Today’s video cameras come in many shapes and forms; from peanutsized surveillance units, to large heavy duty studio cameras.
Used mainly for home videos and low-budget program-making, consumer camera systems with their in-built recording facilities, offer a wide range of program-making opportunities.
Palmcorders are increasingly popular for everyday use. Thanks to their small size and easy-to-use controls, they are extremely straightforward to operate, and results are very satisfactory for less exacting program making.
Compact video cameras include numerous automatic controls that help to make shooting easier. Picture quality can be remarkably good, so that they are sometimes used for news gathering, where expensive equipment might be hazarded.
Full-size consumer cameras are more robust, and include various refinements approaching professional quality performance.
ENG/SNG/EFP cameras are used in the field for news gathering (electronic or satellite), and for electronic field production when shooting location drama or documentaries. These lightweight units are extremely adaptable, for they can be supported on the shoulder as you move around, or mounted on a rolling-tripod in the studio.
Studio cameras on the other hand, which provide state-of-the-art performance, are comparatively heavy and bulky, owing to the high performance zoom lens and large viewfinder they carry. Consequently, they are usually fitted to a heavy duty mounting, such as a pedestal.
While lightweight camera systems may be self-contained, and include their own videotape recorders, the studio camera is normally cable-linked to a central control point (camera control unit or base station), where picture quality is continually monitored and adjusted by a specialist operator (shader, vision operator), rather than rely on somewhat unpredictable automatic facilities.
A range of shooting conditions
The versatility of video cameras makes them adaptable to all forms of program-making.