I am a CCTV camera collector with a collection of over 800 cameras. I was born and raised in Russia. In many government buildings those cameras can still be found in somewhat working conditions. But the moment the wall fell, those were usually switched off and a system from a company such as Bosch or Pelco was installed that used the regular RS-485 and CVBS protocol and standardized control and could allow one operator to manage 256 PTZ cameras from one terminal at once. I worked on the old systems and I seen modifications made in-aitue where the tube wqs replaced with a CCD sensor so they could keep using the camera.
@@ChernobylFamily It's common for those cameras to get "Кулибин" type of upgrades (probably built by technicians working for the place the cameras are installed at) with whatever parts are going spare. There is also a НПО type organisation out of Novosibirsk that makes retrofit kits to upgrade the electronics inside the camera for CVBS and 940H with RS485 Pelco-D protocol. They recommend to use RVi DVR with it. I will link it if I find it.
@ChernobylFamily OK, so my Ukrainian is terrible, so correct me if I'm wrong, but I think "Провідник" or "Explorer" would be a great name! It is very simple and gives a good idea of the machine's original purpose.
World is so small. Im a victim from Chernobyl im disabled with many heart conditins because of the acxident , It hapened before i was born, All the winds came to Baltic states and rain'ed down here on my mom and dad so jeah.
I was watching something about the vidicon tube last night and they were talking about some of the "ghosting" artefacts it can produce. It's nice to see a working tube here where you actually demonstrate those artefacts... I love Soviet heavy-duty over engineering, and this camera is a perfect example. Thanks for the demo.
There are still stocks of vidicon tubes out there. I still have my dads old Quasar video camera that runs on a vidicon. They're pretty neat, and have an interesting mechanism of action.
Thank you for this very interesting video about these CCTV Cameras. I used to have two older cameras that had Vidicon tubes. and one had a burnt in image of the former owners driveway, looking through a vent under their house. it was faint, but when you put your hand over the lens, it really was visible on the screen.
@@ChernobylFamily Yes old vidicon tubes would develop a shadow where the screen was illuminated the brightest, and CRT display tubes would do the same, to the point you could read the old menu it had on them even when off. Had a few in CCTV use, and the monitor had eventually a ghost image of the area burnt on it, that you could see even when off as it left a dark inverted image on the grey phosphor screen.
When I was in junior college in late 80s the subject was called in the manner of those years, as industrial television (CCTV). Even a textbook was available in the library.
That's certainly a very beefy camera! I especially like the 'demister' for the visor, that's especially clever. The builders of these camera units can still be proud of these units. The orientation gearing and motors could take up a nice video on their own! Thanks so much for this very interesting vid and I look forward to seeing the rebuilt scout very much!
Whoa. I still can't stop marveling at the fact that they used typical M42 lenses for Zenit cameras and a mirror assembly. Mighty friggin' clever! A thing of beauty and a joy for ever. I've got a vidicon camera in my collection (Unitra Polkolor TP-K162), but the tube seems to be dead. I'll have to take a closer look at it. It uses C-mount CCTV lenses. Next step? Soyuz comms!
My new favourite channel! Since 1986, I have been fascinated with all things relating to Chornobyl and Pripyat. My interest is more to do with how the danger was dealt with and the ongoing efforts to reduce the danger. These videos of equipment used with Ukraine during and after the disaster are fascinating. I hope they never have to repeat these actions in Zaporizhzhia.
People are going to become more fascinated as we still don't know the truth most people still believe the cover story we were given. USSR was expert with lies. I am beginning to think they plugged the reactor into something experimental and overloaded it. There are all kinds of bizarre science experiments, strange looking radar towers, all over the USSR.
Soviet tech tips! ❤😅 Love these bits of tech from Soviet times. It's always interesting seeing how it all worked, and even things like how they used connectors that are completely unheard of in the west! Definitely a good review! ❤
I want one so bad. I like these types of video surveillance/monitoring systems, and I really like the way you switch and control the different cameras with this one.
