Defunct giant US electronics manufacturer. Liked to think that it invented everything tv & radio.
RCA TK11A
Period:
from the beginning of 1950's to the end of 1960's
Type:
Broadcast TV cameras
Quantity:
1 specimens available
The RCA TK11A was a 3"inch b/w image orthicon camera used mainly in the USA and Asia. Some European use. A few were used in the UK during the 1950s by the independent television company Associated-Rediffusion at their Wembley and Kingsway studios. The camera generally used Kodak Ektar lenses.
A US 1950s ob scene with the President about to depart? Actually a Mercedes commercial filmed in 1997 at Walthamstow Town Hall. The RCA TK 10A tv camera is a genuine period item (as is the motor car).
The RCA TK 10A was the 1950s studio version of the RCA TK 30A 'field' camera. The TK 10A used a 3"inch image orthicon monochome tube and had a turret of four, usually Kodak Ektar lenses. The larger image shows the TK10A with an 'implant' viewfinder, shooting 'The Last Shadow Puppets'
from the beginning of 1950's to the beginning of 1970's
Type:
Pan & Tilt Heads
Quantity:
1 specimens available
Unique in the UK, a complete RCA friction pan & tilt head with tripod (type TD 11A) and dolly (type TD 15A). This friction head type was used extensively in American monochrome tv stations and also on 'remotes' with the tripod and dolly combination which folded for easy transportation. 'Low cost' tv studios also used the tripod and dolly as an alternative to a pedestal. Manufactured by Houston-Fearless, the RCA pan head & dolly was used for over twenty five years (and may indeed still be running around somewhere). Larger picture shows the Dolly/Skid folded.
First self contained 3 tube colour TV camera. Named '76' for the US bicentennial year. The camera that made ENG (Electronic News Gathering) really viable.
Fully developed 3 tube colour TV camera offering microprocessor control and alignment. Popular around the world and often finding many 'second user' assignments in many places.
2" Quadruplex VTR, very large, very heavy. One unit in full working order. Excellent multi standard machine. Transfer work considered - please enquire.
1850A Iconoscope camera tube. This tube is from the late 1940's but the design is late 1930's. The difference in the period of manufacture is denoted by the internal white flashing. The tube is not gassed and the getter is still good.
The 3 inch Image Orthicon tube was produced first in the USA by RCA initially for WW2 military use and then in 1945 for broadcast use. Termed a 'low velocity' photo emmisive tube, the 3 inch IO revolutionised tv camera design and tv production because of its high sensitivity. This enabled outside broadcasting to be undertaken in very poor light and also implimented the use of camera lens turrets and electronic viewfinders. One 'trick' of the 3 inch IO was that it could photograph the human face by the light of a single small candle. The black 'halo' reproduced around the candle flame was another matter.
Year
