2010 seems to be the year of HD camcorders. Add-on features are offered in the entire price spectrum. Tape-less and interchangeable lens are no longer considered exclusive. A wide variety of options and features allow creating high quality video projects to capture sporting activities news, programs, and events and are even used for business purposes. The HD camcorders are clicking themselves to growth and vendors are innovating on design, functionality, technology and even tweaking price to attract buyers.

Though the recession had diluted demand in 2009, the launch of highly feature-rich camcorders at competitive prices for all segments is likely to set the stage for future growth in not just the cinematography segment, but also broadcast television. The ENG and field production sector continues to experience an increasing influx of a large spectrum of tape-less products in HD. While some regions are already ahead of the curve, having adopted HD camera systems, several broadcasters are gearing up to upgrade to digital and HD acquisition products over the next three to four years.

Nowadays, professionals have access to a highly evolved digital workflow of products (including ingest, processing, and export) that is compatible with new format cameras. The credit goes to the availability of supporting technologies; the demand for professional digital cameras does not stop with just HD tapeless recording abilities. Digital technology is lowering the barriers to entry and increasing competition. Successful pro photographers in the future will have more automated workflows from capture through publishing, establish a strong web presence, and diversify their offering to include more post-capture products and services.

Major players like Canon, Hitachi, Ikegami, JVC, Panasonic, Sony and Thomson Grass Valley are betting big on the Indian market and rolling out products in quick succession. As the players continue to innovate at a furious pace and product life cycles become shorter, the world of photography is going through a period of metamorphosis. Given the rapid digitalization of business environments, digital camcorders are expected to replace conventional, analog cameras over the next 5-6 years. In developed economies like Singapore, Japan and the US, 50 percent of the total camcorder market (by value) has already shifted to digital camcorders. In India, the digital camcorder market is growing at 77 percent per year.