It is possible to find these in Ukraine on local marketplaces of vintage electronics, but they are freaking expensive (not the last reason is that these mounts are often used for e.g. amateur antennas positioning)... just checked - camera+mount = $500 with 'looks good, working condition unknown'
I just recalled what I'm still keeping two vidicon tubes with different geometry (dimensions), but the same Hitachi brand from spare parts stock for our CCTV cameras. I took home some spare vacuum tubes for collection, when we moved our maintenance shop to a different room back in 2004. Those vacuum tubes were intended for some ancient obsolete machines, which were retired and scrapped. All our analog cameras were scrapped after upgrade to solid-state ones on every piece of process equipment with the vision or PRS [pattern recognition system].
Interesting to note that the Cold War actually pushed the Soviets to produce solutions of their own, which also worked. Just incredible, given the fact that they did not had free access to any of the more modern CCTV technology. The idea with the mirror to protect the camera from radiation is very good.
I am an electronic security integrator that includes CCTV systems, I am amazed to see this beauty of old Soviet electronics. Just by watching him disassemble the camera case I can already smell the electronic components. Gracias por mostrar el funcionamiento
My dad bought a Zenit camera from Yugoslavia before he moved to Australia, said it was better than his Leica in many ways, he was a photographic journalist and had many cameras, some very rare now. Ironically his Leica doesn't work anymore but the Zenit never missed a beat and still works. He also bought Orwo film as he claimed it was better. But in Australia he used agfa and kodak most the time as they were easier to find, he hated Fuji. Maybe it's that eastern bloc reliability, Yugoslav appliances lasted allot longer than western goods. No planned obsolescence.
I also have a Zenit-E camera and I use it for photography sometimes. It's a work of art and really pretty. The only bit triggered me a bit was getting the footage out, since everything is mechanical.
@@william_ok I have no Idea about photography and my dad gave it up after Digital came in as he doesn't understand computers, you can't even get slow exposure film anymore only 400 so my dad gave up analogue photography now. Can vaguely remember the Zenit he mostly used a dual lense Mamiya have no idea what model, he occasionally used the zenit and a Nikon. They were all mechanical, cant even get film for the Mamiya anymore completely different size.
@@REPOMAN24722 There's plenty of options for high grade color film at least in the west. The old recipes are also being taken into use as film is getting popular again. Kodak ektar 100 is pure magic in my opinion. Also there are plenty of crappy SLR models out there with poor shutter speeds and bad metering that would survive a bomb but that doesn't make them good cameras for professional use..
@@TigeroL42 In Australia all I can find is 400 Fuji and Kodak, His Zenit actually produced pics on par with his Nikon but the Mamiya was the best. All his cameras cost over $500 for sure back in the 90's except the Zenit.
The image from the (apparently) degraded tube is absolutely beautiful! Incredible! As a photographer, I'd love to creatae something with it. You cannot get similar results with modern tech at all. I can see it used in art projects or arthouse films no problem.
I'm honestly pretty impressed by the 625 lines of resolution. That's a really high resolution for the time, and a reasonable improvement over the PAL standard. I'm curious, Is the image inertia a flaw common to the type, or is it the result of age and wear? I'd be fascinated to see a short video recorded with this camera just to see what it looks like digitised and displayed on a modern screen.
The 625 lines at 25 FPS interlaced, is exacly the PAL standard. Although in Europe 576 imagelines were used, because of transmission bandwidth. The remaining lines were later used to transmit Teletext/CeeFax.
@@retinaquester Those 24/25 lines of so called vertical blanking interval were necessary to allow voltage change in vertical deflection coils in camera and picture tube as well. BTW the 625i50 standard was developed in former USSR during WWII. After some years all the Europe settled on this standard.
@@janovlk I am aware of how it works yet, you are wrong about the development. PAL was developed by Walter Bruch at Telefunken in Hanover, West Germany. And as far as I know very little technology from the USSR has made it to the western Countries, because it was either "borowd" western designed or inferior to the Western standards. Although russian space industrie has shown it's capabilities. It lags now far behind.
This randomly popped up on my feed tonight and I found it quite interesting despite it being absolutely unrelated to 99% of anything else I've ever watched on RU-vid before. Thankyou.
Thank YOU! We have a good documentary on robots that used these cameras. And on SKALA computer - that is a fresh one, check those, it is worth it. And get ready for more epic stuff!
