Editing Video camera (section)

{{Short description|Camera used for electronic motion picture acquisition}}
[[File:Sony Handycam DCR-SR35 20190810.jpg|thumb|A video camera manufactured by [[Sony]], part of [[Handycam]] line.]]

A '''video camera''' is an [[Optics|optical]] instrument that captures [[video]]s, as opposed to a [[movie camera]], which records images on [[Film stock|film]]. Video cameras were initially developed for the [[television]] industry but have since become widely used for a variety of other purposes.

Video cameras are used primarily in two modes. The first, characteristic of much early broadcasting, is [[live television]], where the camera feeds [[present|real time]] images directly to a screen for immediate observation.  A few cameras still serve live television production, but most live connections are for [[security camera|security]], military/tactical, and industrial operations where surreptitious or remote viewing is required. In the second mode the images are recorded to a storage device for archiving or further processing; for many years, [[videotape]] was the primary format used for this purpose, but was gradually supplanted by [[optical disc]], [[hard disk]], and then [[flash memory]]. Recorded video is used in television production, and more often [[surveillance]] and monitoring tasks in which unattended recording of a situation is required for later analysis.