Definition: You may have heard the term "virtual camera" bruited about and visualized an actual little camera inside your computer, complete with shutters and flash. While the image is a little off, virtual cameras do perform many of the same functions as physical video and still cameras.
Used most often in 3D animation (but also quite prevalent in digital 2D), the virtual camera is the mechanism within the program that captures the field of view for your scene. You may have a large number of objects within your scene, but the camera view shows the actual visible area that will render in your final scene - much as real-life cameras don't always capture all of the set, but instead the area of the set that's currently most relevant to the scene.
Just like with physical cameras, virtual cameras can pan, zoom, change focus, fade, and numerous other functions...as well as multiple interesting effects that real cameras can't mimic until post-production special effects are added.
