I got very worked up over the "all of these look like a '93 Handycam" comment, but then I realized these all are actually pretty low-end professional SVHS and DV machines. A good Betacam from 2001 can look almost as good as early HD footage, the color reproduction is WAY better than any Handycam. Consumer gear has only recently caught up to the professional market level in terms of color reproduction. The mid- and high-end professional cameras had bigger sensors, with more photosites, arranged in a 3CCD setup, resulting in a higher color and luminance resolution. Also, the amplifiers for the signal out of the CCD where much quieter then the ones put into consumer gear, resulting in just a beautiful, clean picture. You could crank them up to +21dB and still get a good picture. When you watch the picture from one of those on a high-grade reference monitor, you can easily fall in love.
I don’t know that I’d fully agree with you on this. True Betacam SP had 4:2:2 vs the 4:1:1 color space of DVCAM but apart from 50hz PAL formats neither of them really come anywhere close to even early 1990s HD footage. Now, widescreen PAL does get fairly close compared to NTSCs terrible resolution but that’s not really the same as just DV vs Betacam SP. As to the cameras themselves and what you consider “consumer” gear, I would say your misremembering or a bit biased. Even “consumer” recording cameras like the XL-1 did a darn nice job on color reproduction even with the limitations of DV. Let’s not forget that films like 28 Days later and Jackass both shot scenes on the XL-1 that once color graded look perfectly fine. Having shot professionally on both DVCAM and Betacam SP for news work, while Beta is a bit better with a good “consumer” camera from 2001 and a bit of color grading it’s not that massive of a difference.
@@Alexlfm For starters, yes, I'm mainly talking 50Hz here, because that's what I have first hand experience of, but I think the general "professional gear was vastly superior to consumer stuff for decades" sentiment is valid both in PAL and NTSC land. I disagree on a number of points: first, 4:2:2 vs 4:1:1 (or 4:2:0 in 50Hz) is double the colour information, and that makes a visible difference. Secondly, You're comparing Betacam SP - a format announced in 1986, an improvement on a 1982 format, with DV/DVCAM released in 1995/1996, which already kind of proves my point. That's a 10 years head start on professional gear. Next, in the 90s, the only reasonable format for HD was HDCAM, which was essentially a 3:1:1 format. At the same time, starting from '93, Digital Betacam was available with 4:2:2 subsampling. So even though theoretically, HDCAMs resolution on the output was higher, internally, the signal could only be marginally superior to one recorded using Digital Betacam. Finally, all of that ignores the imager elements. Professional gear had vastly superior tech in terms of sensors: the sensors being bigger, with larger photosites, almost always in a three-sensor arrangement, with lower noise floor and higher quality amplifiers. And for that reason, Digital Betacam could easily look as good as HDCAM footage: even though technically HDCAM was 1080 lines, the best generally available sensors at the time only resolved about 700 lines, which even further reduced the resolution advantage of early HD. If you add the lens technology available at the time, you get further reduction in vertical resolution. And that's why, I believe that professional gear was years ahead of consumer gear up to at least 2010s and late (Digital) Betacam can look almost as good as early HD. Now yes, there have been prosumer cameras, like the XL-1 that, through use of high quality components on the imaging end could come very near professional gear. Still, XL-1 was a $4200, 3CCD camera with removable lens from '98. Not exactly a Handycam.
Thanks to you I started looking differently at old video equipement. I dusted out my dads old casette video cam and discovered a tape from my parents wedding. They divorced when I was 1y old so I actually never saw them together so happy like on that tape. Thanks bro
Crazy to imagine but I use the Sony M7 almost daily at my job. I work in live television and more specifically in sports broadcasting We use the M7 as what's called a "clock camera" so that the people in the telivision truck and more specifically the graphics operators can see the score and stats. It has a nice zoom lense so you can shoot a scoreboard on the other side of the stadium, and it outputs analog so you can send it over thousands of feet of BNC with no issue.
Hehe that's great---I thought all those had been scrapped years ago lol. Amazing the capacitors in it haven't given out yet --that's what killed my last M7 and M3 cams.
As someone who works at a TV station, this stuff still fascinates me, which is why I love watching videos like this. It's also amazing to see how far the technology has come, but how much is still the same because it just that good and works.
