RCA TK-42/43 Cameras

[Dave A]

I spent my early tv years behind a TK-43 (the modified version with outboard zoom and focus) in 1969 and became proficient and pushing that beast around. The studio never had an operator that would dolly the thing live for a shot. You just had to learn leverage and momentum. And a cable puller helped.

Ours need about 1/2 hour warmup on a chart before use. Not much tweeking and ours stayed close. The big problem was the three 1" vidicon color tubes. They just added a color smear to the big orthicon. Not much better than VHS reproduction. No wonder NBC never bought any and waited for Plumbicons.

We actually dumped one over one night. The electric pedestal wheels jammed while moving it between shows and it went over and landed on the steering ring. It was a cam head to keep the CG low and not bolted on. It flipped off and hit on a corner bending the upper frame. It was a church show and the church gathered in a prayer circle to pray for it while I had to figure out how to continue with a BW camera. RCA bent it back for more years of service. Me on the left in the studio photo.