| Initially developed by the television industry, a video | | | | requires various adjustments such as aperture |
| camera is used for acquiring electronic motion | | | | settings to control depth of field and distance, zoom |
| pictures. The earliest video cameras were used by | | | | to control focal length and shutter speed to regulate |
| BBC for experimental broadcasts in 1930s. These | | | | exposure. It also requires adjustments in gain, which |
| were of John Logie Baird, the inventor of world's first | | | | in electronics signifies amplifying signal strength. |
| working television system, and used the | | | | Imager: |
| electromechanical disk for recording moving pictures. | | | | Modern cameras use CCD or CMOS as an imager. |
| By 1940s these were replaced by all-electronic video | | | | The lens projects an image on the surface of the |
| cameras that were based on cathode ray tube. | | | | imager, which exposes the photosensitive |
| These remained current till the 1980s when they | | | | arrangement to light, which is converted to an |
| were replaced by cameras based on solid state | | | | electric charge. The imager converts the accumulated |
| image sensors such as a charge-coupled device | | | | charge into continuous analogue voltage and sends |
| (CCD), and later by Complementary | | | | them to its output terminals. After a scan-out is |
| metal-oxide-semiconductor active pixel sensors. | | | | complete, the photo-sites on the imager surface are |
| Video cameras were primarily used for two purposes. | | | | reset and ready to receive the next video frame. |
| The first: the camera feeds real time moving images | | | | Recorder: |
| directly on a television screen for immediate viewing. | | | | This last section is responsible for recording and |
| The second: for recording for later viewing or | | | | writes the video signal onto a recording medium: a |
| archiving. The videotape was the primary format in | | | | magnetic videotape, optical disk media or hard disk. |
| which moving images were stored, which is now | | | | High definition or HD refers to a video system that |
| being replaced by optical disc media, hard disk and | | | | uses higher resolution than standard definition (SD). |
| flash memory. | | | | Some of the latest models serve a dual purpose of |
| Modern video cameras neither resemble the early | | | | capturing still as well HD video. Nikon and Canon were |
| television cameras nor are they limited only to | | | | the first to launch single lens reflex digital cameras |
| television use. Apart from professional use in | | | | that include video capturing and recording. |
| television and some times film production, video | | | | Recently HD capture has become a common feature |
| cameras are also used in security, surveillance and | | | | in sophisticated video cameras including those meant |
| monitoring through close circuit TV cameras. | | | | for home use. Canon HG10 AVCHD Hard Disk Drive is |
| Recently, Camcorder, a portable consumer device | | | | compact in size and has 40 GB hard drive and gives |
| has fast emerged as one of the most popular uses | | | | 1920x 1080 resolution crystal clear images. Panasonic |
| of technology related to video cameras. | | | | HDC-DX1 DVD includes nearly all features that |
| The three major components of video cameras | | | | anyone would like to see in a DVD camcorder. One |
| include: the lens, imager and recorder. | | | | of Sony's top models is Sony HDR-CX7 AVCHD that |
| Lens: | | | | contains Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar optics and Super |
| The first component in the light path is the lens. It | | | | SteadyShot optical image stabilization. |