got a sony dxc m3, can anyone give info on it?

[gundamx_10a]

I have a sony dxc m3 production camera and i'm wondering when this was made, what kind of maintenance it could need , etc. any info on this camera would help alot. I can't find any info out there. one of the first dxc's i presume. it's a 3 tube camera is this really crappy?

looks real used and has prob been sitting in a closet a long time.

has fujinon x12 lens

 

[tdangelo]

The Sony DXC-M3 is approximately 20-25 year old technology. My recollection is that it was a three 2/3" chip camera ... the second one in the DXC line (pre dated by the DXC3000).

- Tom D'Angelo
All Mobile Video

 

[DoctorK]

Sony DXC-M3

Sony DXC-M3

These were excellent studio/EFP convertible cameras back in their day (early 1980s). They are three-TUBE (not CCD) and use 2/3" mixed-field saticons. They were very popular in "industrial" film-making, also used for production by a lot of local TV stations. Resolution is in the 500-600 line range. Since everybody wants CCD cameras these days, you can get some really good deals on these on eBay and Craigslist. You can pick up two or three and use one for spare parts. The biggest problems you'll run into on these (and other tube cameras) are burns and mis-registration.

 

[directedition]

How does tube image quality go? I know a 2/3" CCD would be considered top of the line, is the same true of tube? All I know about tube is you have to constantly be adjusting the back-focus.

 

[DoctorK]

I never had a problem with backfocusing--the really old (1960s) tube cameras did have a backfocus adjustment (it was always zoom in/lens focus followed by zoom out/backfocus), but I had a tube camera for over 10 years and never had to mess with backfocus adjustments.

Generally, the larger the tube diameter, the better the resolution. The old vidicons were 2", then 1". While some of the studio cams still used 1", the portable ones were mostly 2/3" or 1/2". I don't think they ever got smaller than that.

Most of the good cams used the Hitachi Saticon tubes. Some have Plumbicons (Philips?)--supposedly these had better red reproduction and less lag. Stay away from "Newvicon" cameras. They were mainly designed for home camcorders--excellent low light sensitivity, but crap in all other ways.