I woke up a few minutes before the explosion in my flat but I didn't know why because I was too young to understand intuition and how strong my danger sense is, I remember seeing the tower of fire that shot out and then the blue beam of charenkov radiation. I thought it was a search light at first. And then the feeling of the shock wave from the blast. Forever you can remember how that feels. The most unforgettable 4 days of my life.
We (personally) have doubts because none of >100 inhabitants of Pripyat we know personally ever said about tower of fire or any Cherenkov effect. There was SOME glow in the sky, like from a fire, it is true. Many things were when the city was already evacuated, but most of witnesses of the very first night recall a pop-like sound only. Once more, we do not blame anyone, just operate with own statistical selection.
4:00 My educated guess would be that the heated glass is used to prevent condensation, not to prevent freezing. If the glass is colder than the ambient temperature and the air is humid, the glass will fog up. Just like a bathroom mirror during a warm shower.
This is actually what I meant. Additio ally, the documentation explicitly mentions how to use it when temperatures are low, so in the case of frost that heater has to be on.
Thanks for a look inside these CCCP video cameras and Pan/Tilt head. Interesting stuff! The components and construction are typical of CCCP engineering and reflect what the west (I'm originally from the UK) were doing in the 1950s. (Through hole single side PCB and internal wiring loom construction which is very labor intensive) The Vidicon pick up tube was used for non-broadcast service from the 1950s until around the late 1970s as an affordable industrial solution. It was only then that consumer cameras from Japan made improvements with Newvicon and SATicon photo target materials. Vidicon defects include smearing, sticking, and easy image burn-in. CCCP color broadcast standards followed the French SECAM encoding, mainly to avoid NTSC and PAL methods, and operated at 625/50 scan rates. This is a monochrome camera. The total scan lines are 625 per frame, two fields of 312.5 lines 2:1 interlaced, and for analog systems only 576 lines were active. With 4:3 Aspect ratio the horizontal resolution is about 750 lines max, more likely half that in this design. We have an equivalent digital format of 576 x 768 today. The lens system was probably selected for cost and availability and doesn't contribute to improving the image "quality" or perceived "film look". As already mentioned it was standard practice to loop-through video signals in monitors and other system components, and have only one termination resistor of 75 ohms, usually at the end of the line. A simple check with a continuity tester, or visual inspection, will confirm the two connectors are linked by a wire.
Linkage you are asking about is a universal joint. Cameras would have failed in high radiation mostly because the radiation damaged the semiconductors in the amplifiers for the vidicon tube, the actual tube itself would degrade slower, simply because of the larger mass of the photocathode meaning it would take much more to damage it. You would get ghost images from radiation off the video entering through the housing gap by the lens, but mostly for radiation all you would get was noise as the amplifier transistors got cooked. Same for the digital logic making the video signal, where ironically a few generation older cameras, all tube based, would have survived for hundreds of hours more, till the radiation finally changed the values of the components enough. Those would have been seriously radioactive then, as you would had made a lot of highly radioactive isotopes of all the metal parts, and would have a lot of noise on the video from the radiation interfering with the actual electrode structures. But they would survive short term, a few days, looking into the most radioactive parts of the reactor, provided you kept them cool enough. But the failed cameras, once removed and cleaned externally, would decay back to background levels in a few months, as the isotopes created from the gamma radiation and neutron bombardment all have relatively short half lives.
I have read in product information from Japanese lens manufacturers (like Canon and Fujinon) that their normal photographic lenses cannot be used around radiation, as the clear lens material rapidly fades to a semi-opaque yellow colour, spoiling the pictures projected on to the vidicon tube. Specially-made lenses have to be used in nuclear facilities. Assuming this applied equally to the Soviet lenses, I wonder what in these cameras failed first from the radiation: the lens glass, the vidicon tube or the electronic components? I also wonder if the mirror optics in the upright camera were intended to keep radiation off the lens itself, reflecting only visible light to the tube surface. I've got some Japanese pan-tilt-zoom mounts from the late 1980s, and the electronics and connectors are far more modern and miniature than the Soviet equivalents shown here. The Soviet connectors look like western connectors from the 1940s to 1970s. Oddly enough, the Japanese equipment exported to the west used all the latest connectors, but quite a lot of equipment intended for their local market still had these unique old-fashioned bakelite and chrome metal connectors. It was also very surprising to see the use of flat-head slotted screw heads in the mechanisms, instead of Phillips and Pozi crossed heads, seen in most of the metricated world, except of course, the USA and UK.
