A surgical video system 10 captures an image of a surgical procedure and displays the image on a video monitor 24 remote from the surgical procedure. The system includes at least one surgical lighthead 12, a video monitor 24, and a digital video camera 22 integrated into the surgical lighthead. The digital video camera forms part of a modular digital video camera unit 20 that is conveniently removable from the surgical lighthead so that camera units having different functionalities and capabilities can be selectively substituted as needed. A control unit 26 is operatively connected to the video camera and generates command signals that are executed by the modular camera unit to rotate the image of the surgical procedure displayed on the video monitor by at least 360.degree. and to effect image zoom operations. The control unit is responsive to input signals from multiple sources including a hand-held IR/RF remote transmitter module 38, a wall mounted keypad 30, and a footswitch 40. Associated with the control unit and the video monitor, a recorder 42 is provided for archival of video image data.