Every January 20th is celebrated as National Camcorder Day. This holiday pays homage to the self-contained portable electronic recording device known as the camcorder and celebrates all video recording devices.

Before the invention of the camcorder, it was virtually impossible for the average person to record their day-to-day life. Fortunately, this technology and the technologies that followed made it a real possibility to record our lives.

It has certainly revolutionized how we capture celebratory events and special occasions. For that reason alone, we think that this holiday is one that more people should observe when it shows up on their calendars.

The History of National Camcorder Day

Although video cameras had been around for a long time before the camcorder was released, they were large, heavy, expensive, and too technical for most people. Then Sony released the first camcorder in 1983, and everything changed.

The Betamovie BMC-100P was released, and it used a Betamax cassette and could be operated on the operator’s shoulder. That same year, the VHS-C camcorder was released by JVC. And that was the beginning of the camcorder revolution.

Of course, nowadays, camcorders have been largely replaced by other video recording devices. It’s exceptionally easy for people to capture video on all different types of digital recording devices and then upload those videos onto YouTube or other web platforms. None of that would be possible, however, without the first strides made by the release of camcorders. And for this gift, we’ll be forever thankful to them.

We would also like to acknowledge who invented National Camcorder Day, but it appears that we simply can’t find out who did it. We’ll continue to conduct our research into the matter, though, and if we find out anything new, we’ll be sure to update this section of the holiday.

Some Interesting Facts About Camcorders

Okay, let’s cover a few camcorder facts before we move on to how National Camcorder Day is celebrated. Sound good to you? If it does, then check out the following factoids.

• The last camcorders to record on tape were sold prior to 2011.
• Camcorders typically contained a lens, an imager, and a recorder.
• The first home video system was the Ampex in 1963. It weighed 100 pounds and cost over $30,000.

Observing National Camcorder Day

This is the day to pay homage to digital video recording in all its forms. We understand that most people probably don’t have access to a camcorder that they can use to record, but there’s a variety of other devices they can use on this day — from GoPros to webcams. This is also a holiday during which people can spread their love of video recording devices using the hashtag #NationalCamcorderDay on social media.