Mini Digital Video Camcorder, NV-DS 11, with 400x digital zoom and 20x optical zoom, made by Panasonic, c 1990; formerly used by Education Department at National Media Museum, Bradford.

Camcorders allowed people to record their lives and interests without having to pay for broadcast-standard technology. Mini camcorders such as this example were lightweight for portability, and could record on tapes, discs or hard drives. With the development of camera phones, camcorders became largely obsolete for day-to-day recording.