Museum of the Broadcast Television Camera

EEV Image Isocon low light tube

EEV Image Isocon type P850 low light tube

This tube is a development of the standard 4.5 inch image orthicon tube. It has a special set of separating plates to split the return beam in to two parts, the specular return beam, with the noise component, which is discarded and the scattered return beam, without noise, that is deflected into the electron multiplier section. This is but a brief description and a full description can be found in the Royal Television Society journal vol.11 no.11 1967.

This tube is possibly the largest and most complex camera tube ever made, dwarfing even the 4.5 inch Image orthicon tube.

EEV made at least 2 other smaller tube sizes, one being the 3 inch type P880 version that could be used, with some modifications to the camera, in a standard 3 inch I.O. camera.