony re-entered the market in 2007 with the
introduction of XDCAM EX, a product that offered similar recording modes to XDCAM HD,
but instead recorded onto SxS memory cards.
3D
In 2010, following the success of James Cameron's 2009 3d movie, Avatar, full 1080p HD 3D
camcorders entered the market (Panasonic released the first 3D camcorder for the general
market).
With the proliferation of file-based digital formats, the relationship between recording
media and recording format has significantly lessened; that is, the same video can be
recorded onto different media. With tapeless formats, recording media has become a
storage device for digital files, signifying convergence of the video and computer industries.
JVC KY D29 Digital-S pro camcorder.
Overview
Camcorders contain three major components: lens, imager, and recorder. The lens gathers
and focuses light on the imager. The imager (usually a CCD or CMOS sensor on modern
camcorders; earlier examples often used vidicon tubes) converts incident light into an
electrical signal. Finally, the recorder converts the electric signal into video and encodes it
into a storable form. More commonly, the optics and imager are referred to as the camera
section.

12. Lens
The lens is the first component in the light path. The camcorder's optics generally have one
or more of the following adjustments:
aperture or iris to regulate the exposure and to control depth of field;
zoom to control the focal length and angle of view;
shutter speed to regulate the exposure and to maintain desired motion portrayal;
gain to amplify signal strength in low-light conditions;
neutral density filter to regulate the exposure.
In consumer units, the above adjustments are often automatically controlled by the
camcorder's electronics, but can be adjusted manually if desired. Professional units offer
direct user control of all major optical functions.
Image
The imager converts light into electric signal. The camera lens projects an image onto the
imager surface, exposing the photosensitive array to light. The light exposure is converted
into electrical charge. At the end of the timed exposure, the imager converts the
accumulated charge into a continuous analog voltage at the imager's output terminals. After
scan-out is complete, the photosites are reset to start the exposure-process for the next
video frame.
Recorder
The recorder is responsible for writing the video-signal onto a recording medium (such as
magnetic videotape.) The record function involves many signal -processing steps, and
historically, the recording-process introduced some distortion and noise into the stored
video, such that playback of the stored-signal may not retain the same characteristics/detail
as the live video feed.

13. All but the most primitive camcorders imaginable also need to have a recorder-controlling
section which allows the user to control the camcorder, switch the recorder into playback
mode for reviewing the recorded footage and an image control section which controls
exposure, focus and white-balance.
The image recorded need not be limited to what appeared in the viewfinder. For
documentation of events, such as used by police, the field of view overlays such things as
the time and date of the recording along the top and bottom of the image. Such things as
the police car or constable to which the recorder has been allotted may also appear; also
the speed of the car at the time of recording. Compass direction at time of recording and
geographical coordinates may also be possible. These are not kept to world-standard fields;
"month/day/year" may be seen, as well as "day/month/year", besides the ISO standard
"year-month-day".
Consumer camcorders
Analog vs. digital
Camcorders are often classified by their storage device: VHS, VHS-C, Betamax, Video8 are
examples of 20th century videotape-based camcorders which record video in analog form.
Newer digital video camcorder formats include Digital8, MiniDV, DVD, hard disk drive, direct
to disk recording and solid-state semiconductor flash memory. While all these formats
record video in digital form, currently formats like Digital8, MiniDV, DVD and hard drive
have been losing favor, and are no longer used in the most recent consumer camcorders.
In older analog camcorders, the imaging device was based on vacuum tube technology
where the charge on a light sensitive target was in direct proportion to the amount of light
striking it. A popular example of such an imaging tube was the Vidicon. Newer analog and all
digital camcorders use a solid state Charge Coupled Device (CCD) imaging device, or more
recently a CMOS imager. Both of these latter devices use photodiodes that pass a current
proportional to the light striking them (i.e. they are analog detectors), but that current is
then digitised before being electronically 'scanned' before being fed to the imager's output.
The principal difference in the latter two devices is in the manner in which that 'scanning' is
accomplished. In the CCD, the diodes are all sampled simultaneously, and the scanning then
achieved by passing the digitised data from one register to the next (the Charge Coupled
element). In the CMOS device the diodes are sampled directly by the scanning logic.
The take up of digital video storage improved quality. MiniDV storage allows full resolution
video (720x576 for PAL, 720x480 for NTSC), unlike previous analogue consumer video
standards.

