by: Richard Gazzo

The first camcorder was invented by Jerome Lemelson in 1980. And since that time the first bulky analog video camcorders have evolved into the modern digital camcorder, so small they can fit in the palm of your hand, and so clear they rival even professional broadcast video cameras.

Consumers have been using camcorders since early 1980s. Since then they have gotten better and cheaper, with prices starting at only a few hundred dollars, making DV camcorders affordable for anyone. Shooting home videos is fun, everyone loves filming their families during special events. From your kids birthday, your son's soccer game, to the family trip to Mexico, but how exactly do video cameras work?

Digital video cameras convert analog video into a digital format. Digital video camcorders take the analog information in the video camera and then translate it into bytes of data. Digital video is converted from moving images to a stream of zeroes and ones. The digital video camcorder records the bytes of digital information onto one of three items, a hard disk, a dv tape, or a DVD. From there you have the ability to transfer the video to your computer. You can then edit the video, email it to friends and family or even add the video to a website.

The digital video process begins at the lens in the camcorder. The lens stores and then focuses light from the video that you are capturing onto the image sensor located behind it. Because the Charge- Coupled Devices (CCDs) used by camcorders are capable only of measuring the amplitude of the light hitting the photodiodes on their surfaces, a system of filters is required to establish just what color that light is.

Another part of the camcorder, that plays an important role is the viewfinder. Originally view finders where black and white, as time progressed viewfinders have evolved into color LCD screens. This is a necessary part of the camcorder, it lets you see what you are filming. Newer models of viewfinders even let you add effects to your video via an LCD touch screen while you are filming.

Newer DV camcorders can not only shoot high definition video (up to 720 lines) but models such as the Sony hdr-fx1 hdv camcorder, Canon xl2 and the Canon zr200 mini dv camcorder even offer digital still image capabilities. You can snap crystal clear images with resolutions up to 1024 x 768, perfect for family photos. Need to email your videos to friends and family across the globe, no problem. With the MPEG feature you can even email short video clips to any one with an email address! Grandparents in Europe can see your daughters birthday 4 minutes after you have filmed it in the U.S.A!

Even though current digital video camcorders come in a range of sizes and shapes, the techniques used to convert moving pictures hasn't evolved much. But the styles of digital camcorders have evolved. You can find digital video camcorders come in all types, from dvd camcorders to mini dv camcorders. As technology changes video is not restrained to digital video cameras. cell phones now have the capability to shoot video and email the clips instantly anywhere in the world. It's hard to predict how far video technology can go, the sky seems to be the limit.