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The Business End Of An RCA Camera

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Eyes Of A Generation.com

The Business End Of An RCA Camera

From 1946 till around 1966, most cameras around the world were four lens turrets. The most common array of lenses was the 8 1/2 inch, 135mm, 90mm and 50mm. The turret was first used on the RCA TK30s and TK10s. The last RCA with a turret was the TK60. Below is a look at the range of field these lenses offered. A the networks, on large productions, different cameras may have used different lenses for new perspectives. Lens changes during a live show was not unheard of, but was not par for the course.

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8 responses to “The Business End Of An RCA Camera”

  1. Glenn Mack

    Thank you Fred and Charles. What I never knew was, what the frame size was for pro TV cameras. Variable by manufacturer I’m sure. Thanks for the reply.

  2. Charles MacDonald

    The rule of thumb for all photography is that the “Normal” Lens is equal to the diagonal of the frame. Although often a slightly wider (lower Number) lens is used. A 3 inch pickup probably only had about a 2 1/2 inch diagonal for the image so a 2 inch lens would be about right (AKA 50mm) A 1 inch vidicon often used a 25mm lens (as did a 16mm film camera which had about the same frame size)

  3. William K. Macdonald

    Don’t forget the orbitor, the little motor that moved the IO tube around to keep the image form burning in.

  4. John Roger Bolin

    I remember doing floor manager duties and cueing talent by pointing to the taking lens. If you didn’t, they would often look at the wrong lens and that made them look like they were not looking at the camera.

  5. Dave Dillman

    And for the benefit of those who came in late two points. 1) That hole in the middle of the turret was for a push rod for the mechanical zoom lens.. push and pull to zoom and turn to focus. 2) Different makers had a different position for the pick up tube. In production classes we spent a lot of time studying which lens on which camera was the taking lens.

  6. Fred Schultze

    Glenn, the 50mm was normal. Every 25mm equated to one inch. So a 50 was a two inch lens.

  7. Charlie King

    Hard to remember that far back but on our GE cameras I remember having a 10 inch I think the others were about the same as you show here.

  8. Glenn Mack

    Which was considered the “normal” lens? My guess is the 90mm.

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