I am sad to learn of the death September 19 of Robert Trachinger, who was a professor at U.C.L.A., where he taught production and ethics in media for 30 years, and before then was an engineer and producer for ABC news and sports as well as documentarian. Trachinger's daughter, Mia, is a friend of mine, and I only met Robert one time -- at a birthday party for his granddather, Lotte, who is a friend of my daughter. But I have known his work for my entire life -- if not his name -- as Trachinger developed the first handheld video camera. The images we all hold in our minds of cameramen running through battlefields in Vietnam (even those of us who were too young to see them when they first were broadcast) are due to innovations by Trachinger. A note of historical interest: Trachinger was technical director for the broadcast aspects of the Kennedy-Nixon debates. His work helped change the way we all see the world.

For anyone who has shot on the Red, HVX, Mini-DV: Here's the first handheld TV camera, developed by Robert Trachinger.

*Edited post