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The 1936 RCA Iconoscope Camera (1 of 2)

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Eyes Of A Generation.com

The 1936 RCA Iconoscope Camera (1 of 2)

This is the original version of the first commercially available television cameras in the US. You often see this same camera chassis style painted silver, but actually, they are the same cameras.  The only difference is that the silver version, called the RCA A500 has a different Iconoscope tube with 441 line resolution. This dark colored model has no model identification other than “studio version”, as there was also a field version with no viewfinder. This one is shooting Burgess Meredith and Dorothy McGuire on a 1938 production at NBC in NYC.

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2 responses to “The 1936 RCA Iconoscope Camera (1 of 2)”

  1. Roy Trumbull

    About 1980 Bob Shrader stopped in for a visit. He wrote a very fine license study book for McGraw-Hill. I told him he could take out the section on the iconoscope and the image orthicon. No one then working had ever seen either of them.

  2. Dennis Degan

    Most likely, this was Studio 3H. This studio is now used as prop storage and is adjacent to Studio 3C, currently used as the news studio for WNBC. Studio 3H was the first studio converted for TV use at NBC-NY. It remained as the only dedicated TV studio inn the building until Studio 8G was converted in 1948. Here are a couple of shots of the original control room windows that once looked down onto Studios 3C and 3H. These windows were exposed during 4th floor remodeling in 2007. They have since been covered up again: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dennisdegan/5226532754/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/dennisdegan/5226532504/

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