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A Videographer's
Adventure With Technology
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by Andrew Emdon
Owner of Emdon Video Productions & Musician
As a videographer, (dictionary meaning: video cameraperson & editor) since 1982, I am writing this article purely from my experience of an 'ever changing' technology, from the time I was 13 when I began my hobby of photography.
I've tried to keep tabs of the changes:
As a teenager, I was lucky to have my own good SLR stills
camera & darkroom and took wedding photos for friends &
relatives. In the 70s, videos were non existent. Amateurs and
(professionals) in the function industry, used only celluloid
8mm or super 8mm movies. A clumsy technology involving
electro-mechanical movie cameras, film splicers, viewers &
projectors. Only highly skilled operators could introduce
separate and very delicate sound tracks to their movie films.
Processing and physical splicing many small 50 feet reels was
pains -taking & expensive. The film speed was slow and required
a lot of illumination for an acceptable image, especially for
indoors.
Then in 1982 by chance, I changed from a freelance
photographer to a videographer when a friend bought probably
the earliest type of camera on the market, which comprised of a
separate portable recorder connected by a thick wire to a
gigantic camera which was 60 lux. He was daunted by the camera
and did not want to pursue this hobby so allowed me to take
over the installments of the equipment. Unlimited filming with
instant sound and picture was unheard of then, so it was a
great break through for a new business venture and I was one of
the first in Cape Town to video weddings. I have had a love
hate relationship with this technology ever since.
Here are the changes of video equipment from then till now (comprising 25 years):
- Early 80s: Slow, large, tube cameras used with either Beta or VHS portable recorders. My second camera was a white JVC with a built-in titling generator; the pictures on first generation were superb even at that time!
- Mid Eighties: Appeared big VHS camcorders and Super VHS tapes and camcorders which had improved picture quality with more horizontal lines (I personally saw little difference in the technology) Vision mixers, editing desks and titling devices became more affordable and improved the end product. Charged Couple Computer (CCDs) devices became the picture generators in cameras, replacing cathode camera tubes.
- Early Nineties: Camcorders & tapes became smaller. Different companies brought in their types of technology, Panasonic with the VHS C tape, which fitted into a standard size VHS cassette, the quality was bad, fraught with tracking problems. Sony’s 8mm & Hi8 proved a little superior, but duplicating still remained inferior.
- Late Nineties till now: I call the 'Renaissance' for videographers! 'The Digital Era'. 'Digital' a computer term in this case can be defined as images which are converted to a binary language (computer numerology of 0s & 1s) then converted back to a visual image (on either an adapted camera, or a computer editing system), with no quality loss.
3CCD cameras and mini DV tapes at 550 lines resolution have been the norm for most prosumer
videographers for the last 5 years. Non linear editing allows instant access to any point on the edit line using the appropriate software.
Goodbye to VHS tapes, because DVD discs with chapters and user friendly menus, have taken over.
The Future? High Definition TV & Video. Cameras capable of taking up to 1800 horizontal lines are already available compared to VHS with 270 lines. Special DVDs capable of 50 Gigs storage are soon in the pipeline. With the prevalence of wide screen plasmas and LCD TVs, High def is definitely going to be the norm in the next 5 years for the average household. This means upgrading soon in order to keep up.
The newest professional cameras are using memory sticks storing up to 60 minutes of High definition video. No more tapes or moving parts! The picture quality is as good as any top quality cinema screening. It is like looking at reality!
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andrew@emdonvideos.co.za