Are vintage TV /video cameras a thing of interest?
 

Thinking primarily image tubes and early generation CCD cams rather than camcorders. Iconoscope/Emiscope/ Farnsworth Image Dissector to Plumicon/Newvicon /RCA CKC 020, ect.

Always interested to learn more about these things.

Being a newbie posting here, pardon any presumptions in advance. I can assume there are many with extensive background in TV broadcasting and the cameras and tech.
The vidicon/ variant home and industrial cameras are still plentiful and affordable for collectors and experimentation, there's a certain appeal for this analogue pickup tube tech as attainable and less cumbersome than pro/broadcast studio cams

Welcome and go for it Pio. I have a lot of fun with vintage home cameras and they don't take up a lot of space. I have a color RCA CC002 from about 1978 in great working order with the striped vidicon tube. I figured out how to set it up on a broadcast grey scale chart and how to adjust the tube back focus for different lenses. The RCA CKC021 was still a tube pickup with the bonus of a color beam index viewfinder...not Indextron but the same by Hitachi. And the CC030 is the same but now a chip imager. The viewfinders have not aged well however. They work but the color is not great. Somewhere is a RCA BW camera from the CC002 era. A terrible camera. And I have two early Sony HVC-2200 Trinicon color cameras and another unknown model with Japanese markings on the controls. All work. The trick to them is to find the now pricey Sony CMA-1010A adaptor to convert the Sony 14 pin format to the RCA 10 pin format to use with the very common RCA DC adaptors with video and audio out. A caution to look for is scale/mold growing on the UV filter behind the lens and in front of the tube, if the lens can be removed (C-mount). No way to fix the coating. Ask the seller to send a photo of the filter. It should be light blue and clear. There were some early VHS (not portables) decks that had the 10 pin connector built in for home recording.

Wayne, it took me a while to figure out what the focus control on the back of my CC002 was for and it was not for electronic focus. It is basically a beam stripe purity adjustment like a CRT red purity adjustment. Real focus is more a mechanical tube adjustment. It comes from the factory with a center detent for red purity and there are likely finer adjustments inside but that is for others. I used a red notebook binder to check. From there I found the R/B white and black balance on the right side of the camera. Don't touch any green adjustment. On a grey scale chart, it dialed in very close under an old 8mm camera light bar on my Tek analog scope.

I not going to add anything technical to the discussion, but this is an HD video shot with tube cameras, and light trails in HD look a bit weird.

Thnx for replies so far, the rescue of a Panasonic PK-801 Omnivision shoulder cam from my storm damaged storage and a couple slightly newer palm cams got me thinking. 40 year old tech doesn't seem that long ago, but in 1960, 40 yrs would have been 1920 for perspective. Crystal radios and one tube regenerative receivers to color TV.

You are kidding. 40 years ago it was all different. Digital just started and was hugely expensive, some attempts of analog HD, tube cameras, suitcase-sized portable VTRs, film is still used for news.

A really eclectic collection of comments/topics here!

There are a lot of interesting non-ideal effects in single-tube striped faceplate cameras.
For one thing, since the vidicon has a non-linear response (partial gamma correction built in), it results in blues and reds getting more saturated than greens. Some I have seen turn blue-green objects blue. Testing with a modern Chroma duMonde chart would show huge hue and saturation distortions compared to a 3-tube Plumbicon camera.

The other thing about stripe tubes, of course, is the need for accurate electrical focus to recover the blue and red signals. This means that poor focus not only reduces color saturation, but also shifts white balance toward green, since the green comes from the average of the various stripes and its amplitude is not affected by focus.

The other thing that is striking about tube cameras is the amount of lag compared to a solid state pickup. Studio cameras used faceplate lighting to raise the black level optically and reduce lag since the charge pattern did not have to decay fully. The deliberate fog was carefully removed by lowering the black level in the video amps. This was too expensive and finicky for home cameras.

Thnx again for followups on the got-chas of acquisition and the technical aspects and compromises of the consumer single tube approach. I could see an analogy between home 8mm film and pro cameras up to 70mm. Making the tech available and affordable to the masses seemed miraculous, and, I suppose it was, but the constraints dictated results.
The solid state imaging cams available to the consumer class users are pretty impressive, compared to what was once the best. Tho I was sceptical of HDTV taking over, the visual standards and results never fail to astonish me, compared to the best of the analogue days.

I still have several tube-pickup color cameras that I mostly bought in the early and mid 1990s for use on ATV (Amateur Television, TV over ham radio). Usually I looked for the higher-end ones with character generators and similar features in them. The ATV transmitters of that era had the ten-pin connector on their front panel, and I remember buying a few of those connectors at a local parts store as well for my own add-on projects.

One day when I have more time, I will enjoy playing with that equipment again. I do remember that one Panasonic camera (PK-958 or similar model number) has a purity problem. I did pick up a service manual for that camera and maybe one other Panasonic. Fun stuff!

I've started back collecting early home video cameras in the 6 or so months. I missed the look of Newvicon and Vidicon tube cameras. I recently finished working on a Panasonic Omnimovie PV-200D and got all the colors dialed back in and it's working great now and made up a NIMH battery pack to to replace the lead acid battery and am getting 3 hours of recording time with it on a charge.

I also picked up a Panasonic WV-460 black and white Vidicon camera. This is the same model as the RCA BW-001. It still has the original box and accessories and manual. Very nice black and while picture for it's age. It's getting up to 350 vertical TVL resolution.

I remember working a 1984 Bruce Springsteen concert in Phila that used the RCA CC-002 camera in the front of the stage to shoot the show above.

Lol. That's a pretty early home grade color camera. I guess it would do alright if there was enough light, otherwise it pretty muddy.
My first camera was a Panasonic PK-751 and if there wasn't about 200 lux it was pretty dark.

I'd like to add a RCA to my collection but I'm waiting for a deal on ebay. Every seller seems to be over $100 for it and the CC-001. I forget what model number the Panasonic was called but have seen them too.

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'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.

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.

https://i.postimg.cc/d1RfC3Cc/2023-02-05-18-01-45.jpg
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.

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.

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.

My video camera story
 

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.

My video camera story
 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Always interesting to see these work again.

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.