Fun facts about modern professional cameras that may interest you: - Multicore cable is no longer used. It was replaced by Triax cable until recently when a hybrid fiber/copper cable was introduced that commonly is referred to as SMPTE Fiber. - The same tripod mount is still used to this day. You will see tripods from the 80's being used with brand new cameras quite frequently. - While the CCU does technically control the camera, you actually have another piece of equipment attached to it called an OCP or RCP (Operator Control Panel or Remote Control Panel). This will usually have a menu system for the camera's features as well as easy access to controls for white balance, color correcting, iris, etc. The person doing this usually is known as the shader and will have one of these for each camera. - The price for a lot of these cameras could actually range up into $50,000 to $100,000 for just the body and those prices can still be found today. I've seen quotes for Sony HDC-4800 cameras up to $150,000 depending on options. - We still use the vmount batteries to this day, though most often other equipment ends up on those mounts. Usually something like a cell-modem video encoder. Many V-Mount battery packs usually just are NP-F to V-Mount plates because these days NP-F batteries are used with literally everything. - Pro video hardware has basically just gotten higher resolution and more standardized. Connectors have only changed when they can no longer support the bandwidth for higher resolution video or need to carry a digital signal instead of audio. Lenses are largely the same, and most of the time the only reason to change is because they were designed for 4:3 and we shoot 16:9 now. Almost all the physical interfaces are the same, so tripods, viewfinders, and other accessories still work unless the electrical interface has been updated. - Outside of external control, the biggest reason we spend tens of thousands on professional cameras is for things like dynamic range and multiple sensors and things that help us get much better performance in a variety of lighting conditions.
@@aydenkron2254 Ah I see it now. Thanks! All the people watching from that suggestion is probably why the channel is being recommended to his other watchers.
Something about this video is really comfortable to watch. I think it's how you manage to present such a niche topic in a genuinely interesting way. Also the way you talk has a "chill but interesting" teacher vibe. Subbed and I look forward to more!
Nice collection! The first pro camera I ever used was a Sony M3A back in 1988. Had JVC KY-25s on the first production truck I worked on, and you're right about the dockable decks being a cost saving option. My truck usually ran 4 cameras, but on occasion I would need a 5th, so I would get one of the ENG cam's and swap the recorder for a camera back to use the cam with my 5th CCU. By doing that, the company didn't have to buy another camera that would just sit around unused much of the time. Your take on modularity and standards is spot-on too. The CCU that ran the KY-25 would also work with the KY-19 (1/2" CCD's) or the KY-27. Probably worked with other models too, but those are the ones I can verify. If, whenever this pandemic ends, you find yourself in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, drop me a note. I'd be happy to set you up a tour of one of our production trucks. (I work for a packager that does a lot of ESPN stuff) Might make for a good companion vid on how the CCU works and how multi-cam production happens.
Love this. When I was a young up-and-comer in the news world, let's say 1998-ish, we had a friend who'd come up as a freelance TV news cameraman at a suspiciously young age. He had one of those new industrial loft conversion condos. And in his suite were TWO full ENG cameras. Seemed like the height of awesome at the time. Now they can be found.
That's a lot of the joy of this sort of thing. I'm buying stuff that was *TOP* of the line at some point. Top of the line always feels a certain way no matter how old it is.
My mother was a wedding videographer (still is, covid not withstanding) and for most of my life i watched her juggle DV tapes, they got expensive fast.
I've always wondered, but did HD-VHS ever make it's way into camcorders towards the end of VHS's life? I know there's 1080i vHS tapes like the D-VHS decks out there, but was that ever used in professional spaces?
HD-VHS itself did not to the best of my knowledge, I believe it was purely a consumer format and no consumer cameras were made with it. In the pro space, I believe other tape formats were always used for HD video. In the very early days of HD (mid to late 80s!) modified Type C recorders were used, and in later years I know there have been a ton of digital tape formats, as well as a disc format called XDCAM. My favorite are HDCAM and HDCAM-SR. The latter, in its maximum density mode, writes at the incredible bitrate of 880mbps. It stores 4:4:4 10-bit MPEG-4 video at 1080p in the exact same cassette as the Betacam tape I showed in this video, and the camcorders that take it look exactly like the ones I have, but the cheapest one is $2500 used. I really want one, but solely for the novelty. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-YW26YMe8iUQ.html Here's a demo disc shot on one of those modified type C recorders from the early 90s. It's absolutely *incredible* trying to get my brain to accept that this is 30 years old. Thanks for watching!
@@CathodeRayDude just watched that video and I don't know how to explain it, it looks new and old at the same time maybe it's the colors or something and also in a way it kind of matches up with what I think now VHS used to look like crisp and clean when infact it's just my memory cleaning it up.
@@CathodeRayDude HOLY CRAP!!! THAT WAS AWESOME!!!! thank you for share that amazing piece of history, I mean, full HD trough analog tube image sensors, I am speechless, my mind is blown! Greetings from Colombia.
DVHS was just a playback format, never used in camcorders. The closest you get to that is HDV (HD video on MiniDV tapes) which you can actually dub to D-VHS tapes if you wanted as both are MPEG-2 transport streams.
