Hello, my name is Beau. I'm a 16 year old goofball from Oregon with electronics hobbies. One reason I came here is that I am looking to build an all-tube video camera from spare tubes in my garage, and an Orthicon or other video camera tube if I can find one. Any tips?

Also introduce y'alls selves to me please.

One thing: a vidicon camera would be much easier as a starting project than an image orthicon, but I don't know the availability of working vidicons.

Welcome to the forum.interesting project. RonL

Welcome to VK!

One thing: a vidicon camera would be much easier as a starting project than an image orthicon, but I don't know the availability of working vidicons.

I've been reading about camera tubes lately, and I found that vidicons were very very laggy under low light levels, and tended to get sunburns easily.
I don't have 1000000000 watt stage lights in my garage, but there is a big one in the sky during the day. :thmbsp:

Welcome!!!!!

I've got a couple of 60s-70s Japanese camera tubes kicking around somewhere...

Welcome.
I'm retired but electronics was my life.
From tv,radio repair to semiconductor research lab
I hope to Ham vests the ones with a flea market.
Season over but near you for next year check schedule
http://www.n7cfo.com/amradio/hf/hf.htm
May get some goods and sometimes free parts equipment

A Plumbicon or Saticon would have much less lag than a vidicon, but still some. It would also rival the sensitivity of an image orthicon, but maybe only with a solid state preamp. The Saticon camera circuits I saw in the early 90s used a low noise FET preamp soldered directly to the faceplate, and the circuit somehow used feedback to cause the target capacitance to compensate its own frequency rolloff (details are foggy in my memory).

Complexic and confuzzling circuits these are. I ought to look into that feedback loop design. Just imagine trying to stuff an EF86 into the same space as a FET hihi.

I looked on LabGuy's website, and he has some schematic for an (ancient) old video camera built by RCA. It used 7 6AG5 tubes for the video amplifier chain, and a double diode (I think) for the DC restoration. I'm gonna have to suck as much gain out of my tubes as possible.

Links:https://www.labguysworld.com/RCA_PH-548_AXT-2A_Restoration.htm

Shielding is also an issue. The only thing I have for that is... the great... the unstoppable... the magnificent... ALUMINUM FOIL! If I remember, Labguy just lined his 5527 iconoscope tube with foil, and it helped shield it. He also had a bad FET for the preamp in his home-made camera.

Links: https://www.labguysworld.com/IconoscopeCameraProject_001.htm

I found out that I could use some thyratrons for sawtooth relaxation oscillators, for the purpose of deflection circuits. I have 4 2D21 thyratron tubes.

Welcome to VK!