The Pye Mk6 broadcast television camera - as used by the crew of MCR21 

Zoom out, focus the tube then zoom in & focus the lens. Repeat until satisfied!

Todays cellphones are shit. Try recording accurate color. Try recording the salmon colors of a sunset and all you get is varying degrees of yellow. You also cant control the iris on a cellphone. The machine decides how the picture looks.

@@UpcomingJedi Yes, ok, you are right, but there are not everyone in this planet, with advance photographing skills.

Same

A lot of forward thinking as well. Expansion options with connectors, easy to service, swappable lenses. It makes sense they kept using these as long as they did.

Agree! Tektronix had a leadership position in both engineering design and manufacturing skill.Philips held a similar role based in The Netherlands, both companies highly "vertical" (raw materials in one end, finished product out the other) There were other players building equipment for the broadcast industry, which served few customers, that were very demanding. Firstly, the performance was not spared by the broadcaster, who wanted the best, and most reliable kit. A single failure at the "sending end" would directly affect many customers on "receiving end" (at home watching) Secondly, it was better to produce a robust high quality signal at the broadcaster, and somehow reduce the costs of the TV receiver, which was in much greater volume, and sensitive to just pennies of cost. Thirdly, in the days of analogue video the "product" (ie the broadcast signal) was easily degraded by the many stages it has to pass from camera (or film scanner, or video tape) to home receiver.Digital signals are considered more robust in general, but ultimately fail miserably if degraded enough.

Slight correction. When transported the tubes were *FACE UP*. This was to prevent any loose particles from falling onto the inside of the target. Particles would cause permanent blemishes in the picture. At the factory tubes were made in batches and tested for electrical performance and image quality. Tubes without blemishes were graded for broadcast or medical service, lesser performing tubes were sold for much less money to industrial and security camera roles, and the worst of the lot were designated for "Amateur" or hobby use. The tube shown here operates on the photo-emission principle. The faceplate emits electrons proportional to incident light. These are drawn to the internal target and scanned by an electron beam, and deflected electrons (that are proportional to scene illumination) are captured by the photomultiplier section and amplified to become the resulting image (aka Video) signal.This type of tube operated from high voltage (about 16ooV) and produces about 500mV of signal. The sucessor to this type (variously called a Vidicon, Plumbicon, SATicon, or later Newvicon) operates on photo-conduction, and the target is made light sensitive so that in brightness the resistance drops compared to dark portions of the image. A scanning electron beam restores the charge lost in light induced conductive area, and that recharging current carries the picture (video) signal. This type of tube operated from medium voltage (less than 1,000V) and produced a very weak signal output current measured in microamps. Photo-conductive types gave rise to smaller lighter and lower power portable cameras. Colour cameras typically use multiple tubes, for Red, Green, and Blue channels. Consumer grade cameras used a single tube and some clever optical filters at the faceplate, followed by equally clever electronic to "unpack" the signal, shuffle the color sensitive signal, and "repack" them for ultimate use in a television monitor (home receiver)

@@pstonardThanks for a clear explanation.

The English Electric VAlv Co in CHELMSFORD made the tubes. It was fascinating to see them in a lath having the face plates being removed so the bit is microscopic dust, identified during a camera test could be removed. They then had the faceplate replaced, gas jets glass rod welding, re evacuated and sent for further testing.

That's right each lens offered a fixed angle of view. if the programme required a zoom lens, one could be booked from stores ( BBC outside Broadcasts), but it did mean the other lens positions on the turret could not be used due to the weight and mounting arrangements of the larger zoom lens..

There is almost a whole rack with additional electronics per camera to get everything working. They wanted to keep the camera itself "light weight" and "small"...

Hello, the BBC, at that time a very large organisation, bought cameras from most British manufacturers, EMI, Link, Marconi, Sony, Ikegami, as well as Philips

And they also used EMI-2001 cameras

Back in the late 80s and 90s I used Ikegami, Sony,Ampex and Philips when in various BBC studios. If memory serves I think I remember a Hitachi being used in News gathering.

@@mollyfilms The BBC used EMI-2001 cameras in one studio up until July 1991.

I thought they used Link cameras. Not sure if they were Plumbicon tube type cameras.

HI John the camera weighs in at 77Kg, without lenses, a 4 man lift!. The cost was confidential, but would be a LOT.

@@bsomers8664 TY

Hi Brian, We managed a two man lift, just, when BT (P.O. Television Service back then) had 4 Pye mk5s & I think we also managed it with the mk6s at my radio club but we were a LOT younger then.

Broadcasting equipment was fiendishly expensive mainly because there was no economy of scale. Back in the day there may have been a dozen or so manufacturers chasing relatively few broadcasters. The equipment was expected to be very reliable and rugged and to last at least a decade. There as very little replacement going on and growth depended entirely on new technology, techniques and additional networks being licensed.

If i understand what you are asking, these "lines" were to set the edges of the picture size to be the correct aspect ratio of 4:3. The picture scan size was smaller that on a domestic TV so the edges could be seen.

The fan has probably got a single phase induction motor, which is brushless. Either shaded pole or split phase with a capacitor.

Correct, the tube has been removed for safe keeping until the camera is ready to operate..

May have got Dzus type quarter turn fastenings.

These cameras were made as bespoke items. Nice construction of the chasis

The mk5 had a verticle front. I had a couple of wonderful Evershed zoom lenses that went on the mk5 but not the mk6 sadly.

Yes they do slope away from each other. this is to reduce the likelihood of the lens hood appearing in the picture via an adjacent lens.

Very rude. Pull your head in

@@retrobilly1986 sorry my friend. I was just joking. Didn’t mean to hurt anyone’s feelings. I apologise again.

@asapfilms2519 That was funny! My mother was terribly British and would have laughed herself crazy. Funny how a simple joke can remind you of someone. It's great to be reminded of her. Thanks Mom for my humor.