The idea of separate imaging heads and recording backs is still very much alive today, though due to the massive influx of amateur videographers and indie film makers those kind of setups don't get as much press. One modern example I can think of is RED's DSMC camera system which offers a "BRAIN" and "Sensor" modules. Though in that instance its more about being able to swap sensors rather than swap recording mediums. The same idea goes for lens mounts, in the pro cinema world the same couple of lens mounts have existed for decades while in the prosumer/consumer world (other than Nikon) you'll see all sorts of different lens mounts and little to no process for interchanging lens mounts. Though that is changing too with the advent of mirrorless cameras and shallower distances between the lens mount and sensor. That's really what sets the pro market apart from the consumer market (other than quality) imo, the availability of standards across multiple generations, and products that are far more modular.
Just found the channel. OMG. I'm in the tv industry for 27 years and been working with most of the stuff you have. JVC 210 was my first cam, then JVC 320, Sony M3, JVC KY27 - all with VO8800 U-matic. Then Betacam (SP, SX, IMX) family, DVCAM and DVCPRO...now on XDCAM and 4K stuff. Anyway, I've used Firewire port on cameras for some time, while travelling and making stories around Europe. Typical setup was Sony PD150 (170) or DSR 250 and 1 GHz Pentium Dell laptop with Avid on it for field editing. It worked like a charm! Why to bother with field editing? Well if you wanted to send tv package from 1000 miles away you literally had one option - satellite uplink. And price of 10 minute slot for uplink was from 2000-5000 today US$, depending on various things. So you really wanted to transfer only essential footage or edited tv package which was ready to air. That Firewire was a huge money and time saver then. Thanks for bringing back some good memories! BTW, your JVC 210 was probably color shifting because of bad WB memory battery, had that problem on 320 long time ago. Greetings from Europe! (Those PAL folks)
I probably worked with all of them at some point in my 40 plus career as a TV cameraman. First one coming directly from when they changed over to video from 16mm film, the RCA TK 76, Ikegami 77, HL79 and 95 Unicam, and every Sony Betacam and Panasonic variety in between. Last tape based formats I worked with were DVC Pro and Betacam SX.
The XLR power and battery standards part near the end is a nice touch, because as someone who does production sound work as a side gig, the Three (3) prevailing battery standards being V-mount, Gold Mount, and NP (which you referred to as the Sony infoLithium here) makes things way, WAY easier for that kind of work. From broadcast to filmmaking and beyond, it's just tremendously nice to have far less stress about battery choices.
I have always thought of the tubes color output to be much warmer than the CCD's. the only difference was that with the CCD's we didn't have to be cautius of shooting directly at a bright light source anymore.. lol
8:50 I used Firewire on Sony cameras a lot to get the feed out of the camera, but also to feed back in and preview on an external screen using Sonic Foundry's Vegas (later acquired by Sony Software). So, yes... it was used quite a lot of bidirectional data transfer/video feed.
Man i love this worked for wrgb and this brings back so many memories. All these things were so expensive in the day. A SONY Betacam would easily set you back $60.000. Now they are worthless.
Great collection, watched with great envy :D I think you mentioned in one of your updates that some of the upcoming videos might be simple show & tells rather then documentaries like the one on home video history - personally I see no problem, as great as these longer ones are, regular hardware showoffs are also interesting. You also have a real knack for explaining things really clearly, I think lots of folks might appreciate that - professional video seems to be one topic that few people outside the profession know a lot about. Can't wait for more videos :)
HOLY SHIT, camera operators have always been absolute heroes to me, but looking at cameras like this and their intricacies makes it all a lot more interesting.
I've been ENG/EFP cam op for 30+ years (from U-matic to iPhone, lol). I find your comments about professional gear very entertaining and informative. Back in the day my fav cameras were the Ikegami, take a look into one of those if you can, you'll like them. Keep up the good work!
I am playing around with some Editcam 2 rigs (two system cameras HL-65W and HK-399PW with the DNR-20 decks and one DNS-201W camcorder plus two SAT2000 stand alone recorder units). Just love this stuff. Very nice output that can easily be upscaled to 1080p and still looks great.
I've only handled a professional video camera once (I think I was 12 ar the time), it was a Sony Betacam like yours. I couldn't get over how comfortable it was to hold on my shoulder in spite of how heavy it was! Thanks for making a great video, I look forward to seeing more. EDIT: For reference, that would have been in '98 or '99.
