Ah, the Dad with his camcorder. A perfect combination of a man delving into a new form of tech and using his family as puppets. These men were the forefathers to the younger generation’s phone camera. Their role in filming played a vital role as camera technology turned from camcorder tapes to digital cameras and phones.


“It’s the 3rd of August. Day three of our holiday in – oh would you look at that! Tom! Turn to the camera. Turn to the camera. Give a little wave at the camera. Oh! Tom has found a tiny seashell.


Well done, champ.”


We’ve seen it, we’ve all heard it, and we might have even experienced it. The audio commentary of a dad turning on his camcorder to record (what he would like to believe to be) a historical document of his holiday. The David Attenborough of Tenerife: his camera skills have mastered the art of zooming and panning across windy shots of the family unwillingly filmed. It is a masterful art. A talent concocted from impeccably awful timing, such as capturing your wife just when she is hit on the head by a beach volleyball.


An art form bestowed upon a few men; his face is never on video, but boy, does he make his presence heard. This dad is an outlier in the family. He stands apart from the group holding the camera and embraces his audience with an audio track scripted by his free-flow thought. Overlaying every video shot is a running commentary of a dad who has no intention to help slather his children in sun cream or catch his three-year-old pelting it down the beach.


“And wow, would you look at our little Tommy run. He gets those legs from me.”


Now don’t get me wrong; these dads do engage with their children from time to time.


Captured inside a few of his camcorder tapes are sports days hardly watched due to the shaky-camera footage and inaudible shouting from the man watching his child lose every race. Now, they have been digitised and poorly edited as a Chariots of Fire inspired YouTube video to share with the rest of the family, much to his child’s dismay.


Nevertheless, his transferred camcorder tapes to digital videos will be shining in all their glory when those 18th birthdays arrive.


Alas, let us not forget those brave fathers embracing the front of the camera.


You will usually find these dads in fairgrounds, mainly riding the dodgems. Their knees protrude from the vehicle, and their large arm casually slung around the squished tot beside them. This ride is for dads. Screw the other kids around them; no child will be hitting this car.


This Dad will reverse out of the tight parking spot the previous child left the dodgem car. Then, with his sporting prowess in full flow, he’ll spin the car around, simulating a handbrake turn and weave between the other kids flying around the arena.


Meanwhile, the camera shows him spelling out the highway code to his daughter sitting beside him. She waves to the camera, utterly naive about her dad hogging the wheel.


Gift your dad the memories you made together this Father’s Day. Digital Converters are now offering a 25% discount towards converting your dad’s camcorder tapes to digital.


Please see our Convert Camcorder to DVD and Camcorder to USB pages if you're interested in converting your old camcorder tapes to these formats.