<i>Did the common camcorder suddenly become esoteric?</i>
Yes, for the most part. Along with DLSRs and point-and-shoot cameras. The smartphone has totally gutted the bottom end of the photography market. There are lots of free apps out there that make it easy to turn smartphones into USB webcams. Heck, Apple is integrating the capability into iOS later this year.
It's pretty hard to beat free, even in the surplus market. Especially when talking about 320X525i analog video. I was watching some broadcast video from the mid-1980s earlier this week and it was almost unwatchable.
<i>Did the common camcorder suddenly become esoteric?</i>
Yes, for the most part. Along with DLSRs and point-and-shoot cameras. The smartphone has totally gutted the bottom end of the photography market. There are lots of free apps out there that make it easy to turn smartphones into USB webcams. Heck, Apple is integrating the capability into iOS later this year.
It's pretty hard to beat free, even in the surplus market. Especially when talking about 320X525i analog video. I was watching some broadcast video from the mid-1980s earlier this week and it was almost unwatchable.