Programming a video camera for a noob

[seldon]

Hello everyone, I have a basic (I think) question about how a consumer video camera is programmed to do what it does. The camera I have in mind is the Flip (may it rest in peace).

Ok, so I'm aware of most of the parts that go into a video camera, such as the shell, controls, lens, sensor, processor and memory(?), storage, battery, etc. What I confused about is how the information gets from the sensor to the storage device. I'm assuming it's the processor that interprets all of that data coming off the sensor, but how exactly does that happen? And what programming language is used to do it? Is it C? Or some other assembly language? And what about the onscreen prompts and menus that can be navigated through on the screen of most consumer cameras? Apologies if this sounds like a really naive question.

Thanks for you time and have a good one,
S.

 

[russ_watters]

Welcome to PF.

I can't be certain, but modern video cameras are almost certainly just simple computers, perhaps running a simple java or linux-based operating system.

 

[seldon]

Thanks for the welcome!

Yeah, I did a google search, but most of the hits I got were irrelevant.

Anyone else have any insight??

 

[Jiggy-Ninja]

You might as well be asking how a game console is programmed.

It's a very complex piece of electronics, and discussing anything more detailed than "It's a small computer" would take days.

For more information about how the light sensor creates data, read about "charge coupled devices".