Panning, a horizontal motion in an image display or capture.
Movie and television cameras pan by turning horizontally on a vertical axis, but the effect may be enhanced by adding other techniques, such as rails to move the whole camera platform.
In telecommunications, the term panning has the following meanings:
1. On the viewing screen of a display device, e.g., a computer monitor, horizontal shifting of the entire displayed image.
Note: The panning direction is at a right angle with respect to the scrolling direction.
2. In video technology, the use of a camera to scan a subject horizontally.
3. In antenna systems, successively changing the azimuth of a beam of radio-frequency energy over the elements of a given horizontal region, or the corresponding process in reception.
Source: from Federal Standard 1037C
In television, the term pan and scan refers to reproducing wide-screen films on narrow TV screens by selectively moving from one part of the screen as the action moves or the speaker changes.
The term panning is derived from panorama, a word originally coined in 1787 by Robert Barker for the 18th century version of these applications, a machine that unrolled or unfolded a long horizontal painting to give the impression the scene was passing by. (Barker also invented the cyclorama in which a large painting encircles an audience.)Pan and Scan
Early Technology
