The GE PE250 Early Color Television Camera

[J Ballard]

Hi all-

Re: The GE 250 camera was fairly popular, especially in the Midwest U.S. It was a 4 tube design, as was its successors, the PE-350 and PE-400.

The 250 had dichroic optics for color separation, but later, a kit was offered that upgraded the camera to a beam splitter, a big improvement.

The encoder was prone to drifting, that I recall.

Another interesting feature pioneered by GE was "AutoTrast," their term for an auto knee.

ABC had them also in TV-15 in NYC for the "Dick Cavett Show." With an experienced VO and sufficient light, the camera made a fine picture.

For telecine, I don't believe ABC had any GEs, relying on TK-27s, TK-28s, a TK-29 at Prospect, and probably TK-26s in the early days. If anyone has any contray information, I'd be interested, as I worked at ABC.

CBS definitely had GE telecines, although I once saw a TK-28 at Television City.

Regards,

J. Ballard