Dicky Howett's 1963 EMI 203 B&W image orthicon TV camera demonstration 1995

This is a 1995 video demonstration of Dicky Howett's 1963 EMI 203 B&W 4.5" image orthicon camera in operation. The pictures from this camera are brilliant. Dicky Howett is a passionate collector and restorer of vintage TV broadcast cameras in England and has a huge collection of vintage TV cameras dating back to the early 1950s image orthicons. Anyone who is interested in old broadcast technology and seeing Dicky's collection visit Golden Age TV Recreations www.golden-agetv.co.uk/ .

[@clickitcool3679]

It's amazing that with all the technology that we have today we can't have this huge video camera compacted into our cellphones with color capabilities. I mean, is that too much to ask in the 21st century? :)

[@kevvywevvywoo1]

quite weird seeing a modern scene shot with that 60's sheen to it that the camera gives!

[@unhban]

The Marconi MkIII camera (the 'Grandstand' camera) I gave to Dicky in the early 90s, along with the CCU (camera control unit), PSU, and a good length of very heavy cable. The CCU still worked, but not the camera because of the lack of focus supply, although the camera was complete and in good condition. I'd obtained it when we closed down BBC Studio A at Dickinson Rd, Manchester (an old church where many prime time programmes were produced... and originally TOTP) and moved to New BH in 1976.

[@mohunrr]

I have worked with IO camera and it used to be fun using the rack over to change the lens and focus. Further adjustments in framing had to be done in a fraction of a second by moving the camera back or forth. It trained me to work at lightning speed and now with these cameras, it is a child's play!!!

[@oldtvhistory]

These big studio cameras did not need a videotape recorder to run like the 1970s small portable B&W vidicon cameras with their accompanying portable reel-reel videotape recorders, they only need a camera control unit (CCU) and a power supply unit (PSU) and a sync pulse generator (SPG) to operate, a videotape recorder was an accessory with broadcast cameras of this type.

[@AlainHubert]

Fascinating... Thanks for posting.

[@realinohio]

Wonderful cameras. Thank you for the video

[@smargajon]

Very impressive. Thanks for posting.

[@mostspecialagent]

Amazing stuff

[@klafong1]

This is fantastic! Are there any other videos online made by collectors of these vintage cameras, using the cameras themselves?

[@Salmagundiii]

Indeed. I was just about to comment before I saw yours about how the output of these cameras, including what you mention but also the gamma curve, remind me of those 60's Doctor Who episodes.

[@BetamaxFlippy]

That bbc camera was probably used to record the first doctor who episodes!!!

[@japhyriddle]

They'd moved onto Vidicon (or similar) tubes by then.

[@fluffymacaw933]

I wonder if this was the same camera to film the 1963 doctor who

[@micmac99]

I almost want to hear a Dave Brubeck jazz song in the background

[@DandyDon1]

I have heard the Image Orthicon tube was very susceptible to burn from hot spots in the video programming. How quickly will a spot burn on the tube if it is left stationary on a image? I also understand that these were stored in a dark room when not in use, and were also set to "oscillate" or move around in a random fashion when in stand by mode to prevent burn spots when on a set in use.

[@fluffymacaw933]

Probably less than 3 hours maybe

[@bouffant-girl]

In the United States, after the federal communications commission declared that the rca/nbc electronic color television technology was going to be the color television standard, CBS initially had to purchase rca color television cameras and equipment. CBS had advocated for a mechanical revolving color filter disk system. Therefore vns removed the rca brand decals from their color television cameras.

[@christnhvv256]

Coooool

[@TheLodzer]

Pracowałem na podobnej kamerze PYE w studio tv Szkoly filmowej w Łodzi. Pozdrawiam.

[@dickyhowett1308]

The vison was recorded on VHS tape, so very low grade stuff. The EMI 203 IO camera with which I shot the footage 'died' a few years ago.

[@LaPabst]

Bad ass!!

[@michaelrichardson1898]

On the twilight zone video tape episode at the beginning the director would use the clap sound board and it made a beeping sound when he clapped The sound board

[@48snapper]

From 2:44 - who knows the name of the centre black rectangle on the grey scale chart.......

[@Rom2Serge]

Hi i have a question.It looks like that time cameras had HDR already built in. But i don't the principal. How it works. It looks like when camera is focused on something that is overexposed . It's just getting exposed eventually with a hue around it. How it is happening? Is it because of "chemical desensitization" on vaccum tube? Or is it because signal is amplified by vaccum tubes and vaccum tubes to not clip when compared to transistor... Any ideas how this HDR effect is happening?

[@fbelard]

"A side effect of the way the iconoscope works is an image that can never truly be black. Electrons will decay from the mica screen without any light hitting it at all--light simply accelerates this decay. The detector ring would pick these rogue electrons up, and it would transmit as an entirely grey screen. There needed to be bright areas of the picture to pull down the average emission of the mica screen and make the other areas appear black--in other words, high contrast scenery was required. Lighting conditions would have to be accounted for to keep the averaging effect of the iconoscope from producing odd images." From Technology Connections' video on Farnsworth and electronic television. The orthicon worked like the iconoscope in some ways, which I won't pretend to understand. But the gist is, absent contrast, any solid colour is transmitted as grey.

[@fbelard]

from wikipedia ( 7.2 Dark halo en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_camera_tube#Dark_halo ) This effect was actually cultivated by tube manufacturers to a certain extent, as a small, carefully controlled amount of the dark halo has the effect of crispening the visual image due to the contrast effect. (That is, giving the illusion of being more sharply focused than it actually is). The later vidicon tube and its descendants (see below) do not exhibit this effect, and so could not be used for broadcast purposes until special detail correction circuitry could be developed.

[@fbelard]

been researching a bit more. it's very complicated and this is just an educated guess: it's a photo-emissive system. it seems that the electron gun first charges the plate with electrons. then they're knocked off by brightness in the scene, and then the electron gun sweeps the image again to read it. (I think if there are already electrons on the plate the new ones bounce back, which can be read by a detector.) This means it's a negative image: black will be rendered by the places in the plate that still have electrons put there intentionally by the beam. The problem is that very bright light will introduce its own secondary electrons that did not come from the beam, and they will also be detected, which (I assume!) will overlay the negative image with a *positive*, blurry image. ...which is exactly how an Unsharp Mask/HDR effect in photoshop works!

[@1974rail]

is this videotape verson?

[@fft2020]

beautiful machine please keep it for posterity

[@bridgelittleleg]

The sound is cut from 2'44. a pity...

[@hypercomms2001]

Who is Dicky Howett?

[@musicom67]

The video quality reminds one of the infamous JFK TV footage....

[@KylesDigitalLab]

Most likely the footage (I'm assuming you are talking about the LHO killing) were shot using a image orthicon TV camera.

[@Salmagundiii]

Here's the video he mentions that features the camera: watch?v=pSywtiAirKE