Dude, your content is awesome. Rarely I can find someone with such passion for old (and practically useless nowadays) tech. Keep up with your content, will watch every video
Even though the cameras themselves aren't that useful these days, I'm still fascinated by them and their history. Where I live, some of our local TV news stations still use DVCAM and Betacam to this day, since they still use over-the-air analog standard definition. Having worked at one of them, I also find the idea of plugging a firewire cable into the back of an ENG camera to capture breaking news quite funny. Instead we would either use an external VTR deck to capture the tape over firewire, or when it was something urgent we'd just edit linearly (tape-to-tape with two decks connected via an edit bay). Back then if we wanted to get really fancy, we would use the camera's firewire port to hook up to an external FireStore hard drive which piggy backs on the back of the camera and records the video that way, saving the time and hassle of capturing from tape.
7:30, Actually you don't get a better quality video format with DVCAM but more reliability as the track are 15 micron wide instead of 10. Same 720*480 411 5mb Iframe compression of the DV stream.
The tape speed was also faster with DVCAM, also adding to its robustness on playback, fewer hits, and the tape could be re-used way more often than a DVCam or DVCPro tape. In terms of the number of passes. Plus it seemed like you never needed to clean the heads or run a cleaning tape very often with DVCAM.
I was a news cameraman and editor some 20 years ago. I was the person running back to the office to copy the footage over on a PC. I only once filmed a tower demolition, usually it was courthouses, accidents, murders in the middle of the night, filming wolves, dolphins. This video brings me back, thanks :)
When I started shooting news back in 2008 / 2009, we were still using the DV500 on mini DV. We would use the sony clamshell to capture the footage real time then edit on our old laptops. It's absolutely amazing how far we've come since then.
About 10-years-ago, I got into collecting Sony Betacam SP camcorders along with decks. I've sold off most of my Betacam SPs, but still have two BVW D600's, one of which is widescreen. Both of the D600's are in excellent operating and physical condition. Of course, if they develop an electronics problem they become big paperweights. Macie will still work on these, but hold on to your hat, it will cost a small fortune. It's been several years, but I have actually recorded live to RU-vid with the D600's. I would have to look at my notes for how I did this using a Blackmagic device and other support equipment, but it can be done. I'm glad you collect these old cameras. Preserving camera history one camera at a time.
Because of you I just recently picked up a Panasonic NV-MS90B VHS-c camcorder that will live on a tripod for just filming intro's and dioramas. And you have my thanks because I am loving every second of it!
We have a few of these cameras - some donated by customers, others we bought new like the AG-DVC200. Used that professionally to record events from like 2003 to 2010. Kids would always ask which news station we were from. Was really nice having the big 3 hour DV tapes for long presentations, concerts, or training sessions - didn't have to worry about changing out tapes every hour. And yes the batteries from our older S-VHS professional cameras still fit. Anton Bauer batteries were not cheap, so I'm sure that's why they stuck with the same format so many years. Unlike the consumer market where every camera uses a different style and voltage battery. So nice when everything is a standard 12V.
Also as a skater, coming across this video looking to find his VX1000. I'm so grateful to find this video when I needed it most. I now know what to start looking for in terms of features.
Enjoying your channel Gravis, I use to volunteer at our local Community TV channel and get to play with the broadcast gear. Did town council meetings. It was fun to have the multi camera setups with the ccu cables going out to the van! There was a lot of S VHS equipment in the low budget community tv channels. Also the S VHS stuff was in schools we had VM Studio that ran on Windows 3.1 It was a early computer video editing computer. It controlled 3 SVHS decks and also recorded video to the 8 gig hard drive that was on it! in 1995
I got an old DV Sony broadcast camera, with the Camera Control Unit (a little 19" rack uni that controls zoom, color, etc) and the big multi-pin cable to connect them for FREE because it was easier for the company to just give it away than try to sell it. I got lucky, but still these aren't too hard to get your hands on, and they're really fun! I think it's cool having gear that I wished I could use as a kid, even if it's obsolete now. The one hiccup with getting that camera working was I could only power it through the 4 pin XLR connector, it takes 12v and 5v if I recall. I found out the power brick from the original XBOX 360 has these voltages, so I cut the end off that and soldered on a 4pin XLR. Works great!
In early 90s I was a total video geek, owned Beta, SVHS, Laserdisc ... knew someone at TV station did a tour and saw BetacamSP and man that was the bomb! Such a beautiful picture, the slow mo or FF was flawless. Those giant editing decks with the awesome jog shuttle, press for jog, press it again for shuttle. I wanted one of those BetacamSP camcorders so badly. For awhile I bought a Panasonic F250 dock-able with the SVHS deck. 3ccd.. like a turbo V-8 to a video geek. Looked cool like media. Quickly found how unpractical it was. I had a giant 12v battery in a bag, the 4 pin connector, and the F250 weighed a ton, it hurt to carry it after awhile. But did I love that pro lens with the nice zoom rocker switches. I eventually sold it and bought the complete opposite, a tiny panasonic mini DV, still an AG model from their pro line. 3ccd.. I still have it. Been meaning to transfer home movies off it it someday. Not nearly as cool as one of those big 'tv news station' shoulder camcorders. I'm like you though, pro gear is awesome. 10 years ago I bought some used Panasonic SVHS editing decks. AG-7500. What a tank. Those awseome analog VU meters. The tape transport on the thing just a beast! Speed up, slow down, jog, shuttle, that thing could move VHS tape like nothing else. I even had an external TBC for them. Nerd city. Compare that to your $100 consumer VHS. Anyway nice video. Ain't technology something. Gear that's worthless now I'd have done anything for back then.
