The invention of the first video cameras have a fascinating--and somewhat unexpected-history. Cinema has come a long, long way in the past 150 years. Maybe it's just because we're film nerds, but we're absolutely enthralled by the historic journey in which modern cameras have been developed. Keep reading for the top three most influential video cameras throughout the history of film.
1) The Horse in Motion Cabinet Cards - 1878
The evolution of cinema was kicked off by a rather unexpected question: Does a horse run with all four hooves off the ground? To determine the answer, horseman Leland Stanford commissioned photographer Eadweard Muybridge to photograph a horse while running. However, it was 1877, and even the best cameras couldn’t take discernible photos of moving subjects. Through relentless trial and error (and horse training!), Muybridge was able to capture 12 “cabinet cards”--"automatic electro-photographs" to be played in rapid succession, created with a specially-engineered electrical shutter system. When debuted in 1878, the work was considered a breakthrough success and was met with praise and wonder across the world. Today, The Horse in Motion and its surrounding body of work by Muybridge is often considered to be the birth of motion pictures. (The answer, by the way, is yes--a horse runs with all four hooves off the ground while in a gallop.)
2) The Technicolor Camera - 1932
While filmmakers had previously developed ways to add minor color to their films via tinting and painting, the Technicolor camera changed the entire world of cinema. While working at their patent firm, engineers Herbert Kalmus and Daniel Frost Comstock and mechanic W. Burton Wescott came across a flicker-free motion picture system, which sparked their interest in the creation of films. This first iteration of color film is often attributed to inventor August Plahn. Plahn had developed a camera that used a prism beam-splitter, creating the ability to expose film with both red and green filters. Kalmus and Comstock became so intrigued by this system, they set out to perfect it. Like Muybridge's work, the final iteration of the Technicolor camera required years of trial and error. By 1932, Wescott and associate Joseph A. Ball had developed a three-color beam-splitter movie camera: Technicolor as we know it today. It was costly, bulky, and required the use of more studio lighting than ever before. But it was absolute magic, as perfectly illustrated in the original Wizard of Oz.
3) The Digital Camcorder - 1983
Like The Horse in Motion process, the creation of the digital camera was not originally intended to be used for filming movies. In 1961, NASA engineer Eugene F. Lally began developing a "mosaic photosensor" that would allow astronauts to determine their location in space by taking photos of stars and planets. Unfortunately, contemporary technology was nowhere near capable of taking such photos. Fast forward (past more relentless trial and error) to 1983, when Sony released the first camcorder. The revolutionary part of the Betacam was that it eliminated the cable between camera and recorder. It used the same cassette format as Betamax, and became the standard equipment for broadcast news. The same year, Sony also released the first consumer camcorder, the Betamovie BMC-100P. The first digitally-videoed and post-produced feature was Windhorse, released in 1996. By 2017, 92% of all movies were recorded digitally, and 4K digital cameras have since become the industry standard.
Angela Wolf Video offers corporate video production services near Philadelphia, PA. Do you have a specific video question? Schedule a free video analysis call at bit.ly/callawv