Using Old VHS Cameras in 2020!

How to use old VHS cameras for modern retro videos! Can these old VHS cameras be upgraded for filming in today’s digital world? Let’s find out!

Rode VideoMic NTG

Rode Wireless GO

Special Microphone Attenuator Cable

Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
1:02 Finding a VHS Camera
2:45 Using VHS Tapes
3:08 Powering VHS Cameras
3:43 Using VHS Cameras
5:11 Importing and Converting VHS Video
5:38 Audio Upgrades
7:02 Adding a Monitor
8:06 External Recorders
8:48 Final Thoughts and Footage

DISCLAIMERS:

This video was not paid for by outside persons or manufacturers.
No gear was supplied to me for this video.

The content of this video and my opinions were not reviewed or paid for by any outside persons.

[nicholasboule]

"but we ALL know it's not really the same thing"

Amen

[curtisjudd]

Hahaha! This was rad! I remember "filming" my brother carrying the Olympic torch for the 1984 Olympics on a rented VHS camera which had a separate tape unit with a shoulder strap. I had to run a full kilometer with that beastly kit. What memories!

[mattdayphoto]

As someone that stills shoots mostly film when it comes to photography, I’m loving these videos!

[KnapfordMaster]

Extremely important to remember that all of this footage is interlaced, that means 60 fields per second. A lot of modern tech will just throw away half of the fields to give you 30 progressive (or God forbid you capture at 24). If you capture the original 60i signal, and deinterlace it properly, you can get 60p out of it.

Just thought I would mention that since most filmmakers don’t know about interlaced these days.

[ElishaZakai]

keep up the older camera reviews they r dope!

[Levibetz]

One tip for ripping footage. Often times with VHS tapes you may struggle with dropped or black frames. This is due to analog video not being fixed in time scale. A trick is to source a DVD-VHS recorder, the sort of device that allowed you to rip VHS tapes to DVDs. These devices will have a built in time correction, and their video outputs will rip flawlessly! Happy VHS-ing.

[SyntheticFuture]

Being part of the last generation that actually experienced this level of tech it is heartwarming to see it getting it's little revival moment. There's something special about using old tech. Be it an old synthesizer, an old photo or video camera or a old gaming console. Yes you can emulate the results, but you can't emulate the experience :)

[tubetype]

aren't you the guy who stole the chipmunks

[AwesomeGuy-oyfe]

There's just something so genuine about old video tape. Most my my childhood was filmed on MiniDV, so a little different from VHS, but regardless, these videos just have so much charisma to them.

[AdamsLab]

For me, as much as I love clean and clear audio, the cleaner audio from the external mics ruins the "illusion" of the VHS. I'd probably record with the external mic (or external recorder) and then "dirty" it up to maintain the VHS feel.

[anthonyperkins]

The best ever domestic full sized VHS camcorder towards the end of Panasonic's VHS era was the NV-M10.

It combined reasonable quality VHS pictures with excellent sounding HiFi VHS Stereo sound delivered through a superb omnidirectional stereo AV zoom microphone that allowed you to capture the sound of your subject as you zoom in resuming normal stereo sound as you zoom out along with a set Tele mode for specifically capturing sound from the front diluting the stereo effect somewhat and a Wide mode keeping the big stereo sound field in addition to the Zoom mode.

If you want to abandon the built-in stereo microphone and use your own external stereo microphone, you may do so as it came equipped with a stereo mic socket plus a built in accessory shoe to mount it on.

It also could be linked up to a compatible Panasonic VCR by a LANC lead to easily edit your videos to a second VHS tape.

It also had insert edit using the picture and Hi-Fi Stereo tracks in-camera for drop-in shots through the lens and it also had audio dub using the linear mono track (using the built in or an external microphone) for a touch of creativity plus a sound mix switch to combine the two HiFi and mono tracks on playback.

It didn't like using standard grade VHS tapes like TDK HS or Scotch HG as these would clog the video heads easily but it liked Super High Grade VHS tape / Extra High Grade VHS tapes plus HiFi Grade VHS tapes and Pro Grade VHS tapes such as TDK E-HG, TDK SHG HiFi, 3M Professional, 3M Broadcast, BASF HiFi Professional, Maxell XL-HiFi, Sony V-Pro, Fuji Double Coated SHG, Fuji Double Coated SHG Pro, TDK E-HG Pro-X and similar.

[rxgtv]

I like the fact that these have better mics than most phones/cameras these days...

[yousefabdulrhman]

When a 1987 camera have better autofocus than the bmpcc.

[LenKusov]

Good primer, but as someone who regularly uses a (one year newer) Panasonic camcorder for videos, I've got some pointers.
First, not all tapes are created equal - Maxell is better than Fuji, is better than TDK, and High Grade tapes are noticeably better than Standard, and quality degrades as you tape over things, so Maxell High Grade is my go-to and I have about a dozen I cycle through.
Second, CALIBRATE YOUR CAPTURE STICK, the default settings are terrible. Get something with composite output (I used an Xbox) that can display SMPTE colorbars and use those to tweak settings from the drivers. Then throw out the CD it came with and use VLC, with all the video noise reduction settings maxed and a little bit of Sharpen, and NO DEINTERLACING. Also, if you can, either record from S-Video instead of composite or get something like a WinTV card that's got a real comb filter, EZCap and knockoffs just low-pass filter it so you get NTSC smearing ON TOP OF VHS artifacts.
Third, CLEAN YOUR TAPE HEADS, most cameras don't have self-clean rollers like VCRs do, get a cleaning tape and some 91% rubbing alcohol and run it through every 3 or 4 full tapes or whenever the artifacting starts to get worse or the noise starts getting past VLC's denoising.
Finally, if you can, play back the tapes on a machine with time-base correction - Panasonic (and Magnavox, Sylvania, and GE, since those are all rebranded Panasonics) cameras have TBC built in but a cheaper camera, VHS-C camera, or a tape recorded on a different machine will tend to have issues with 'wobble' and framerates that aren't quite right, so a good 4-head or 6-head VCR will improve quality by a lot, some even have digital noise reduction and filters built in and many have S-Video.

[MuhammadFloyd]

These DIY kind of stuff is the kind of stuff that made me love this channel so much. I like the other content a lot but the DIY stuff is the most unique to this channel!

[Patrick-jjnh]

The lenses in some of these old cameras are the real gem. Some incredible constant zoom lenses...

[johnward]

I recorded Christmas morning with a vhs camcorder this past December. I’m not sure how much the rest of my family appreciated it but I found the footage really fun and interesting

[HusseinKefel]

You just rolled my memories back then in 1987, this was my first VHS camera and I loved it at the time. I kept learning and shooting with it all the time. This was a fantastic video camera in those days. Thank you for sharing these videos

[RyanMichaelss]

2:04 "Because they just make me sad" 😂

[christosvolikakis]

Brings back so many memories – I love this! The old scotch tape over the VHS cassette tab trick -when did I f**in become ancient! 😂