Are vintage TV /video cameras a thing of interest?

[Dave A]

Panasonic PK-200 (maybe 300 later) is the twin. Look for the UV filter contamination in front of the tube before you buy any. You cannot fix it.

[MIPS]

I've rented consumer grade tube cameras out before because compared to later 80's stuff it's been considerably more robust and reliable and while we are finally starting to age out of that futurewave 80's vibe that was going on for the last few years there was some of the smarter folks who knew that the best way to make something look like it was recorded on an 80's video camera is to use an actual camera from the era, not a combination of awful filters and VHS tracking noise effects that looked like you bought the cheapest piece of garbage VCR at Crazy Eddie's.

[Tube TV]

Originally Posted by Dave A

Panasonic PK-200 (maybe 300 later) is the twin. Look for the UV filter contamination in front of the tube before you buy any. You cannot fix it.

I'm glad you brought this up cause I've seen this before and thought that's what it was. There's a CC-001 on ebay that has pretty extreme clouding. Seller is asking $159.00 for it. Lol.


By the look of the rust on the chrome washer on microphone jack at the back of the camera it was likely stored in a humid location.

Now that I know it's a common issue I'll be asking for photo's with the lens removed before I purchase. No point on getting stuck with a dead horse and the only repair would be to hunt down a replacement vidicon tube which would be likely hard to find.

[Dave A]

What you see is the problem on the 001/002. But it is not on the tube, it is on a small glass plate mounted just in front of the tube. It can be replaced or maybe fashion a new one with good filter material.

Another trick is a hidden AGC switch. I forget how it is set from the factory but you can get to it from the outside. It is behind the top (left I think but I don't have mine nearby) air vents. You can see it from the outside. Just break out a vent plastic rib so you can get a small screwdriver through and change it. I think it is meant to AGC a cheap lens that does not have an iris control. Do this with the power off. It does have some high voltages.

[Pio1980]

Camera observations;
All of the several Newvicon cameras I've randomly accumulated are defective one way or another. Otoh, all of the Hitachi/RCA CCD cams including those from rough storage with mildewed lenses have been otherwise perfectly fully functional.

[Tube TV]

Originally Posted by Pio1980

Camera observations;
All of the several Newvicon cameras I've randomly accumulated are defective one way or another. Otoh, all of the Hitachi/RCA CCD cams including those from rough storage with mildewed lenses have been otherwise perfectly fully functional.

Yeah tube cameras are a crapshoot. CCD seems to be far more forgiving. I think a lot of them are suffering from bad electolytics considering most are upward of 40 years old. And dirty adjustment pots seems like another possiblity. There's around 30+ adjustment pots in a Newvicon camera, and around the same for color vidicon cameras.

My second Panasonic PV-200D was like that. I got it and the colors were dead on, and then after a while it started bleeding green on anything bright. I dialed it back in and it's been stable with the exception a bit of discoloration on the left edge of the view. I still want to write out a full capacitor list for it and recap the whole camera board.

I lucked out on a Panasonic PK-755 that's close to NOS and it has color that's so nice that you'd swear it's from a much later CCD camera. The only thing I have to replace is the IR cut filter as it was clouded over. It seems to be working nice without it.

[B 4204 T3]

I'm reviving this topic because I want to share my story with video cameras.



Back when I was a kid, my Dad made a lot of home movies on VHS & 8 mm cameras. They were usually of special occasions, like Christmas & birthday parties of myself & my two brothers. His first movie camera was a General Electric hand-held camera from the mid 1980s, which connected to a portable General Electric top-loading VHS VCR with an EIAJ cable & socket which connected to a separate external power supply. I think it could also be operated with a large nickel-cadmium battery pack. It had a special feature where you could make a movie with a date & time displayed on the screen, or just the date if you wanted to, or turn it off & just make the movie itself. With his camera, the date & time were displayed in the upper left-hand corner of the screen, and the date alone was displayed in the lower right-hand corner of the screen.



In 1989, he upgraded to a Panasonic Omnimovie VHS camcorder which just used either the external power supply or the nickel-cadmium battery pack. The picture and sound quality that this camera produced was much better than the General Electric camera. He used it for the same home movies of our special occasions, and it was a good camera. It also had the same option of having the date or the date & time displayed on the movie. They were both displayed in the lower left-hand corner of the screen.



