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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteEarly television cameras did not store a picture in empty space. A lens focused light through the tube’s window onto a photosensitive target; inside the evacuated tube, an electron beam scanned that target and turned its changing electrical charge into a video signal. The Iconoscope added charge storage to make scanning more effective, while later Orthicon and Image Orthicon designs improved performance in dim scenes.
How a television camera tube made a picture into a signal
- The lens formed an image. Light from the scene passed through the camera’s optics and the tube’s faceplate or window, landing on a target inside.
- The target responded to light. In photoemissive designs, illumination caused a photosensitive surface to emit electrons. In photoconductive designs, such as the Vidicon family, light changed the target’s electrical resistance.
- An electron beam scanned the target. An electron gun produced a focused beam, and deflection circuits swept it across the target one line at a time in a raster, the same basic pattern used to build a television picture.
- The scan produced video. As the beam read the target, its stored or changing electrical charge altered the signal current. That current became a voltage or current variation whose level followed the brightness of the corresponding part of the scene.
The vacuum mattered because the camera had to emit, focus, and steer electrons inside the tube without air in their path. Light entered through the window and affected the target; it was not captured or stored in the empty space inside the envelope. Information Display’s 1991 technical history and La Cinémathèque française’s Iconoscope collection note describe the target, scanning beam, and signal-producing process.
Why the Iconoscope stored charge between scans
The Image Dissector demonstrated electronic scanning, but it did not store an image on the target: photoelectrons not captured in the scan were effectively lost. The Iconoscope addressed that weakness with a mosaic of photosensitive elements on an insulating sheet, paired with a signal plate. Each mosaic element and the plate behaved like a tiny capacitor.
Light changed the charge associated with the mosaic elements between scans. When the beam returned to an element, it restored that element’s potential; the associated charge movement contributed to the output signal. In this way, the target retained a charge pattern long enough for the scanning beam to read it, improving sensitivity over a design that simply discarded uncaptured photoelectrons. Storage did not eliminate all problems: secondary-electron effects and noise still limited performance.
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- 【Size】: Measuring 29 x 18 x 30 cm and weighing 0.86 kg, this camera figurine fits comfortably on any flat surface without overcrowding space.
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The Iconoscope is associated with Vladimir Zworykin. Institutional histories place its presentation or demonstration in 1933; American broadcast use followed in 1936. The Image Orthicon began replacing it in that broadcast role around 1946, though the dates describe a historical transition rather than a universal changeover. A Science Museum Group record documents an Image Iconoscope made between 1938 and 1948, while the Lebanese American University’s Iconoscope history provides institutional context.
How Orthicon designs improved sensitivity
Orthicon: scanning at low velocity
Developed by Albert Rose and Harley Iams at RCA, the Orthicon introduced low-velocity scanning in 1939. Slowing the electrons as they reached the target reduced charge loss that had hurt Iconoscope sensitivity. Early Orthicons could be unstable, however, and saw limited broadcast use. SMPTE’s historical account summarizes the advance as an improvement over some Iconoscope shortcomings.
Rank #2
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Image Orthicon: amplification for live, low-light work
The Image Orthicon, developed during the World War II period, combined an image section and a fine-mesh target with return-beam electron multiplication. The target formed and stored a charge image, while multiplication increased the effective output. That combination made low-light live broadcasting practical at scale and helped make the Image Orthicon a dominant studio and field camera tube from 1946 through the late 1970s.
Information Display’s 1991 article reports Image Orthicon target details of glass about 3 μm thick and a mesh roughly 40 μm away, with 250,000 holes per square inch and 70% transparency. Those are design figures for the device discussed in that historical article, not specifications for camera tubes generally. The same article gives an ASA 10,000 sensitivity equivalent; that is a historical engineering claim, not a modern standardized camera comparison. Image Orthicons also had trade-offs, including target-life and image-sticking problems.
Rank #3
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How the main camera-tube families differed
| Tube family | Target and principle | Practical strength | Trade-off | Typical use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iconoscope | Photoemissive mosaic with charge storage | Enabled practical electronic broadcast scanning | Sensitivity and image-uniformity limitations | Early television broadcasting |
| Orthicon | Storage target with low-velocity scanning | Reduced charge loss and improved sensitivity | Early versions could be unstable | Limited broadcast use |
| Image Orthicon | Image section, charge storage, and return-beam amplification | Very high sensitivity for low-light work | Target life and image sticking | Studio and field live broadcasting |
| Vidicon family | Photoconductive target; target materials varied | Compact and adaptable | Lag and highlight behavior varied by material | Closed-circuit, industrial, film-transfer, and later broadcast work |
| Plumbicon | Lead-oxide photoconductive target | Stable dark current and useful color performance | Highlight trails or lag could be visible | Live color cameras |
These families were not interchangeable upgrades along a single path. Their target materials and readout methods involved different compromises in sensitivity, lag, resolution, image behavior, and intended use.
Vidicon and Plumbicon: photoconductive targets for different jobs
Vidicon refers to a family of tubes with photoconductive targets. In the original design, selenium’s resistance changed with illumination; later versions used materials such as antimony trisulfide. Variants were used in closed-circuit and industrial television and adapted to transfer film to video. Their compactness and adaptability suited those roles, although lag and response to highlights depended on the particular target material.
Rank #4
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SMPTE dates the introduction of the Plumbicon to 1965. It used a lead-oxide target and became important in live color broadcasting; its stable dark-current behavior was useful, though visible highlight trails or lag could occur. Later families such as Saticon and Newvicon served other combinations of sensitivity, cost, resolution, and lag rather than replacing every earlier tube in every application. The historical sequence and use cases are summarized in SMPTE’s 1981 account and Information Display’s technical history.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What survives of the hardware
These cameras depended on specialized targets, electron optics, and vacuum envelopes, so a surviving tube is a physical piece of imaging technology rather than just a glass bulb. The Science Museum Group catalogs an Image Iconoscope in the BBC Heritage Collection, dated 1938–1948 and measuring 125 × 140 × 270 mm. La Cinémathèque française also catalogs an Iconoscope assembly and describes its internal target and scanning components. Such museum records document examples; they do not establish present-day retail availability, condition, or price.
Quick Recap
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