Video cameras in the past relied on magnetic tapes (VHS, VHS-C, Super 8mm, MiniDV, etc.), and as a result had to be built large enough to accommodate the size of the tape - not to mention being limited in the storage space due to the physical form factor of the cassette being used. Today's cam's use built-in hard drives, spin mini-DVD discs and even use flash memory ("Look Ma, No Moving Parts!"). But the majority of new camcorders today rely on memory cards as the blank media purchased for either supplementing internal memory or acting as the main reservoir for the video being shot.

DV Tape

Yes, DV tape is still being manufactured because there are thousands of miniDV and HDV camcorders still in use, and some manufacturers, while not making new designs, still carry older versions of miniDV camcorders. Canon's GL2 is a classic example, introduced in the early 2000s, you can still buy them and users swear by them. MiniDV tapes have a lot of good reasons to still be around, they are great little archive tools for raw footage that you don't want to compress like you would with a DVD, and if you run out of card or drive space, you can always dump your raw files to miniDV and it'll be good for a long long time.

Memory Cards

Memory cards have a lot going for them when it comes to their use as the blank media for a video camera - on a purely size aspect they're small enough to never be any farther away than on a desk or shelf, or in a drawer, purse or backpack. They're durable, shock-resistant and hard to damage (at least, if you practice a modicum of common sense when handling them). Designed to only be inserted correctly, you really have to try hard to mess up inserting one and about the only disadvantage is that there's always that moment when you kick yourself for not getting the one with the greater storage capacity than the one you're holding right now.

So what's the catch? How about the fact that there's more than one type of memory card you can get - quite a few of them in fact. Passing over the fact that not every memory card will work in every video camera, the size of the card itself becomes an issue -- as does its data capacity and the physical speed at which it can accept and transfer video data (faster always being better, for sure). Knowledge may be power, but having a basic understanding of the types of memory cards that can be used as blank media in a video camera is just plain vital. So peruse and choose wisely.

CompactFlash (CF)

If we were beatniks, we'd say "CF is really square, man." One long edge provides plenty of connector space and in the world of retro, CF rules. Or call it CF Type I since CF Type II exists, but mainly as a shell for holding a Micro-drive or WiFi electronics. Type I is svelte enough, but it's still chunky gravy compared to the miniscule depth of its competition. Manufacturers include SanDisk, Transcend, Kingston, and Lexar among others.
Capacity: up to 128GB
Read/Write Transfer Speed: Varies depending upon card types with standard CF cards averaging around 30MB read/write speeds.
Cost: Retail prices range from just over $10 to more than $1,000.
Pro: High compatibility and availability
Con: Larger form factor unsuitable for smaller devices.

Secure Digital (SD)

Rather than having come to life on its own, some kudos must be given to the MMC (multimedia card) that never quite caught on. The nifty thing you will notice if you look closely is that there's a sliding tab that will lock out data from being put on the card. Reverse its position to eliminate the function. Manufacturers include SanDisk, Kingston, Transcend, Fujifilm among others.
Capacity: up to 2GB
Read/Write Transfer Speeds: Speeds average at about 6 MB per second.
Cost: Retail prices range from a couple of dollars to over $50
Pro: Inexpensive and widely available
Con: Rapidly being "eaten" away by the higher capacity SDHC model. Low capacity of the cards compared to CF. Locking tab requires very tiny fingers to operate.