minicam

/min"ee kam'/, n.

1. Television. a lightweight, hand-held television camera.

2. Photog. See miniature camera.

Also, minicamera /min"ee kam'euhr euh, -kam'reuh/.

[1935-40; MINI(ATURE) or MINI- + CAM(ERA)]

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▪ photography

      portable electronic video-camera unit. It consists of a lightweight hand-held camera, a backpack containing electronic circuitry and power supply, and a videotape cassette unit. Developed in the late 1960s, the minicam has become the main tool of television news reporting, largely supplanting the more cumbersome film-loaded motion-picture camera. The minicam enables televison reporters to provide live coverage of news events, even from remote locations, since the signal can be relayed to the studio from a mobile van equipped with a microwave transmitter. The minicam also can transmit via coaxial cable (e.g., telephone line). In other cases, the reporter may videotape an event or interview for later editing and use.

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