14. Digital video does not experience colour bleeding, jitter, or fade, although some users still
prefer the analog nature of Hi8 and Super VHS-C, since neither of these produce the
"background blur" or "mosquito noise" of digital video compression. In many cases, a high-quality
analog recording shows more detail (such as rough textures on a wall) than a
compressed digital recording (which would show the same wall as flat and featureless).
Unlike analog video formats, the digital video formats do not suffer generation loss during
dubbing, but can be more prone to complete loss. Theoretically digital information can be
stored indefinitely with zero deterioration on a digital storage device (such as a hard drive),
however since some digital formats (like MiniDV) often squeeze tracks only ~10
micrometers apart (versus 19 to 58 μm for VHS), a digital recording is more vulnerable to
wrinkles or stretches in the tape that could permanently erase several scenes worth of
digital data, but the additions tracking and error correction code on the tape will generally
compensate for most defects. On analog media similar damage barely registers as "noise" in
the video, still leaving a deteriorated but watchable video. Even digital recordings on DVD
are known to suffer from DVD rot that permanently erase huge chunks of data.
Thus the one advantage analog seems to have in this respect is that an analog recording
may be "usable" even after the media it is stored on has suffered severe deterioration
whereas it has been noticedthat even slight media degradation in digital recordings may
cause them to suffer from an "all or nothing" failure, i.e. the digital recording will end up
being totally un-playable without very expensive restoration work.
Modern recording media
While some older digital camcorders record video on Microdrives, hard drive, and size-reduced
DVD-RAM or DVD-Rs, as of 2013 most recent camcorders record video on flash
memory devices and internal solid-state drives, using MPEG-1, MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 formats.
However, because these codecs use inter-frame compression, frame-specific-editing
requires frame regeneration, which incurs additional processing and can cause loss of
picture information. (In professional usage, it is common to use a codec that will store every
frame individually. This provides easier and faster frame-specific editing of scenes.)
Other digital consumer camcorders record in DV or HDV format on tape and transfer
content over FireWire (some also use USB 2.0) to a computer, where the huge files (for DV,
1GB for 4 to 4.6 minutes in PAL/NTSC resolutions) can be edited, converted, and (with many
camcorders) also recorded back to tape. The transfer is done in real time, so the complete
transfer of a 60 minute tape needs one hour to transfer and about 13GB disk space for the
raw footage only—excluding any space needed for render files, and other media. Time
spent in post-production (editing) to select and cut the best shots varies from instantaneous
"magic" movies to hours of tedious selection, arrangement and rendering.

15. Formats
The following list covers consumer equipment only. (For other formats see Videotape)
Analog
 Lo-Band: Approximately 3 megahertz bandwidth (250 lines EIA resolution or
~333x480 edge-to-edge)
 BCE (1954): First tape storage for video, manufactured by Bing Crosby
Entertainment from Ampex equipment.
 BCE Coloer (1955): First color tape storage for video, manufactured by Bing
Crosby Entertainment from Ampex equipment.
 Simplex (1955): Developed commercially by RCA and used to record several live
broadcasts by NBC.
 Quadruplex videotape (1955): Developed formally by Ampex, and this
became the recording standard for the next 20 years.
 Vision electronic recording apparatus (Vera) (1955): An experimental
recording standard developed by the BBC, but was never used or sold commercially.
 U-matic (1971): The initial tape used by Sony to record video.
 U-matic S (1974): A small sized version of U-matic used for portable recorders.
 Betamax (1975): Only used on very old Sony and Sanyo camcorders and
portables; obsolete by the mid/late-80s in the consumer market.
 VHS (1976): Compatible with VHS standard VCRs, though VHS camcorders are no
longer made.
 VHS-C (1982): Originally designed for portable VCRs, this standard was later
adapted for use in compact consumer camcorders; identical in quality to VHS;
cassettes play in standard VHS VCRs using an adapter. Still available in the low-end
consumer market (JVC model GR-AXM18 is VHS-C; see page 19 of the owner's
manual). Relatively short running time compared to other formats.
 Video8 (1985): Small-format tape developed by Sony to combat VHS-C's compact
palm-sized design; equivalent to VHS or Betamax in picture quality, but not
compatible. High quality audio as standard.
 Hi-Band: Approximately 5 megahertz bandwidth (420 lines EIA resolution or ~
550x480 edge-to-edge)
 U-matic BVU (1982): Largely used in high-end consumer and professional
equipment. The introduction of U-matic BVU spelled the end of 16mm film
recordings.

