Making Video Gets Easier Every day

How Easy Can it Get?

Video recording arrived in the 1950s. Back in those days, video production was incredibly costly, time-consuming and difficult. By contrast, in this day and age, making video has become inexpensive, fast and much easier. Auto focus and image stabilization simplified shooting video, while computerized editing was perhaps the biggest single change that streamlined video editing.

Can video production get any easier? Some people imagine shooting can eventually become more automated. There are several headband and helmet cams that lead people to believe that they can shoot without a camcorder, either handheld or on a tripod. These head-mounted cameras have very small lenses. In order to shoot great video, you need a larger lens. Perhaps someone someday will develop a tiny lens that will make for an excellent-quality HD image.

When shooting video, we tend to use our hands and arms more precisely than our heads. It would be extremely difficult to execute a slow pan without a tripod, by using only a video camera on a headband. When we use our eyes and neck to follow the action of something like a basketball game, our brain accommodates for the darting and jumpy motions that our eyes see. If you were to record this with a headband video camera, it would be far inferior to the image from a camcorder on a tripod. As a POV shot to add to a traditionally-shot video piece, headband or helmet cam video can be useful. Twenty years ago, no one would have predicted something like image stabilization, so I suppose it is feasible that technology will overcome the disadvantages of a headband video camera.