My friend's grandpa used to run the engineering department of the TV station I work at. He has a large collection of the older decommissioned professional camcorders from the period immediately after these, Good to know I'm probably not missing out on all that much by not asking him to mess around with them
The V-mount system is very much still in use. The shoulder pad accessory for the blackmagic ursa mini uses it, for instance. Most cinema cameras these days are just cubes you build off, but some still offer shoulder pads with v-mounts.
Funny memory perked up as you remarked about the full-size MiniDV camcorder. In the small window between tape based and fully digital ENG news gathering in 2007-2008, there was a point where (then) new full-sized JVC ProHD camcorders were purchased for a local tv station I was working for at the time. Everything was recorded onto small DVCAM (MiniDV size) videotapes and edited to Betacam SP for air. It worked as a patch before the era of full non-linear editing, but felt silly to be bumping those specific formats together. There was a momentary delay on the Sony A/B roll edit controller between the JVC ProHD DV and Sony BetaSP VTR decks that made editing in a pinch annoying, but all part of the evolution of formats. Same could be said for the 3/4", BetaSP and SVHS era.
You have great energy on-camera and you're really skilled at ad-libbing. Have you thought about shadowing a news photographer or an MMJ for a few days?
Suddenly my camera collection doesn’t seem so big 😂 It’s about 30 as I scaled back. Great video and amazing collection. Sadly due to my health I can’t lug these old units about anymore but I’d love to own some of these units. Subscribed!
I’ll still collecting old models camcorders late ‘80s, ‘90s, 2000 also. 👍 I liked to watch your video on the RU-vid. A god blessing you and stay safe 2022 years ahead. Thank you!
The purpose of dockable cameras is as you said, so they can be used for ENG or CCU/studio settings. The TV studio in my high school had Panasonic WV-D5100 dockable cameras with the CCU setup plus tally monitors (the whole shop was Panasonic, guess the rep from Secaucus got there before the rep from Park Ridge!). The whole setup likely fell out of use when costs dropped and they just integrated the CCU remote units into the camera head. With regards to standards, they were essential. Nobody is going to gain a foothold in a market like that by introducing a new connector. Even when they switched to digital video transport, SDI retained the BNC coax interconnect so studios could use existing wires. Imagine that, upgrading from composite to digital without running new wires. Panasonic did try to compete with Betacam SP with their MII format (used VHS tape shells but with metal tape component format video). Don't know what JVC was doing as I really haven't seen their pro gear in use during that time period.
Ah! A user of the d5100!! I am so curious about them! You might have noticed that I held one up at the end of this video? I bought it at a junk store a couple years ago and could not decode exactly what it was for. I thought it was an industrial camera at first, because it was so compact and came with a pan/tilt rig; then I found out it had a shoulder rig available among other things, but all the accessories look so strange. It's remarkably plasticky, yet Panasonic's pro division sold it. It lacks a ton of features from proper EFP cameras, like built in ND filters, bar generation, WB presets, zebra stripes, but Panasonic still marketed it as a field production camera. I can only find a single ad for this camera (in fact, it's predecessor, the 5000) and its in a NASA internal magazine. The verbiage is very indistinct. The only thing I think I know is that they were trying to sell a single camera "block" that could be used for any purpose, but it very much feels like they cut the cost on everything in order to make it possible - yet they continued selling these for many years it seems, so I guess it was successful? Did you like using it back in the day?
@@CathodeRayDude They were.... ok, and kinda over the hill when I used them in 1996-2000. High school kids were not easy on pro gear and maintenance was non-existent. We had an older D5000 as a spare camera #4 but rarely used it due to video output problems (the image was always blown out no matter how much white balancing and dial tweaking we did). The tally monitors did have zebra stripping and the WV-D37 RCU adapter provided color bars so you could adjust phase from the WV-RC35 RCU (which took our WJ-5600 SEG's color bar output for gen-locking and comparison). The tripods had zoom and focus controls on the handles. Given the price point and single CCD, I'd assume they were marketed for lower cost segments like our public access TV station or corporate in-house studios. Our final format was VHS to a pair of AG-6500 editors with AG-A650 controller, so quality wasn't a priority. That studio later got a SVHS upgrade with dual AG-DS545s in an A-B roll setup with a AG-DS555 recorder and AG-A850 editing controller. Special effects were provided by a WJ-MX50 and the whole works communicated by RS-422 serial.
