I just ressurected my uncle's old camcorder.

pianoforte · Post by **pianoforte** » Sat Jan 14, 2012 7:16 pm

Wow.

I just got my uncle's old Video-8 camcorder working. It's a huge beast - It seems to have been made in the mid 1980s? - but it seems to work. Now I just need to find some tapes for it. Oh, and a working battery - it's operating from AC power right now.

pictures:

747Music · Post by **747Music** » Sat Jan 14, 2012 8:41 pm

That's pretty cool. Use it to make your Echus video.

Cupz · Post by **Cupz** » Sun Jan 15, 2012 3:18 am

that looks sexy as hell.

Post some video from it, I wanna see the quality.

Microknight · Post by **Microknight** » Sun Jan 15, 2012 3:24 am

Score!

Twoism-ist · Post by **Twoism-ist** » Sun Jan 15, 2012 5:05 am

ahhh, is this a vidicon tube camera? i absolutely love the color that comes out of these 80s home camcorders. light trails burning in all over. they make for visually amazing interior shots. home christmas footage especially, when theres all sort of bright lights to trail around

Spenner · Post by **Spenner** » Sun Jan 15, 2012 1:25 pm

Cupz wrote:that looks sexy as hell.

Post some video from it, I wanna see the quality.

pianoforte · Post by **pianoforte** » Sun Jan 15, 2012 5:08 pm

Thanks, guys, for all the interest.

I will absolutely post some video from it - but not right now, as I have yet to get the cable required to transfer the tapes to my computer (Somehow, I don't think that FireWire was around in 1986).

I'm not sure if it is a "Vidicon Tube Camera" because I have precisely no idea what a "Vidicon Tube Camera" is. But it sure is cool!

I've been shooting a bunch of footage on it - but I need to get it a battery, so I can do some in places where there is no AC power.

Xtal · Post by **Xtal** » Mon Jan 16, 2012 6:47 am

looking forward to see some footage

Cryabetes · Post by **Cryabetes** » Mon Jan 16, 2012 1:56 pm

what size tapes does it take? Hi8? full size VHS?

pianoforte · Post by **pianoforte** » Tue Jan 17, 2012 3:30 am

Cryabetes wrote:what size tapes does it take? Hi8? full size VHS?

Hi8.

pianoforte · Post by **pianoforte** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 3:57 am

edit: This video has been removed. I have recorded a (slightly) better, and (much) longer, one and have put the details in the post below this one.

pianoforte · Post by **pianoforte** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 6:22 am

I have filmed a short video on this camcorder, and uploaded it to YouTube, for anyone interested in the quality. I am unable to transfer direct from the tape at the moment due to differences in standards between the camcorder and my other equipment (Working on that...), but I have recorded a video via the viewfinder of the camcorder. The resulting clip is black-and-white and somewhat flicker-y (Difference in framerates between the camcorder and the equipment used to film the TTV video), but -- I hope -- better than nothing, and good enough to communicate the quality of the video produced by the camcorder. I will post something better when I have appropriate equipment to make a direct transfer.

For now, the link is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyfnJhQde2U

Enjoy.

-pianoforte

Cupz · Post by **Cupz** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 12:08 pm

Its got the kung-fu zoom! Awesome!

pianoforte · Post by **pianoforte** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 4:43 pm

Cupz wrote:Its got the kung-fu zoom! Awesome!

I know, right?!

pianoforte · Post by **pianoforte** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 7:26 am

Cupz wrote:that looks sexy as hell.

Post some video from it, I wanna see the quality.

Spenner wrote:
Cupz wrote:that looks sexy as hell.

Post some video from it, I wanna see the quality.

pianoforte wrote:I will absolutely post some video from it - but not right now, as I have yet to get the cable required to transfer the tapes to my computer

Xtal wrote:looking forward to see some footage

Well, I have finally managed to transfer some footage from this camcorder.

Video sample 1
Video sample 2

I will post more once I have transferred some other, higher-priority things.

Until then, enjoy what's there

bearhead · Post by **bearhead** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 9:42 am

pianoforte wrote:Wow.

