Does anyone know what cameras were used in the 70s to make those televsion dramas
for example BBC the stone tape by nigel kneale
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Df1i4ki8LE&feature=related
Is it possible to hire/ buy these cameras or is there anything that achieves the same effect.
If anyone has any idea I would love to know
The studio material for that programme was shot on EMI 2001 4 tube colour cameras at BBC Television Centre.
Those cameras are extremely difficult to make work at all now... many of the components used in them fail with age. A very few might have been restored to working condition by enthusiasts....
I doubt you would actually want to hire one because:-
It takes four people to lift that camera.
The mountings used to support the camera (in a studio) are made with heavyweight precision engineering.
The camera head is connected to a CCU (Camera Control Unit) by a 101 wire cable, which is over an inch and a half in diameter. (The CCU and it's power supply were each about the size of single electric oven.....)
The cameras required precision alignment by talented electronic engineers a couple of times a day to maintain their performance.
They needed lots of light to produce good pictures.
They were 4 x 3 standard definition only...;)
.....oh, I could go on and on ( I operated these cameras for a few years in the early '70s ) ......
You should maybe go and look at this to get an idea of what those cameras were all about.....enjoy...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGvO29NQ8xs
Of course it's not just the camera that gives the "look" of the pictures...... and as far as "The Stone Tape" is concerned, the very talented Lighting Director Bob Wright had a lot to do with it as well......
dave j
Hi Dave
That's John Henshall hiding behind the moustache, isn't it? Could really have done with a Take 2 - but perhaps they were short of tape.
Ray
Hi Will you many not have seen it but we were talking about these cameras a few months ago, there are also a couple of links to some BBC archive in this thread:http://forums.dvdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=50329&highlight=boat
cheers dave , I thought that might be the case , I've always been curious what those programs were shot on, I guess the nearest I can get to that style is by using a tube camera.
http://www.bcs.tv/store/model_detail.cfm?id=5144
the sony DX3 MC looks like fun
I remember seeing "The Stone Tape" when first broadcast, and remember thinking at the time it was quite special. I bought it a few years ago on DVD.
If anyone is interested - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stone_Tape
In addition to what Dave says, that link does mention some location sequences, and my memory is that they were shot using location video cameras, not 16mm film as would have been more usual at the time. If so, it's almost certain they would have been Bosch KCR40 cameras.
It's also worth pointing out one other paragraph in the wikipedia section ;):
For the research facility at “Taskerlands”, Kneale was influenced by a visit he had paid to the BBC's research and development facility which is based at an old country house at Kingswood Warren in Kingswood, Surrey. Similarly, the researchers working at Kingswood Warren influenced the portrayal of the members of the Ryan research team in The Stone Tape. Kneale recalled of his visit to Kingswood Warren, “The sort of impression you got of the folk who worked there was a boyishness. They were very cheerful. It was all rather fun for them, which is a very clever way to go about doing that sort of heavy research. [...] They were nice chaps – and so we got some very nice chaps for the TV version”
The 2001 was a magnificent brute of a camera, I was brought up on it (and the Marconi Mk VII). Bradford museum has some fully working ones, and there are quite a few in private hands as part of working collections. I still have the optical block of one in a box in my office, far too nice to throw away.
Some useful info and pictures here http://www.tvcameramuseum.org/emi/2001/emi2001_1.htm
I remember seeing "The Stone Tape" when first broadcast, and remember thinking at the time it was quite special. I bought it a few years ago on If anyone is interested - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stone_TapeIn addition to what Dave says, that link does mention some location sequences, and my memory is that they were shot using location video cameras, not 16mm film as would have been more usual at the time. If so, it's almost certain they would have been Bosch KCR40 cameras. ............
It's my opinion '72 would be quite early for them to have been using a KCR40, but we certainly has a lightweight drama unit equipped with them by late '74.
I wouldn't rule out a conventional O.B. ...or possibly the location was just outside somewhere with onsite electronic cameras that were rigged outside on long cables....
I will try to do some research on that.
Thanks for that quote about Kingswood Warren... the thought that "The Stone Tape" characters and setting were based on that establishment is very entertaining..... :)
When did you join the BBC Alan ? :D
It's my opinion '72 would be quite early for them to have been using a KCR40, but we certainly has a lightweight drama unit equipped with them by late '74.
I'm starting to think you're probably right. They were (I believe) developed by Bosch initially for the 1972 Munich Olympics, and entered more widespread service after that. I do remember that much of the original series of "The Survivors" was done with them, and that must have been early 1976 and before I was working in TV.
There's detail of the original LPU here - http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/rd/pubs/archive/pdffiles/engineering/bbc_engineering_106.pdf (p17 onwards) - but it does mention prototype lightweight drama vehicles before then....?
The one I worked with in 1974 is described here:
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/rd/pubs/archive/pdffiles/engineering/bbc_engineering_96.pdf
pages 7/8 ish..... ( ....they really hadn't grasped the need to page number for .pdf back in the '70s, had they..... :) )
I started there April 1968, well in time. I don't remember his visit though, I would probably not have been working on TV directly at that stage. I was developing Ceefax and then on into building a surface-wave filter fabrication machine until 1975.
I started there April 1968, well in time. I don't remember his visit though, I would probably not have been working on TV directly at that stage. I was developing Ceefax and then on into building a surface-wave filter fabrication machine until 1975.
I'll still have to watch it again and look out for a character based on you.... now what might you have looked like around 1970.... ? :D
I'll still have to watch it again and look out for a character based on you....
Well... if Alan says "....building a surface-wave filter fabrication machine" that sounds suspiciously like the new washing machine that the rival research team were working on, not the new recording medium. ;) In which case, that puts him indirectly responsible for Jill's death......
There's a brief plot outline on the wikipedia link I posted earlier...... :)
Reading a lot of digital camera reviews help me get some in depth information about it. Such a classic rig.