In 1996, my Dad bought a Sony Handicam 8mm hand-held camera with a screen on the left side of it which popped out and showed the image being recorded. He used a lot for the next three years, and then he gave it to me. It produced excellent picture and sound quality. Once again, this camera also had the date & time display feature. I still have it in storage, but I haven't used it in years, so I don't know if it still works.



I still have all of the tapes of my family's movies, and a few years ago, I made copies of all of them on blank DVD+R discs. They are fun to watch and reminisce about. Today, I don't make very many movies, but I still have a lot of nostalgia for old video cameras & electronics.



I own two old movie cameras, but I don't use them very often. One of them is a Sony Betamovie camcorder, model BMC-110, from the mid 1980s. According to the owner's manual, it uses a 1/2" SMF Trinicon tube. I bought it from a thrift store back in 2016 with all of the original accessories, manuals, paperwork, and large Sony model LC-710 carrying case still included. I've used it a few times, making a few movies around my house. It works well & produces a good picture, but the issue I have is that the old Sony model NP-11 nickel-cadmium battery packs don't work any more. I've connected them to the old Sony model AC-M110 AC power adapter/battery charger, but they won't charge.



The other old video camera I own is an RCA model CKC 020 hand-held video camera from the mid 1980s. It was a Craigslist find from back in 2010 with just the camera, and none of the accessories for it, so I've never been able to use it, and I've just kept it in my drawer ever since then. I think it's a VHS camera, since RCA was a supporter of VHS in the 1970s & 1980s, instead of Betamax, and it's a camera which also connects to a VCR with an EIAJ cable. I really don't know very much about this camera, but I recently saw a You Tube video of an old TV advertisement from the mid-1980s for it starring the late David Oreck as the celebrity spokesman. He is attending a wedding in the advertisement.



Two months ago, I found the exact same model of General Electric portable top-loading VHS VCR that my family used to have for sale at an electronics recycling facility, and I bought it. Right now, I'm working on restoring it, and I'm thinking of looking for the original camera that came with it, which my Dad had when I was little. I don't know the exact model of the camera that we had, but I've been looking for information about it. From what I can tell from my online research, it must have been either a General Electric model 1CVC5033E or a 1CVC5034E from the mid 1980s. I've also determined that it requires the General Electric power supply model 1CVA505, which I'm also looking for, along with the owner's manual for them. Another fact I found was that the old General Electric cameras use a Newvicon pickup tube.



I'm sorry for writing this lengthy personal narrative, but I wanted to share my experience with old movie cameras with the vintage electronics community. In addition, if any one knows anything about any of the cameras I wrote about, or can offer any suggestions to me about using or working on repairing any of them, then I would be very thankful.

[B 4204 T3]

I'm reviving this topic because I want to share my story with video cameras.



Back when I was a kid, my Dad made a lot of home movies on VHS & 8 mm cameras. They were usually of special occasions, like Christmas & birthday parties of myself & my two brothers. His first movie camera was a General Electric Performance hand-held camera from the mid 1980s, which connected to a portable General Electric Performance top-loading VHS VCR with an EIAJ cable & socket which connected to a separate external power supply. I think it could also be operated with a large nickel-cadmium battery pack. It had a special feature where you could make a movie with a date & time displayed on the screen, or just the date if you wanted to, or turn it off & just make the movie itself. With his camera, the date & time were displayed in the upper left-hand corner of the screen, and the date alone was displayed in the lower right-hand corner of the screen.



In 1989, he upgraded to a Panasonic Omnimovie VHS camcorder which just used either the external power supply or the nickel-cadmium battery pack. The picture and sound quality that this camera produced was clearer than the General Electric camera. He used it for the same home movies of our special occasions, and it was a good camera. It also had the same option of having the date or the date & time displayed on the movie. They were both displayed in the lower left-hand corner of the screen.



In 1996, my Dad bought a Sony Handicam 8mm hand-held camera with a screen on the left side of it which popped out and showed the image being recorded. He used a lot for the next three years, and then he gave it to me. It produced excellent picture and sound quality. Once again, this camera also had the date & time display feature. I still have it in storage, but I haven't used it in years, so I don't know if it still works.