I just got my uncle's old Video-8 camcorder working. It's a huge beast - It seems to have been made in the mid 1980s? - but it seems to work. Now I just need to find some tapes for it. Oh, and a working battery - it's operating from AC power right now.

pictures:

Please start making videos.

pianoforte · Post by **pianoforte** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 10:08 am

bearhead wrote:
pianoforte wrote:Wow.

I just got my uncle's old Video-8 camcorder working. It's a huge beast - It seems to have been made in the mid 1980s? - but it seems to work. Now I just need to find some tapes for it. Oh, and a working battery - it's operating from AC power right now.

pictures:

Please start making videos.

I used to do just that, a lot - I had three or four finished short film-works that I was reasonably proud of. But unfortunately, those were stored on a hard drive which is no longer operational. Once I can get that fixed, I will post whatever is worthwhile, but it will be a while before I can get that drive fixed.

Secondarily, my current computer is not powerful enough for editing purposes. It isn't a lumbering dinosaur, but it can't quite deal with video - especially not high-definition video. For the past year-1/2ish I have been doing a lot of work and saving up for an Apple iMac computer to function as an editing machine because I have lots of ideas and want to get back into film.

The only obstacle in the way of my using the aforementioned uncle's camcorder in my work is the fact that it is very hard to find a functioning battery for a camcorder manufactured in 1986 - in Europe, at that! - even a generic equivalent. Also, I wouldn't want to break it. But if I am careful, once I can find a battery I mighr start making things using it.

Another option is that I could resurrect one of the three camcorders manufactured in 1990, 1991 and 1994 which I purchased from a thrift store recently. One has a (dead) battery and charger but a currently non-functional viewfinder. One is altogether awesome (manual everything, including zoom) and has a dead battery but has no charger, and one has neither battery nor charger so is currently impossible to test.

I found a friend who is willing to 'sponser' my acquisition of video parts in exchange for lessons on setting up a website, self-hosted email, etc. so that is great for me... I'll probably get at least one of these cameras fixed via that job.

I guess I should mention that I do have an entirely functional and great Sony HDR-CX110 high-definition camcorder, as well as a Sony DCR-HC28 MiniDV camcorder which I mainly use for authoring things down to VHS, so I'm not entirely camcorderless. It's just that anything I do at this particular period in time will be -very- raw and unedited.

But anyway, that's the state of things over here. Thanks for being interested, bearhead - you're awesome

pianoforte · Post by **pianoforte** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 7:37 pm

pianoforte wrote:The only obstacle in the way of my using the aforementioned uncle's camcorder in my work is the fact that it is very hard to find a functioning battery for a camcorder manufactured in 1986 ... But if I am careful, once I can find a battery I mighr start making things using it.

pianoforte wrote:Another option is that I could resurrect one of the three camcorders manufactured in 1990, 1991 and 1994 which I purchased from a thrift store recently. ... One is altogether awesome (manual everything, including zoom) and has a dead battery but has no charger, ...

Well, I received a check from my friend, which was expressly given to me with the intention of my spending it on batteries and whatnot.

Therefore, I have just purchased three things:

1. a battery for my uncle's camcorder from 1986
2. a battery for one of the three camcorders which I purchased from a local thrift store
3. a battery charger which should be compatible with the above battery

As soon as the deluge that is these selection of packages all arrive at their destination, I should have something working long enough to start making these VHS-based films. I will keep this thread updated as necessary

Betacord · Post by **Betacord** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 11:53 pm

The footage looks pretty great to me. I like the swooshing zoom!

pianoforte · Post by **pianoforte** » Mon Oct 29, 2012 4:22 am

Betacord wrote:The footage looks pretty great to me. I like the swooshing zoom!

Yes, that is one of its better features. One of the thrift-store camcorders I mentioned earlier also has that zoom ring, which is the main reason why I am very excited about getting it working.

____twoism

I just ressurected my uncle's old camcorder.

I just ressurected my uncle's old camcorder.

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Re: I just ressurected my uncle's old camcorder.