16.  U-matic BVU-SP (1985): Largely used in high-end consumer and professional
equipment. The introduction of U-matic BVU spelled the end of 16mm film
recordings.
 S-VHS (1987): Largely used in medium-end consumer and prosumer equipment;
rare among mainstream consumer equipment, and rendered obsolete by digital gear
like DigiBetacam and DV.
 S-VHS-C (1987): An upgrade to provide near-laserdisc quality. Now limited to the
low-end consumer market (example: JVC SXM38). As per VHS-C, relatively short
running time compared to other formats.
 Hi8 (1988): Enhanced-quality Video8: roughly equivalent to Super VHS in
picture quality, but not compatible. High quality audio as standard. Now limited to
low-end consumer market (example: Sony TRV138)
Digital
DV (1995): Initially developed by Sony, the DV standard became the most widespread
standard-definition digital camcorder technology for the next ten years, pushed by popular
prosumer cameras like Sony's VX1000 and Canon's XL1. The DV format was the first to make
capturing footage for video editing possible without special hardware, using the 4- or 6-pin
Firewire sockets common on computers at the time.
 DVCPRO (1995): Panasonic released its own variant of the DV format, engineered
for greater reliability for use in broadcast ENG applications.
 DVCAM (1996): Sony released a similarly upgraded format to compete with
DVCPRO.
 DVD recordable (1996): A variety of recordable optical disc standards were
released by multiple manufacturers in the 1990s and 2000s, of which DVD-RAM was
the first. The most common in camcorders was MiniDVD-R, which used recordable 8
cm discs that held 30 minutes of MPEG video. DVD-RAM discs could be added to and
recorded over, but couldn't be played on many consumer DVD players, and cost a lot
more than other types of recordable media. DVD-Rs could be played on most
consumer DVD players, but couldn't be added to or recorded over once finalized for
viewing. DVD camcorders were generally not designed to connect to computers for
editing purposes, though some high-end DVD units did record surround sound, a
feature not standard with DV equipment.
 D-VHS (1998): JVC debuted the digital standard of VHS tape and which supported
1080p HD. Many units also supported IEEE1394 recording.
 Digital8 (1999): Uses Hi8 tapes (Sony is the only company currently producing
Digital8 camcorders, though Hitachi once also did).

17. Most, but not all models of Digital 8 cameras have the ability to read older Video8
and Hi8 analog format tapes. The format's technical specifications are of the same
quality as MiniDV (both use the same DV codec), and although no professional -level
Digital8 equipment exists, Digital8 has been used to make TV and movie productions
(example: Hall of Mirrors).
 MICROMV (2001): Uses a matchbox-sized cassette. Sony was the only electronics
manufacturer for this format, and editing software was proprietary to Sony and only
available on Microsoft Windows; however, open source programmers did manage to
create capture software for Linux. The hardware is no longer in production, though
tapes are still available through Sony.
 Blu-ray Disc (2003): Presently, Hitachi is the only manufacturer of Blu-ray Disc
camcorders.
 HDV (2004): Records up to an hour of HDTV MPEG-2 signal roughly equal to
broadcast quality HD on a standard MiniDV cassette.
 MPEG-2: codec based format, which records MPEG-2 program stream or MPEG-2
transport stream to various kinds of tapeless media (hard disks, solid-state memory,
etc). Used both for standard definition (JVC, Panasonic) and high definition (JVC)
recording.
 H.264: shorthand term for compressed video using the H.264 codec that is part of
the MPEG-4 standard in an MPEG-4 file most often stored to tapeless media.
 AVCHD: a format that puts H.264 video into a transport stream file format. The
video is compressed according to the MPEG-4 AVC (aka H.264) format, but the file
format is not MPEG-4.
 Multiview Video Coding: is an amendment to H.264/MPEG-4 AVC video
compression standard for sequences captured simultaneously from multiple
cameras using a single video stream. An MVC stream is backward compatible with
H.264/AVC, which allows older devices and software to decode stereoscopic video
streams, ignoring additional information for the second view. Multiview video
contains a large amount of inter-view statistical dependencies therefore combined
temporal and inter-view prediction is the key for efficient MVC encoding. A frame
from a certain camera can be predicted not only from temporally related frames
from the same camera, but also from the frames of neighboring cameras. These
interdependencies can be used for efficient prediction.