The Days of The Deck

Back when I started in TV news as a Photographer, you lugged along a camera, but it wouldn’t get you very far unless you also had a “deck.”

The deck was a record deck in which you inserted a videotape to record what you were shooting. The camera, deck, tripod, and light belt clocked in at about 70 pounds of gear that you would lug around.

A far cry from the feather-light cameras of today.

Here’s an old ad from Ampex, bragging about the fact that they were able to get the record deck down to just 15 pounds.

Still far more than the entire setup that a Photographer ummmm MMJ carries around today.

Of course they also didn’t count the weight of the big hair as well.