how to repair video camera

ideo cameras, once a luxury, are relatively commonplace--especially at youth sporting events. Your authors have countless hours of long-forgotten high school baseball, football, track, cross-country, swimming, and other events packed away somewhere. We've had a few problems with video cameras over the years, so we know how to do some basic repairs--and how to maintain them to avoid having to fix them.

How Does It Work?

Components of a typical video camera.

A video camera, also called a camcorder, is a portable television camera combined with a video recorder. The camera section has a lens and special charge-coupled device or CCD (a microchip with thousands of tiny light-sensitive elements containing photodiodes). The CCD separates the picture into three color images using red, green, and blue color filters over adjacent light-sensitive elements. In the recorder section, the video signal from the CCD and sound signal from the video camera's microphone are recorded on tape in the same way that a video recorder records sound. The signal is either analog (older) or digital (newer). The tape format may be VHS, VHS-C or 8 millimeter, but otherwise video cameras are very similar in function, maintenance, and repair.

Fix-It Tip
Some so-called problems are caused by built-in safety devices. For example, many video cameras will refuse to work if an internal sensor says that the air is too moist or dusty. In fact, a warning image may show up on the viewfinder or screen. If so, change conditions (if possible) before attempting to video. Canned air can assist the process.