Screenshot kits were available for standard (film) cameras that included a long antireflective hood to attach between the screen and camera lens, as well as a closeup lens for the camera. Most screenshots are raster images, but some vector-based GUI environments like Cairo are capable of generating vector screenshots. Systems with composite video output could be connected to a VCR, and entire screencasts preserved this way. Some systems had a BSAVE command that could be used to capture the area of memory where screen data was stored, but this required access to a BASIC prompt.
Sometimes text-only screens could be dumped to a text file, but the result would only capture the content of the screen, not the appearance, nor were graphics screens preservable this way. Through the 1980s, computer operating systems did not universally have built-in functionality for capturing screenshots. The first screenshots were created with the first interactive computers around 1960. Screenshot techniques Digital techniques
