This makes the earliest successful videographers impressively talented, eh? And it heightens appreciation for the first videos ever made, huh?Īccording to experts, the first home video system was offered by Ampex in 1963, including a TV monitor, special furniture, and an Ampex VR-1500 that weighed about 100 pounds and costed around $30,000.Īs equipment evolved, the 8 mm film camera gained popularity. Of course, this made the film very vulnerable, and if a cut wasn’t made perfectly between electronic frames, the entire video would be destroyed. Before nonlinear systems, videographers would have to cut out video content using razor blades, piecing them back together with scotch tape. If tubes heated too much during a show, saturation and colors would shift significantly.Īnother issue was of course the editing systems. Throughout a shoot, the cameras required constant attention, to ensure the coloring was consistent. With almost every use, tubes would burn out. Tubes required much more light to pour in than chip cameras today, and this caused the equipment to overheat.

And because the cameras used electronic tubes to convert light, inconvenience only amplified. Videographers required a truck full of equipment to tape even the shortest reel.

At this time, the recording devices were about the size of a small suitcase, using two-inch thick videotape. Equipment that once made videos was about the size of a refrigerator, and it wasn’t until the 70s that the machinery started to shrink. Not long ago, there was no such thing as mobile video. And it’s certain to get even better from here. Once video is created, the content can easily and immediately be downloaded to a computer for editing, using nonlinear technology. Today’s pocket-sized camcorders provide high quality video, with a wide range of automatic and manual settings and impressive zoom ratios. Like with all technological improvements, it’s just a matter of time before something sleeker, lighter, faster, and cooler comes along.

Who really invented the camera