HL79D CU

With a Ł26,577** price tag back in 1983 (the lens was extra at about Ł6,000), the Ikegami 79 series
were very 'serious' television cameras indeed. This 'D' version might be described as a 'middle
period' camera and is fitted with the then very latest technology of 'low capacity diode gun
plumbicon' image pick up tubes. (The Ikegami 79 camera was introduced in 1979, the D version in
about 1982 and the last E version a couple of years later.)

Whilst having some degree of automation (lens iris, White balance, beam current, and 'comet-tail'
suppression), cameras such as these required a daily 'set up' to get the very high quality results that
they were capable of. As part of this procedure, the three pick-up tubes needed 'registering' to
ensure that the red, green, and blue images were correctly aligned and matched. Though once
properly adjusted, these portable Ikegami cameras gave pictures rather better than many much
larger studio cameras of the time. Indeed, Ikegami even made a special studio housing that a 79
series camera 'head' (without lens and viewfinder) could be mounted inside which allowed the use
of large and heavy studio lenses and viewfinders.

The replacement 79E, introduced in 1984, had a microprocessor controlled automatic line-up
system. A good 79D or E can still produce rather good images, with resolution and colour fidelity
certainly better than any current domestic or semi-professional camcorder. Low light sensitivity is
another matter though, and to record pictures you will of course need a separate video recorder
connected to the beast.

The modern broadcast CCD camera is far more sensitive, robust, uses less power and is probably
much cheaper to make. It is debatable though that it produces totally better 'pictures' than one of
these old bits of junk. It's a bit like comparing say classic Leica lenses to modern computer
designed and mass produced ones. But there again, some people say that vinyl sounds better than
CD, and I am also often wrong. Oh, and 'HL' stands (would you believe) for 'Handy Looky'...

If you hinge out of the way the HL79D's deflection board, one gets an nice view of what a colour
television camera is all about; three separate image pick-up tubes (Red, Green and Blue - CCD's
of course these days) and an optical splitter to separate out the primary colours.

Underneath the grey 'Canon' plate is a very nice set of low dispersion glass prisms, precision set
within a machined alloy casting.

I believe that Phillips invented the prismatic television camera colour splitter as well as the
Plumbicon image pickup tube. Though one must acknowledge that RCA in America were mostly
responsible for this type of television colour system (actually they called their Plumbicons
'Ledicons').

Sadly for both the Americans and the Dutch, Ikegami in Japan seemed to have been able to take
their technology and make some very good portable cameras (the best of their time?). While
RCA did not seem to want to bother making products that weren't to the American NTSC
(RCA's) standard. These days Ikegami remain one of the best regarded professional and
broadcast television equipment manufacturers, while sadly phillips and RCA are no longer in the
business. Pity really as PAL is widely accepted to be a noticeably better development of the
NTSC, er RCA system. It is surprising that having spent some 26 million $ on devloping the
electronic television system that we all use today, RCA gave up years ago.