LabGuy's World: Vintage B/W Video Cameras

New Photos Added! 01.09.23
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1974: Panasonic WV-3085 - Vidicon Portapack Camera.
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        This camera is the mate to the Panasonic NV-3085 EIAJ portapack VTR. It has a 2/3" vidicon tube, 1-1/2" CRT viewfinder. The lens is the good old standard Fujinon 6:1 (12.5 - 75mm) zoom lens. Very light at about 5 pounds, makes it easier to carry than the Sony AVC-3400. Unfortunately, the pistol grip is not easily removable. The camera can be mounted on a tripod, attached at the bottom of the grip, but it is not a very stable arrangement. I guess you were expected to pack this one around by hand most of the time too.
SIDEBAR:
        The first two photos were taken in a triple exposure using a B/W Connectix Quickcam and three colored (red, green & blue) filters. These three images were then recombined using Paintshop Pro to produce a full color view. The Quickam's resolution was only 320 x 240! The colors are accurate, despite the apparent difference between the first two photos and the third photo. The third photo is of a different particular WV-3085 that is actually light grey where as the original one is the light eggshell color.
        The third photo is also the most recent one, taken with  my newer Olympus C-3030 digital camera at an original resolution of 2048 x 1536. In post processing, I reduced the image size to 640 x 480 and increased the JPEG Q factor to reduce the final file size and make the image load quicker over your dial-up internet connection. Even with all of the post processing, the image quality is still great, supporting the notion that starting with oversampled data results in a superior final poduct!
        The last photo is taken with my old digital camera, a Panasonic PV-DC1000 PalmCam at 640 x 480 resolution. That camera has a poor quality JPEG algorithm and always produced a characteristic grainy look.
        As time permits, I will be replacing the older low quality photos with better, more recent, ones. It is quite easy to see the difference between the Panasonic PV-DC1000 PalmCam and my newer Olympus C-3030 digital camera. It's amazing what three short years means in the evolution of modern high technology imaging products! ~LabGuy~
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        Last Updated: September 23, 2001