I still have all of the tapes of my family's movies, and a few years ago, I made copies of all of them on blank DVD+R discs. They are fun to watch and reminisce about. Today, I don't make very many movies, but I still have a lot of nostalgia for old video cameras & electronics.



I own two old movie cameras, but I don't use them very often. One of them is a Sony Betamovie camcorder, model BMC-110, from the mid 1980s. According to the owner's manual, it uses a 1/2" SMF Trinicon tube. I bought it from a thrift store back in 2016 with all of the original accessories, manuals, paperwork, and large Sony model LC-710 carrying case still included. I've used it a few times, making a few movies around my house. It works well & produces a good picture, but the issue I have is that the old Sony model NP-11 nickel-cadmium battery packs don't work any more. I've connected them to the old Sony model AC-M110 AC power adapter/battery charger, but they won't charge.



The other old video camera I own is an RCA model CKC 020 hand-held video camera from the mid 1980s. It was a Craigslist find from back in 2010 with just the camera, and none of the accessories for it, so I've never been able to use it, and I've just kept it in my drawer ever since then. I think it's a VHS camera, since RCA was a supporter of VHS in the 1970s & 1980s, instead of Betamax, and it's a camera which also connects to a VCR with an EIAJ cable. I really don't know very much about this camera, but I recently saw a You Tube video of an old TV advertisement from the mid-1980s for it starring the late David Oreck as the celebrity spokesman. He is attending a wedding in the advertisement.



Two months ago, I found the exact same model of General Electric portable top-loading VHS VCR that my family used to have for sale at an electronics recycling facility, and I bought it. Right now, I'm working on restoring it, and I'm thinking of looking for the original camera that came with it, which my Dad had when I was little. I don't know the exact model of the camera that we had, but I've been looking for information about it. From what I can tell from my online research, it must have been either a General Electric Performance model 1CVC5033E or a 1CVC5034E from the mid 1980s. I've also determined that it requires the General Electric power supply model 1CVA505, which I'm also looking for, along with the owner's manuals for them. Another fact I found was that the old General Electric cameras use a Newvicon pickup tube.



I'm sorry for writing this lengthy personal narrative, but I wanted to share my experience with old movie cameras with the vintage electronics community. In addition, if any one knows anything about any of the cameras I wrote about, or can offer any suggestions to me about using or working on repairing any of them, then I would be very thankful.

[Tube TV]

That a nice bit of camera history. The GE units were mostly made by Panasonic. I've got a GE that's the same as the Panasonic PV-200d. I always like the Newvicon tubes with their greenish comet trails.

[ARC Tech-109]

Those blue skylight filters are also found on the later Sony DXC and DXC-D cameras and they're actually made of fluroite not to mention a great pain to deal with. I tried to post a picture here but the server isn't accepting anything greater than 150kb... I have nothing that will go below 1mb in file size.

[DVtyro]

Originally Posted by B 4204 T3

In 1996, my Dad bought a Sony Handicam 8mm hand-held camera with a screen on the left side of it which popped out and showed the image being recorded. He used a lot for the next three years, and then he gave it to me. It produced excellent picture and sound quality.

It was silly to buy an 8-mm camcorder in 1996 considering that DV launched a year earlier. I hope it was at least a Hi8 one.

[Penthode]

Swinging away from consumer cameras, I was given an early RCA TK30 broadcast camera chain about 20 years ago. The chain includes the camera head, Camera Control Unit and Power Supply. It is minus the Sync Pulse Unit but I have an older Grass Valley Sync Pulse generator which provides the various pulses it requires. I need however to build a DC level shifter and amplifier to provide the exact pulse amplitude and phase.

I have picked up a few 1850 Image Orthcon tubes for is some of which were attested good years ago. I long ago picked up a new old stock camera cable cheaply from the former Gateway Electronics store in St Louis. The cable was intended for later IO cameras. The TK30 required over a thousand volts for the dynodes in the tube and included a speciallially insulated wire for it in the original cable. I plan to incorporate a HV supply local to the camera head.

I also have a Houston Fearless tripod and dolly for the head.

I dont know if any of you have an interest in these things.

[old_tv_nut]

Always interesting to see these work again.

[Pio1980]

Originally Posted by B 4204 T3

I'm reviving this topic because I want to share my story with video cameras.