@@wombatperson Soviets used that narrow width flat screw for decades, as they had standardised on it, and it is a lot narrower than the Western version. Same for the connectors, old patterns with the focus on interchange between wildly different age equipment, as they tended to keep equipment in operation for many decades, and not upgrade at all, so long as it still could be serviced and worked. After all this was a central economy, where even getting a light bulb involved a lot of paperwork, leading to the black market being big in selling blown light bulbs, especially those with visible blackening on the glass, as selling the faulty ones was not frowned on, but they were difficult to get as a consumer new. So buy blown ones on the black market, and simply swap them at the factory, wait a day, then report them as blown, and the factory would change them, of course the electrician or store keeper keeping the blown ones, to sell as used.
@@wombatperson Radiation damage mostly to the AR coatings, and to the optical glues used to make compound lenses. Simple lens with no AR coating will survive a lot of radiation, a lot more than needed to totally wipe out the semiconductors and destroy the heavy metal phosphor coating on the target. Exactly the same as what you get with those lenses when exposed to plain sunlight, and the high UV level, without a UV block filter in front of them, typically integrated into the front ND filter that is coated to be both UV block and IR blocking as well, at least for modern CMOS sensors, which are really sensitive to IR as well.
Another wonderful video! And you know what that KTP-63 camera reminds me of? The 80's movie "Short Circuit". If you place two side-by-side, they look exactly like Johny No. 5's eyes. And yes, please build that little scout camera. I, for one, would love to see it in action. Great work, as always!
@@andreyansimov5442 Wall-E is a good choice as well. But if you can get a hold of it, you'll really like the 80's feel-good movie "Short Circuit" if you liked Wall-E. I have both on my DVD shelves.
I recognized the lens immediately. Purchased one off of eBay for my Konica 35mm camera. I also had to get the adapter from the m.42 screw base, to the AR base my camera uses. I'm sure there's more modern lenses out, with better image quality. But with my skill level, and shooting on film on a camera made in 1979 instead on simething like an 8k high definition one, I think the Helios lens is far from the weakest element in my setup. In fact, it's the main lens I use with my camera. At 50mm, it's good for general purpose. And the Helios lens is known for it's signature bokeh effect, or in other words how the blurring in the background of the pictures looks. The Helios' blur pattern is circular. I also have a soviet made Industar lens a friend told me I should check out, it's a tiny little pancake lens. I like the Helios much better. And what you said matches what I remember reading when researching it. It was a Zeiss lens design from Germany. At the end of World War II, when the soviets took control of what eventually became East Germany, also known as the German Democratic Republic, they dismantled many factories and brought much of the equipment and designs back to the Soviet Union. This included the Ziess factory. So a Soviet lens, based on a German design, on a Japanese camera, being used in America. Incidentally, I have bought several rolls of Svema 125 iso b/w film, that prob has been expired since before the union dissolved, for my 120 format camera. It's quite fun to use. I have to rate it at 25 iso due to loss of sensitivity due to age, and of course, the resulting images are a bit faded and hazy looking. But it has this awesome vintage effect. If there's nothing obviously modern in the picture, it can look like a picture from 80yrs ago.
Very cool! I have such camera, but I havent still run it, or disasseble it, so it was very ineresting to see it in your video. In soviet institutes and universities this type of cameras was also often used in educational process. There were a special classes with a lot of monitors and some cameras, and image from cameras was translated to the monitors. When I came to my university this system was mostly destroyed, but some parts of it is still there.
I love your channel and what you are doing here. In a much more humble and amateur way I am doing what I can to curate and demonstrate my small but growing collection of Soviet school and home computers on this new channel :-)
The idea of the periscope camera with a mirror is still alive in many smartphones for the telescope lens unit. Anyway, in Germany we would say "to shoot with canons on sparrows" for using this Helios high quality lens for a 650 line picture 😉. I think it was rather because it was available and had a good light pass quality.
