Inside The First RCA Experimental Color Cameras

This is Richard C. Webb, designer of the first simultaneous, all-electronic color camera with the Wardman Park dolly mounted camera (as seen in the photo below) with it’s chassis and viewfinder removed. At the front of the cameras is the early optical system of dichroic mirrors bouncing the incoming image to one of three Image Orthicon tubes. I think the lenses are all 35mm. The center lens feeds the green channel, the right lens feeds the red channel and the left lens feeds the blue channel. In the next generation of experimental color cameras, the “coffin cameras” (which we’ll cover tomorrow) have added a turret of lenses and moved the optics inside along with some of the outboard equipment seen in these photos. It’s a shame that none of these, or the coffin cameras are left.

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