A brand name for Sony's line of compact, handheld video cameras, often used generically for any small camcorder.
Portmanteau of 'handy' and 'camera,' created by Sony in the 1980s as a trademark for their consumer video cameras. The term became genericized as these devices became popular for personal video recording.
The Handycam democratized filmmaking by putting broadcast-quality video recording into ordinary hands - suddenly, anyone could be a documentarian of their own life. The name itself is brilliantly simple marketing, combining the key selling points of portability and function in one memorable word.
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