11:30 I'd probably call it a Cardan Shaft, or Drive Shaft, although the joints for each axis are offset so I'm not sure if they're technically universal joints. Same principle though!
watching this after I found out my SECOND Carl Zeiss lens's autofocus mechanics ( made of plastic circa 2010) was damaged like a previous one makes me kind of runtrous.
Those Vidicon tubes are still available as new-old stock, and for not a lot of money from Poland. Soviet export ones, ЛИ415-1 in a styrofoam package and with a data card (including the voltage that needs to be set when installed). That ghosting effect is the usual thing with Vidicons.
The shell of its remote controller reminded me a some model of an old soviet accounting calculator, for sure those calculators were clones of Casio or Sharp original.
I don't know if it is a good video idea but maybe you could do one on how the other reactors continued to function after the disaster and where the crew lived when off duty and how they were protected from radiation while working the other three reactors?
It is surely a good idea for a video, just it is a massive subject that involves also a lot of events of 1986-88, when a massive decontamination was made. For now, you can find some pretty rare documents about this translated on our Patreon.
It looks alot like soviet area communication equipment from the military. I used to repair and restore alot of these from older tanks and communication posts. Very well made. Very heavy. All the components are military grade. Kind of "heavy duty" electronics parts. I was working in Revda at the time it was in the early 2000s. We had these equipment in a copper refining plan.
@@ChernobylFamily They are quite good, especially for their price. I know a lot of people who still uses them on modern DSLR cameras with mount adapters and it make a really nice portraits with unusual swirly bokeh effect. Of course, like with any old lens, they might be damaged from time, or just being defective from the start, but generally Zenith and LOMO lenses are quite good, if you know how to use manual lenses.
I would never have a chance to see inside these units if You didn't show Us - thanks for Your exellent video, Chernobylfamily. I wish You all the best in life.
Thank you! Please check our newer episodes as well. While we yet did not finish the Scout robot these cameras were used on, we completed a smaller one...)
Well done, its great work. I dissasemble broken electronics to collect the valuable parts. Some of them are so complex and I'm impressed by those who once put them together.
I own a Zenit lens, they are pretty solid, and have really particular mood to the photos, in terms of light and sharpness. it's nice to play with, same with shooting video, I should find a subjet of interest and made a vid using my A77 and one of those glasses.
Actually still today the most radiation tolerant cameras use Chalnicon/Vidicon tubes for applications where CCD-chips would not last for a long time. Usually they are used to look for fuel assembly damages, lost items and more in the core (or underneath it ) of a BWR/PWR reactor.
Nice! Much of the equipment like this was also made with the subzero temperatures of the typical Russian Winter in mind... Very sealed to begin with, so I could see where the sensitive equipment would survive the intense radioactive exposure! These cameras definitely caught what was going on as it took place!
0:43 KMZ HELIOS 44-2 58MM. What a versatile lens. I own two of them. The one from 67 with the zebra look (my pride and joy) and the 44m version that came with the Zenit 12XP. I tell you, this is my niftz fifty of choice, no matter where I go.
These cameras can abuse someone as well. While filming this I had 63th on the floor and kicked my foot really badly with it. Well...it did not even move.
Very interesting examination! I feel like these triangle-headed screws are also used for electrical and pneumatic cabinets in older Russian metro trains. I think the same screw heads are used for the window locks on these trains.
The HBO miniseries really nailed it in terms of using technology from the Soviet era. Watching this video makes me wonder if they reconstructed entire robots using these types of cameras.
They actually fully rebuilt "Joker" for the series. They first CGI-ed it, but the result was less than satisfactory. Craig Mazin then decided to fully build it according to the original specs. So, when you see it up on the roof, it is physically there. The rest may be CGI, but the robot is real. Oh, and the footage you see displayed on the monitors in the room is actual footage from the cleanup, as is the footage the prospect liquidators watch before they get sent out on "Masha". This series went above and beyond when it comes to getting it as close to the real thing as it gets.
