13

TV CAMERA
Introduction

A TV Camera consists of three sections :

a) A Camera lens and optics : To form optical image on the face

plate of a pick up device.

b) A transducer or pick up device : To convert optical image into an

electrical signal.

c) Electronics : To process output of a transducer to

get a CCVS signal.

Types of Pick - Up Devices

There are three types of pick up devices based on :

a) Photo emissive material : These material emit electrons when the light falls on
them. Amount of emitted electrons depends on the light. These cameras are
called image orthicon cameras. These cameras are bulky and need lot of light.
These are no longer in use.

b) Photo conductive material : The conductivity of these material changes with

amount of light falling on them. The material with variable conductivity is made
part of an electrical circuit and the signal is thus recovered. First cameras based
on this principle were Vidicon Cameras used in the monochrome telecine chain
of Doordarshan Kendras. As these cameras have serious Lag and other
problems relating to dark currents, further improvement in these cameras led to
the development of Plumbicon and Saticon Cameras.

c) Charge coupled devices : These semiconductor devices convert light into a

charge image which is collected at a high speed to form a signal.

Pick Up Tubes

Most of the Doordarshan Kendras are using cameras based on photoconductive

principle. The tubes used are plumbicon and saticon. The construction of Plumbicon
Basic Course

and Saticon cameras tubes is similar, the major difference being the type of material
used for the target. Operating voltages are slightly different as well. 'Diode-gun'
Plumbicon tube has modulator grid which is operated with positive voltage w.r.t. the
cathode, as in a vacuum-tube diode.

CAMERA CHAIN

A block diagram of a typical three tube camera chain is described in fig. 1. Tube power
supply section provides all the voltages required for various grids of electron gun.
Horizontal and vertical deflection section supplies the saw tooth current to the deflection
coils for scanning the positive charge image formed on the target. The built in sync
pulse generator provides all the pulses required for the encoder and colour bar
generator of the camera.

Fig. 1 Block Diagram of a Plumbicon Camera

The signal system in most of the cameras consists of processing of the signal from red,
blue and green tubes. Some of the cameras use white blue and red tubes instead of
R,G,B system. The processing of red and blue channel is exactly similar. Green
channel, which is also called a reference channel has slightly different electronic
concerning aperture correction. So if we understand a particular channel, the other
channels can be followed easily. So let us trace a particular channel. The signal picked
up from the target is amplified at the target itself in a stage called pre-pre amplifier. It is
then passed to a pre amplifier board with a provision to insert external test signal. Most
of the cameras also provide gain setting of 6 dB, 9 dB and 18 dB at the pre amplifier.
Shading compensator provides H and V shading adjustments in static mode and
dynamic mode by readjusting the gain. After this correction the signal is passed through

STI(T) Publication 148 001/BC/2005

 TV Camera

a variable gain amplifier which provides adjustment for auto white balance, black
balance and aperture correction. Gama correction amplifier provides suitable gain to
maintain a gamma of 0.45 for each channel. Further signal processing includes mixing
of blanking level, black clip, white clip and adjustment for flare correction. The same
processing take place for blue and red channels. Green channel as an additional
electronic which provides aperture correction to red and blue channels. Aperture
correction provide corrections to improve the resolution or high frequency lost because
of the finite size of the electron beam. Green channel has fixed gain amplifier instead of
variable gain amplifier in the red and blue channels.

All the three signals namely R,G and B are then fed to the encoder section of the
camera via a colour bar/camera switch. This switch can select R,G and B from the
camera or from the R,G,B Signal from colour bar generator. In the encoder section
these R,G,B signals are modulated with SC to get V and U signals. These signals are
then mixed with luminance sync., burst and blanking etc. to provides colour composite
video signal (CCVS Signal). Power supply board provides regulated voltages to various
sections.

STI(T) Publication 149 001/BC/2005