Chapter 5

THE TELEVISION CAMERA

People always told me my natural abilityand good eyesight were the reasons formy success as a hitter. They never talkabout the practice, practice, practice.

Ted Williams

I. Parts Of The Camera

II. From Light To Video Signal A. Imaging Device (CCD and CMOS) B. Beam Splitter and Color Filter Array

III. Camera Chain A. Camera Control Unit (CCU) 1. Waveform monitor* a. pedestal b. gain* 2. Vectorscope*

B. Sync Generator and Power Supply 1. Internal sync* 2. External sync* 3. Genlock 4. Power supply

IV. Types Of Cameras A. Studio Cameras 1. Lens 2. Zoom and focus controls 3. Viewfinder

B. EFP Cameras C. ENG/EFP Camcorders 1. Large HDTV camcorders 2. Small HDTV camcorders a. prosumer models b. lens are not interchangeable

V. Special-Purpose Cameras A. DSLR Cameras

B. Digital Cinema Cameras 1. ‘Overcrank’ and ‘undercrank’* 2. Special lens (prime lens) C. Stereo 3D Camcorders

V. Electronic Features A. Imaging Device or Sensor (Transducing) B. Gain 1. Video noise* 2. Signal-to-noise ratio* C. Electronic Shutter

G. White Balance H. Audio Channels

VI. Operational Features A. Power Supply B. Cables and Connectors 1. Cables a. triaxial (triax) cable b. fiber optic cable c. multicore cable

2. Connectors a. RCA (phono) b. USB (2.0 or 3.0) c. FireWire (IEEE 1394) d. HDMI e. Thunderbolt f. BNC g. XLR

g. ¼ phone plug (TRS) h. mini-plug C. Filter Wheel (ND-1 [1/8]*, ND-2 [1/16]*,

ND-3 [1/64]*) D. Viewfinder and Monitor 1. External monitor 2. Color and monochrome*

3. Focus-assist 4. Communication center E. Tally Light and Intercom

VII. Analog And Digital A. What Digital Is All About B. Difference Between Analog and Digital C. Advantages of the Digital Television System

1. Quality a. sampling* b. quantizing* c. coding* 2. Computer compatibility and flexibility 3. Signal transport* a. downloading b. streaming

4. Compression* a. codecs b. compression standards i. MPEG-2 ii. MPEG-4 (H.264)

VIII. Digital Broadcasting Scanning Standards A. SDTV (480p)

B. HDTV (720p) C. HDTV (1080i) D. HDTV (1080p)*

IX. Basic Image Creation A. Image Raster B. Image Resolution 1. Spatial resolution: number of pixels and lines 2. Temporal resolution: number of frames per second

C. Scanning Modes 1. Progressive scan 2. Interlaced scan a. fields b. frames

D. International Standards* 1. NTSC standard* 2. PAL standard* 3. SECAM standard*

E. Color 1. Primary colors* 2. Complimentary colors* 3. Color bars* F. Image Contrast* 1. Contrast ratio* 2. Contrast control (shading*)

X. Color Basics* A. Color Attributes 1. Hue 2. Saturation 3. Brightness a. chrominance (C) b. luminance (Y)