I had almost completely forgot until this video reminded me. As a kid I got a chance to intern for a week at a small local news station. They had a completely analog editing workflow, but the machine was surprisingly easy and intuitive to use. When they were done editing the news segments, I got to try to make my own edits and get feedback. I wonder why I never got into video production after that.
MiniDV was being used even until around 2010. I was in college for video production, and all of our cameras shot onto MiniDV at 1080i anamorphic. Still totally used firewire (800) to get the signal over to our Mac's, but this didn't feel as weird to me as it does to you.
Gosh, it never occurred to me that they got 1080i on minidv. I'm suddenly enthused to get a camera that does this. Much of the weird feeling around firewire simply has to do with how I saw it - not at all, namely, except in ads and online computer help forums, since I didn't have a video camera until the 2010s.
Man I love this RU-vidr I have been trying to find a guy on RU-vid to for a really long time with decent video quality and that loves old broadcast cameras!
I have a Panasonic Varicam from 2001. Its a bazooka of a camera and shoots 720p via CCD to dvcpro tape. It uses the same XLR power cable and Anton Bauer battery mount. Its a very charming camera. It actually allows for saving your custom user configurations to SD card, which is kinda ironic given SD cards came to be an HD format. I have no practical use for the camera, but its just a great piece of history.
So just like proprietary camera mounting plates, many of the camera manufacturers did have their own battery formats. This was also the case with lens mounts before the B4 mount became the standard. Thank goodness for the V-mount, AB mount , NP1A and VCT-14 .
Awesome show and tell. I love professional video/audio equipment as well, it's so well made!! The old picture tube effects, the soft images and blurred bright lights brings me some mixed nostalgia from the 80's and early 90's, considering that my country back then had really bad times, almost all TV footage from that time period was filmed on picture tube type cameras, some really violent, thanks to Pablo Escobar, his enemies, communists guerrillas and natural disasters :-/. Those ENG cameramen were heroes with steel shoulders. Greetings from Colombia.
I think a lot of people take for granted what it took to get to where we are now with video recording! If you showed someone from 20 years ago the video what a modern smartphone can record they probably wouldn't be able to believe their eyes!
The dockable cameras allowed rental houses to buy a single camera head and multiple backs and rent them out in various configs. It also allowed you to start out with BetaSP (Sony) or SVHS (JVC) and later upgrade to Digibeta/DVCam and Digital-S/D9.
Great video. FireWire / iLink / DV / IEEE1394 as a connector on a news camera is very useful. It means that you could offload footage at full original quality from the tape directly from the camera to a laptop in the field without needing to carry a separate tape deck. You could travel very light with just a (full quality) news camcorder and a laptop in you pack, and have everything you need to offload and edit your video, that you could either FTP back to the station, or even play out, via FireWire back through the camera to tape or even over a live ENG video link (satellite or microwave). With the popularity of the DV format family (DV/MiniDV/Digital8/DVCAM/MiniDVCAM/DVCPRO [standard and large size], and the XDCAM Disc version & P2/MicroP2 versions) all using the same codec that was also universally natively supported on both Apple & Windows software and hardware, including free editing software (iMovie & Windows Movie Maker) and full support from every professional editing system. It was a heyday of digital digital video interoperability. It all just worked, even despite some mini format wars (Sony's DVCAM vs. Panasonic's DVCPRO), and it all played nice together. Another bonus working in news was that if any consumer gave you eyewitness video, it was probably on a MiniDV tape, and you could stick that tape into *any* DV system camera or deck (DVCPRO needed a mechanical adapter, the others didn't: "Full Size" DV and DVCAM decks could all also take MiniDV tapes.) And get the video off and into your system at full quality. Interoperability was key. Heck, some DVCAM & DVCPRO decks could play each other's formats too, because in the pro world, it just had to work.
I didn't realize that the DV codec went that far! Man, interoperability... what a utopian ideal. But yeah, I totally get *why* firewire was of value here, it's just strange for me because... to my eyes, DV was this thing that showed up on plasticky laptops and little tiny palmcorders, and for most of my conscious life I thought of pro video as "you shoot on a tape, you take the tape out and you hand it to the guy in the editing bay." No matter that it doesn't make any sense, that's just where I was coming from. I didn't know you could get mechanical adapters for DV - I knew that some systems supported different size tape, but I didn't think they had a VHS-C style adapter, if that's what you're describing. I'm off to locate one!
