Camcorders: did your family use one?

[wanderings]

Or a cine-camera? It's occurred to me that neither camcorders nor cine-cameras have been mentioned much on nostalgia threads.

Of course camcorders still exist, but nowadays, we're used to it being very easy to take a quick on-the-spot video with a camera phone, and to find it again when you want to show it, and of course to share it with the rest of the world. My parents were very big on ordinary photos and albums, which they still use with much dedication. I remember trying to persuade them to buy a camcorder in the 1990s; perhaps I was hoping to appear on You've Been Framed. But they flatly refused to go down this road, citing not only the cost, but also the effort of editing and watching; you would have to dig out the tapes, find the right recording, sit down to watch it in real time. I think they had memories of their parents trying to set up the cine-projector, and I think they found other people's videos incredibly boring, especially if they were not edited. Editing home videos was trickier in the 90s and earlier!

If your family had a camcorder, how often was it used? And would the videos be watched much? If they're still around, are the videos valuable to you?

My parents had a camcorder. Judging by the billion vhs tapes we have, it was used regularly!

There’s a lot of footage of my older siblings, and me up until around age 6/7. We’ve even got a video of my birth (not the business end thank god).

Mum wants to get them put onto disc. We do watch them now and again, but it’s not convenient on tape. Mostly we laugh at the several school plays obscured by the lens cap 😂

Got one when DS was 12 weeks old and have countless hours of calling his name to get him to look at the camera. Also have quite a bit of film featuring both my parents and PIL which is great as they are no longer with us. Also brilliant Disney holiday footage.
Had them all put onto disc when videoplayers became obsolete but I suppose it's only a matter of time until discs can't be played. Think I better get them out this winter and wallow in the past.

My grandparents had a cine camera and took hours of film of my cousins when they were small (late 1960s). By the time I arrived in 1970 they'd tired of it so I don't think there's any of me, or my younger cousin.

My mum has all the cine film but the camera and projector are broken so we have no way of viewing the films. We keep meaning to get round having it digitised but not done it yet.

I bought a camcorder with my annual bonus the summer before ds1 was born, and there's hours of video of him, and ds2 that we drag out on birthdays. Poor old ds3 is 11 and has nowhere near as much footage as, although we had camera phones by then, we were too bloody exhausted to remember to use them. Ds1 is 18 this year and I'm planning a lovely video montage for him 😂.

My parents had a video camera, it was massive. My dad used to video everything - I'd be about 10or so when he first bought it. I'm 49 now.

He videoed both my kids too (now 18 & 15) and I LOVE watching them as babies and toddlers.

My treat to myself a few years ago was a set or wires and software that meant I could turn my vhs/camcorder tapes into mp4 format. I found loads of holiday footage inc if my late ddad and lots of dd1 when she was very little. Well worth it, and all backed up now on my hard drive and laptop.

Thanks for your replies so far. I keep wondering if I missed out much through not having had a camcorder.

So anyone got any idea how you can get what you actually want off the camcorder and put it onto a more convenient medium ? Or indeed taking things off VHS @DrMadelaineMaxwell

Any hints ?

Thank you - seriously, any advice would b appreciated.

We had (and still have) a vhs player/recorder. I never got the trick of using it for recording straight onto CD but it took the red/yellow etc pins that would go into the back of the camcorder itself. You could then plug the camcorder directly in and record it onto VHS.

With this
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01D9T8E1U/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?psc=1&tag=mumsnetforum-21&ie=UTF8

we were able to play the camcorder straight into the VHS player and the cable/software then put it straight into the laptop and recorded it onto MP4.

We did, it's hilarious watching the videos back and hearing snippets of conversations at family gatherings and seeing the clothes but it's also nice seeing grandparents and relatives who've passed away.

My DM got them put onto dvd but the epic feature film of "Barbie and action man on the cable car with other miscellaneous characters from the toy box" directed by me and my DB was lost. We were gutted, we're sure it was amazing DB did end up working in TV and film though so I suppose at least it helped with that!

No. Not surprising as my parents only got a video player in about 1998 (because everyone else was throwing them away so they were cheap) and still had a black and white tv till the end of the 80s.

we had camcorders - recorded through the nineties until about 2004 when we turned into sulky teenagers! lots of family holidays, school plays, and every Christmas morning.
We had them put onto dvds a few years ago but am bearing in mind these will need to be upgraded soon.
We don't tend to re-watch them very often at all but it will be nice to have them to show future children/nieces and nephews.
There is something special about video footage compared to just photos, I think. It's weird to hear 'your' voice in a child's pitch!

Thank you Dr MadelineMaxwell