A video tap is an accessory for a motion picture camera used in filmmaking to provide a video signal from the camera lens. Video taps are used to allow the film crew to see what is in the camera's frame without having to look through the viewfinder, as well as allowing video to be recorded and can be used to create an immediate rough cut, if needed. Since a video tap normally attaches to a camera's existing viewfinder using a beam splitter, the video appears dark and frame rate flicker is visible. Sometimes the tap will include frame lines and burned in timecode and keykode.
Famous quotes containing the words video and/or tap:
“I recently learned something quite interesting about video games. Many young people have developed incredible hand, eye, and brain coordination in playing these games. The air force believes these kids will be our outstanding pilots should they fly our jets.”
—Ronald Reagan (b. 1911)
“A book is like a man—clever and dull, brave and cowardly, beautiful and ugly. For every flowering thought there will be a page like a wet and mangy mongrel, and for every looping flight a tap on the wing and a reminder that wax cannot hold the feathers firm too near the sun.”
—John Steinbeck (1902–1968)