[en] In the second half of the 1980s 8 mm film and camera production, used by the IAEA for safeguards surveillance purposes, was discontinued worldwide as so called camcorders began to dominate the market. It became clear that it would be necessary to replace all of the installed twin camera units by closed circuit television systems, which offer the following advantages over 8 mm film cameras: higher picture capacity and quality; higher light sensitivity; the possibility of date and time annotation; and a lower sensitivity to nuclear radiation. The present article describes the planning of this transition by a special working group, the development of alternative equipment for the film camera systems through the safeguards support programmes of Canada, Germany, Japan and the USA; and the progress that has been achieved so far. 4 refs, 2 figs, 1 tab