@@CathodeRayDude The only configuration that needed/worked-with an adapter was to allow a DVCPRO deck (Which used "Standard" [Medium] size tapes) to play a MiniDV [Small] tape. All full size DVCAM, and (almost?) all DV decks had transports that could handle both Standard/Medium and Mini/Small sizes on the fly. DVCPRO also came in a "Large" size, that was even bigger than "Full Size DV". And those DVC pro decks could take both Large & Medium/Standard size tapes, and Mini/Small with an adapter. DV decks could record & play back DV only, some could also play back DVCAM. DVCAM decks could always record & play back both DV and DVCAM, with separate recoding heads for both, and some could also play back DVCPRO. (The Sony DSR1500 was a universal deck that could play anything) DVCPRO decks could record & play DVCPRO, and play DV (using the DVCPRO recording heads!) & DVCAM. More info on the formats & compatibility here: www.adamwilt.com/DV-tech.html Later DVCPRO-50 and DVCPRO-HD (-100) decks where also backwards compatible with the DVCPRO/DV codec also.
@@CathodeRayDude I actually used FireWire fairly recently to offload HD MXF files from a XDCAM-HD camcorder to my laptop so I could make a backup in a remote location on a documentary shoot to an external hard drive. The connector is in the camera for DV compatibility, but Sony allows a computer to access any files in the disk through it also. Gave us great peace of mind for our valuable footage for the long trip home traveling literally in our pocket in addition to the box of discs in the back of the plane.
This is GREAT stuff. Thanks for the video. I'm just curious about one thing. The first JVC you showed is a DV500 or a DV550? I worked with a 550 in 2002/2003 and the difference to the 500 is the module with the 26 pin connector for studio. I would love to start a collection like this one but here in Brazil even old machines like those are not that cheap yet. I've worked also with JVC KY 27, KY 29D, Sony 637, D35 and D50 and Beta VTRs like BVV5 and PVV1. And I believe the VTR you showed was a professional SVHS and not a domestic VHS. Professional SVHS VTRs were capable of playing VHS tapes but not the other way around. Thank you again for showing this stuff in 2020.
I am new to your channel and maybe you explained it in a previous video but the supreme advantage of the big lenses on the old, big ENG cameras was the servo variable-rate zoom control. There is a spring-loaded rocker switch on the lens grip and you have infinite control of the zoom speed. You could also connect a remote zoom control to clamp onto a tripod handle that did the same thing. Later lenses have a user controllable knob to limit the fastest rate of zoom. Also, an extreme wide range zoom ratio lens or extreme wide-angle zoom lens would cost as much as an industrial camera, about $14,000 in 1990s dollars. A broadcast quality ENG lens could be twice the cost.
Had that exact same Manfrotto tripod in my photography class. Our teacher called it "Manschrotto" - a pun that only works in german (schrott = junk). Nice video!
Oh, thanks a lot for your dang videos. Thanks to you, I have a Sony DXC-M3 on its way to me. The only use I'll get out of it besides finding a place to mount the camera on a wall somewhere, is on the next shoot I go on, cram all my new gear into the M3 case just to see the reaction of my friends with whom I used to shoot with an M3 back in the 80s! ;-) People in my antique radio club think our interests are dying because people don't collect things older than they are, or that they didn't personally use, but you are proof that is not true. (I'm also proof, because I collect tube radios from the 1920s, but I was a child of the transistor radio era.) I enjoy your passion and your collection.
If I remember right, DVCPRO uses a *slightly* wider track width than good ol' DV. *Updated info* DV has a track width (and pitch) of 10 micrometers in SP and 6.7 micrometers in LP. DVCPRO has a track width (and pitch) of 18 micrometers. DVCPRO also runs the tape at just less than twice as fast as DV (DVCPRO tape speed is 33.82 mm/sec while DV is 18.81 mm/sec at SP I think). DV tape is ME (metal evaporated) while DVCPRO tape is MP (metal particle). Other than how the tape is made and handled, the formats are literally exactly the same thing.
Nice show! One of the reasons to split the body and the recorder is that the recorder has to be serviced after 1000 hrs and for a news station this mean once in a few months. Also, overall there were two levels of quality, called industrial and broadcast. The sets your are showing here are of the industrial standard. De price difference with the broadcast gear was huge. An Ikegami HL95 body cost in 1996 $50.000, add up with a Betacam SP BVV5 recorder (around $15.000) and you need a decent lens ($18.000). Also Ikegami had an industrial line half the price of the top broadcast series. But they did not produced the recorder docks until the introduction of DVCam and DVCPro in 2000, one peace camcorders.