Back when I was a kid, my Dad made a lot of home movies on VHS & 8 mm cameras. They were usually of special occasions, like Christmas & birthday parties of myself & my two brothers. His first movie camera was a General Electric hand-held camera from the mid 1980s, which connected to a portable General Electric top-loading VHS VCR with an EIAJ cable & socket which connected to a separate external power supply. I think it could also be operated with a large nickel-cadmium battery pack. It had a special feature where you could make a movie with a date & time displayed on the screen, or just the date if you wanted to, or turn it off & just make the movie itself. With his camera, the date & time were displayed in the upper left-hand corner of the screen, and the date alone was displayed in the lower right-hand corner of the screen.



In 1989, he upgraded to a Panasonic Omnimovie VHS camcorder which just used either the external power supply or the nickel-cadmium battery pack. The picture and sound quality that this camera produced was much better than the General Electric camera. He used it for the same home movies of our special occasions, and it was a good camera. It also had the same option of having the date or the date & time displayed on the movie. They were both displayed in the lower left-hand corner of the screen.



In 1996, my Dad bought a Sony Handicam 8mm hand-held camera with a screen on the left side of it which popped out and showed the image being recorded. He used a lot for the next three years, and then he gave it to me. It produced excellent picture and sound quality. Once again, this camera also had the date & time display feature. I still have it in storage, but I haven't used it in years, so I don't know if it still works.



I still have all of the tapes of my family's movies, and a few years ago, I made copies of all of them on blank DVD+R discs. They are fun to watch and reminisce about. Today, I don't make very many movies, but I still have a lot of nostalgia for old video cameras & electronics.



I own two old movie cameras, but I don't use them very often. One of them is a Sony Betamovie camcorder, model BMC-110, from the mid 1980s. According to the owner's manual, it uses a 1/2" SMF Trinicon tube. I bought it from a thrift store back in 2016 with all of the original accessories, manuals, paperwork, and large Sony model LC-710 carrying case still included. I've used it a few times, making a few movies around my house. It works well & produces a good picture, but the issue I have is that the old Sony model NP-11 nickel-cadmium battery packs don't work any more. I've connected them to the old Sony model AC-M110 AC power adapter/battery charger, but they won't charge.



The other old video camera I own is an RCA model CKC 020 hand-held video camera from the mid 1980s. It was a Craigslist find from back in 2010 with just the camera, and none of the accessories for it, so I've never been able to use it, and I've just kept it in my drawer ever since then. I think it's a VHS camera, since RCA was a supporter of VHS in the 1970s & 1980s, instead of Betamax, and it's a camera which also connects to a VCR with an EIAJ cable. I really don't know very much about this camera, but I recently saw a You Tube video of an old TV advertisement from the mid-1980s for it starring the late David Oreck as the celebrity spokesman. He is attending a wedding in the advertisement.



Two months ago, I found the exact same model of General Electric portable top-loading VHS VCR that my family used to have for sale at an electronics recycling facility, and I bought it. Right now, I'm working on restoring it, and I'm thinking of looking for the original camera that came with it, which my Dad had when I was little. I don't know the exact model of the camera that we had, but I've been looking for information about it. From what I can tell from my online research, it must have been either a General Electric model 1CVC5033E or a 1CVC5034E from the mid 1980s. I've also determined that it requires the General Electric power supply model 1CVA505, which I'm also looking for, along with the owner's manual for them. Another fact I found was that the old General Electric cameras use a Newvicon pickup tube.



I'm sorry for writing this lengthy personal narrative, but I wanted to share my experience with old movie cameras with the vintage electronics community. In addition, if any one knows anything about any of the cameras I wrote about, or can offer any suggestions to me about using or working on repairing any of them, then I would be very thankful.

The Hitachi RCA CKC-020 "Small Wonder" hand/tripod cameras are pretty good, almost always work, and are still relatively cheap and plentiful for a camera originally priced ca $900-$1k-ish 1984 dollars. The main problem is the non-captive proprietary wire cable frequently gets lost from the camera.
Otherwise, with a standard home video camera power unit, will work with most any VCR. Its well worth looking for examples with the cable, and for the power units.
The CLC-020 is an IR rangefinder autofocus later version with similar characteristics, and smaller viewfinder without the handy flip-up eye-lens fast framing ability of the CKC-020.