Ampex 300 ENG Camera
On December 24, 2012
- TV History
Ampex 300 ENG Camera
This was a small monochrome camera which was used in “ENG” mode with a very large 2 inch quadruplex video recorder VR3000. This debuted around 1967 and was just in time for use at the US political conventions for floor coverage.
Special head wheel used ball bearings instead of air bearing used in regular VTRs. The headwheels didn’t have avery long life, before they had to be refurbed. I believe there was a mini vacuum pump in there to keep the tape against the guide shoe. Record only, so I remember the the guide height and tip penetration was adjusted by an Allen wrench and an outboard scope. Pretty marginal recording, so the playback machine of choice had to have a pretty wide correction window. You can imagine that the speed servo was essentially free running, so the control track was working pretty hard on playback to mimic the record speed fluctuations.
Beast of Burden.
I used the Vr3000. What a pain! Hard enough to keep working on a flat surface inside a van. Way too hard to use on your back. Too many adjustments to make.
How did they get the vacuum for the headwheel tape guide?
…I recall watching archive videos of NCAA football games on ABC/ESPN Classics, and this camera was used on the sidelines !
How much did it weigh? It looks extremely heavy on the back.