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It was only a few years ago that the ownership of camcorders was limited only to those who could afford to cough up the hundreds of pounds required to buy one. Nowadays, you get one on your mobile phone.

The rise of the digital camcorder has been a surprisingly swift one that saw digital recording move from handheld devices created for the specific purpose of making videos to just another extra on your camera or mobile phone in barely any time at all. Of course, with the speed that today's technological advancement moves at, where one product has barely hit the shelves before the newer, improved model is announced, is this really a surprise? Not exactly, but that doesn't make looking back over the short life of the camcorder any less interesting.

The first camcorders worked using video tapes and were not only expensive, but bulky too.

They were created during the 80s and operated by being held in the hands or screwed onto a tripod. However, it wasn't long before one of technology's favourite design enhancements – miniaturisation – took hold and camcorders began to shrink rapidly until they were as easy to carry around as a normal camera. Once the industry had began to boom in the 90s, camcorders switched from VHS recording to their own format, VHS-C, which unfortunately wasn't too compatible with most VHS players. This created many problems when people found it difficult to find ways to play back their movies other than on the camcorder itself! Following that, however, came the age of digital cameras. This new breed of camcorder used very small tapes called MiniDV tapes, which could be edited using a computer by connecting the camcorder via USB. This incredible technology changed the way camcorders were used and began to make way for people creating and editing their own videos and movies.

The MiniDV used with digital camcorders was created in 1996, which just goes to show how recent the technology is. Today, many camcorders still use MiniDVs as they are convenient and easy to use. That is, of course, if you're using a proper camcorder as opposed to a camera with a recording function or even the video mode on your mobile phone! It's amazing how many items of technology have a camcorder built in and it could well be the case that this is the way the industry will continue – but until then, while proper camcorders as the ones that fully do the job, a digital camcorder that functions as nothing other than a digital camcorder – well, perhaps with some photographic talent – is the way to go.

Articoolz.com > The Rise Of The Digital Camcorder