An interesting thing about the interchangeability of the batteries, plugs types, power supply types, etc. that you mention or pro cameras is that we have seen that same sort of trend in the computer market, at least for desktop PC’s. So long as they are not special mini form factor PC’s they all use the same type of power cord connector (3 conductor D shape plug), same type of expansion connectors (USB), and one or both of two video connector types (HDMI or DisplayPort), Even inside, they use standard SDD connectors ands RAM types. Even many laptop these days use USB-C for charging/power instead of the older proprietary power connectors. If you build your own PC then a lot of the internal are standardized such CPU sockets (Intel vs AMD),, memory slots, power supply units and it’s Molex power connectors, the built-in ports on the motherboard, power switch, fans, and other connections on the motherboard, the MB form factor (ATX, Mini-ATX, etc.). And adaptors exists for many different connector types (VGA to HMDI, HDMI to DisplayPort, USB-A to USB-C, Thunderbolt, to USB-C, serial to USB, SCSI to USB, Parallel to USB, etc, etc. I think that all has to do with the fact that with computers the line between consumer and professional, outside of server compyters and high-end pro computer (like the Mac Pro), isn’t as great once you get outside of the extreme budget PC’s. A decent $1000 desktop PC or laptop can be used professional, by students, or by consumers, which anyone not needing a desktop machine just going with a smart phone or maybe tablet. It’s only on high-end Hollywood/TV production, especially in 4K HDR or high-end multitrack music production your would start to look $30,000 plus professional desktop PC’s.
Man I'm so jealous. My grandpa would like you. When I bought my Canon HF11 years ago, I REALLY wanted a Panny HMC150...decided to check used prices today...and they're fetching $1500 15 years later!
Don't forget to mention that these old Pro cameras could be "Genlock" together (generator locking) is a common technique where the video output of one source is used to synchronize other picture sources together" for live camera swithing ! What I like best # 1 is Live camera switching so that no editing is necessary with perfect lip sync every time. What I like best #2 is absolutely no editing when you're done with the shoot you're done ....like me using my two (2) Pro JVC KY950B Plumbicon cameras along with a Beta Hi-Fi Semi-Pro VCR and the freedom of live camera switching with a Sansui "SD" Switcher. I also made a switcher with dissolve “remote” mounted on my # 1 handheld camera so that I could run as one person with camera number two on fixed tripod...and this was all one man show with again no editing at all! I think I purchased most of this stuff around 34 years ago..but unlike today (the 2 KY950B's were pretty costly back then). I recently found most of my own old tapes from 30 to 40 years ago. My big and small DV tapes did not survive the test of time too well..But the half inch wide old Beta tapes are just fine even today. Thanks for listening Bob Horvath AND Keep up the Good Work !!
I'm new here, and I never used in-camera recorders. I did use a bunch of ENG cameras with studio kits. I did convention work, and to be behind a camera on a riser, with long glass, & be steady, one had to be comfortable. I have a 3 joint grip stick with a small Manfroto clamp on one end and a 1/4x20 camera thread on the other, and I would set the viewfinder UNDER the camera. For those vendors that had sticks (tripods) with short handles, I had extention sticks for the handles. We started with D-50s & 26 pin cables, but as soon as Triax became available, most of the 26 pin went away beause it was so unreliable. BTW, I started in the late 60's on RCA TK-60s, their last B&W studio camera that used 2 inch camera cable.
Pretty sure sony invented the quick release plate, they are called sony VCT 14. Also, the modular camera system is still used to this day, a lot of production trucks have two different "backs" on them, one in SMPTE fiber and the other Triax and maybe a couple battery mounted, so depending on the venue they go to they can change out their camera backs instead of having to switch out cameras entirely.
Loving the videos. Was expecting a pretty standard 'here's some cameras' thing, and then the 'however...' at 14:32 got me. Would have loved a little more detail on the D-sub connector. Is it an actual DC-37 or whatever, or something like it but slightly different?
Oh, I honestly have no idea but it sure looks like one. I suspect there are gobs and gobs of "nonstandard" D-subs; I've never bothered to look up whether there's an actual standard governing them.
@@CathodeRayDude Fair enough - main thing I was wondering is if it's physically compatible so you could use a standard cable to create your own crappy version of a separated camera and CCU/recorder. (I have no idea what the point would be, but it seems like a fun way to make the frankencam even more cursed).
@@anotherfex okay I gotta admit that's a cool idea. I can design PCBs - what if I made a digital recorder on a board with a little preview lcd and lithium battery? That'd be super cute and fun, and the pinout is probably out there.
@@CathodeRayDude Nice idea, though please don't go to any effort on my account! I was just idly curious about it. Thinking more I've just realised that's basically what the whole thing is intended for. Except instead of upgrading to a better tape format, you'd be upgrading to solid state recording.