@@ChernobylFamily Wasn't quite sure if they did the full internals as well, but apparently they didn't. Thanks for clearing that up for me👍 And the whine of that TV monitor when you first fired it up is something I haven't heard in a loooong time. Oh, how the times have changed...
Interesting video! 13:50 The KTP-64 looks like a mast mounted camera used on top of periscope masts of submarines. Am a military nerd, have seen similar designs on western submarines. And it looks like a periscope... 🙃
We have some progress on it - you can find that on Patreon - got some important parts and archive data. However, there are a few technical things yet to figure out to start actual assembly work.
I knew that CRT TVs can burn in when left on the same image for too long (usually text on computers) but I didn't know that the same could happen to a vidicon tube, interesting.
I had no idea that something of 1986. Intake would use a cathode ray tube, my parents TV at the time (in the US) was essentially analog as well and had a mechanical tuner & potentiometer for sound volume, etc.
75 Ohm is the termination resistance / line impedance for most video systems. The last device in a chain should have the termination resistor switched on to avoid signal echoes back down the chain. This should be true for any camera in use.
@Chernobyl Family 🇺🇦 I appreciate the offer haha, but yeah, I don't think I could even afford the shipping, not surprising they're worth a lot, if they have a comparable amount of gold to the scale you showed off
That's quite a hardy design for a CCTV camera. The CRT scan tube is like the original TV camera. Everything is shielded in a heavy metal case - which I imagine allowed it to operate in a high radiation environment. Since a geiger counter works by measuring the counts of the arcs inside the tube - it doesn't show any bright or dark flickering in the picture. The semiconductor electronics (even more sensitive) must have survived by the camera operating via a lens going into the shielded case. Modern CCTV and IP cameras would probably not have worked at all
I noticed a couple of a some sort of an u-joints (universal joints, couplings) on the shaft of the tilt mechanism. There are might be a shear pins for anti-jam feature to save the motor and components on PCBs.
Oh! Helios 44-2. I have one and sometimes use on my Nikon. Not best vintage lens (Nikkor from 1970-80s much better) but good enough and has his own advantages including extremely low cost today.
At (11:34) I believe that assembly would be considered some form of 'worm-screw'. They are common in the motors of professional grade circular-saws used for carpentry in the US and maybe make more torque or something.. but they are more expensive.
Thats a Helios 44 Lens. Used in the new Batman Movie, its a great little lens and using it myself for black and white Photo :) Thanks for sharing, just love your content.
The name in English for the tilt mechanism is a "worm drive" They are great for making fine adjustments without compromising strength in the mechanism. You can find them in places like elevation adjustments on artillery pieces, and steering gearboxes on cars. Considering the weight of that camera, and soviet design philosophy... Using a worm drive makes sense. it's not really that surprising that it still works either. What a unit.
The disaster was not a momentary event, but a long unfolding process. Although there is no known footage of the explosion itself, this kind of cameras recorded practically all technical footage of rooftops of the power plant. There is a chance, that shots of the explosions might exist. Where, is an open question.
The digital errors of digital video, I saw at Fukushima during a typhoon years after the accident. A camera above the plant on a corner with a traffic light recorded the scene as the typhoon passed, CCD errors mirrored the errors of Chernobyl during the climax of The Storm passing by Fukushima. The ghostly ghastly films developed were exposed to the light passing through the camera exposing the roll of film. Photos of the May Day celebrations as the reactor was fully involved and the mayor said nothing at all. Even Gorbachev didn't know what was happening, thinking everything was under control.
Recently declassified documents of KGB, published by SB of Ukraine in >2000 pages 2 volumes show that everyone in high management knew everything. Everyone. And that makes things far more horrible.
Most interesting. I think that your shy lady technician in the video footage is charming!😊 The heavy duty analog circuitry will have been much more robust in high radiation zones presumably.
Thank you, though here in Ukraine it is pretty common for younger people especially. We both in family speak English in a daily life, it appeared to be easier. However, when here in comments come (specifically) russians they start to scream that I have a horrible accent and thus need to speak russian (which is not my native). I wonder why only they do freak out? :) (sarcasm) Glad that you liked!
