The reason pro cameras used black and white viewfinders was sharpness. Camera operator is focusing, and wants a very sharp picture for fine focus.

@Colaholiker

2 жыл бұрын

That's what I've learned about it. Camera operators in professional production don't bother much aout color, as that's pretty stable in studio conditions and can be fixed in post. But a blurry image can't be fixed in post production, so they need to focus (pun intended) on that, and a sharp black and white image is just better for that.

@12voltvids

2 жыл бұрын

@@Colaholiker Auto white balance is pretty good. A cameraman's job is framing and focus. Sports is where color viewfinder helps.

@stickytapenrust6869

2 жыл бұрын

@@Colaholiker The camera operator’s job hasn’t really changed since the days of b/w. The job of colour rendition is the job of the makeup artist, costume designer, lighting director and vision engineer.

@hbp_

Жыл бұрын

Professional viewfinders still often have B&W mode :) Also one reason why we were stuck with CRTs for so long was that they were pretty much instant where as LCDs used to have some delay. In fact, I believe most modern pro viewfinders are OLED.

@12voltvids

Жыл бұрын

@@hbp_ that's correct I have two professional cameras and the eyepiece on them is OLED. You can't beat it for color accuracy. They both have flip out LCD screens for a framing but for focus work and for checking exposure etc I use the OLED viewfinder exclusively.

This guy's definition of a "really cool party trick" makes me wanna hang out with him

@TheHitmanAgent

2 жыл бұрын

Adevarat, sunt de acord! Dar banuiesc, esti constient ca prin aceasta suntem catalogati niste ciudati (nerds) 😂

@dragosmoldovan990

2 жыл бұрын

@@TheHitmanAgent Imi asum aceasta eticheta :)

@boowiebear

2 жыл бұрын

Agreed!

@bombardierulbombardier2561

Жыл бұрын

Dorian popa este popo!

What they could do with old technology always impresses me more than any modern display. It could be an 8K monitor & it wouldn't be as interesting as this for some reason.

@jeanhaley3051

3 жыл бұрын

Wait until someone starts breaking down 8k monitors as retro tech in 30 years.

@anzetal9586

3 жыл бұрын

Not as interesting as something heading towards the _f E r r y b o a t_

@kyanhluong

3 жыл бұрын

Because beside it clever someone have to break it down ?

@slowanddeliberate6893

3 жыл бұрын

This older tech is more clever. Nowadays, everything is regulated by microprocessors.

@maboesanman

3 жыл бұрын

I think this is generally down to the much higher complexity of modern cutting edge technology. You can’t really explain the truly clever parts of modern microprocessors in a 30 minute video. Things like branch prediction in modern processors are absurdly clever and complex, but they’re also less accessible for a video format.

The expensive camera’s CRT was B&W because they are much sharper, and focus is more important than color accuracy. Color can be changed in post, focus can’t.

@bobbobskin

3 жыл бұрын

One of the reasons a well set up 3 gun crt projector like an old barco gives such a good picture by comparison to led projectors even now.

@chickenfizz

3 жыл бұрын

I came here to say this! It's more that colour CRT and LCDs actually make worse view finders.

@thewindows95guy

3 жыл бұрын

Also battery life would be better with a Black and White CRT opposed to a Color one I think.

@spikester

Жыл бұрын

@@bobbobskin DLP was the best of all worlds, but the good kind that used 3 DMD's one for each RGB channel & recombined in a prism; no color wheels.

@spikester

Жыл бұрын

Err, is? Seems its still widely used even with discrete laser light sources, cool!

Yeah, I'm also here from Technology Connections. You're doing great work, and I'm subbed!

@TonyLambregts

3 жыл бұрын

Me too. I am impressed. Liked and subbed

@SeanGarcia0411

3 жыл бұрын

Same. Thanks TC for showing me yet another awesome channel. Subbed.

@sonarun

3 жыл бұрын

I was randomly given this video by the YT gods, perhaps because I like TC. Clearly, they knew me better than myself.

@emagotis

3 жыл бұрын

He just explained the degauss button as it was a child's play.

@Beardwhip

3 жыл бұрын

Same! Subbed! Eager to see what else he has in store

>click on vid >some dude just talking about something he's interested in, no fancy edits and its completely niche and barely related to my interests >Instantly subscribe Very good, time for another tech youtube binge

@MrBratkenSolov

3 жыл бұрын

no no, you have a point. Really underrated channel

Props to Technology Connections for bringing me to this channel. Surprised I've never seen you before. Hopefully you get more attention. You're already a good personality on camera, more support will be great for you. Good luck 👍

@Jademalo

3 жыл бұрын

Solid filming with great audio, simple and concise explanations with great examples, the clear knowledge to back it all up, the works. Quickest sub in a long time!

@thisguy2958

3 жыл бұрын

@@Jademalo Difficult to argue with accuracy. The explanations are well thought out for people who may not understand what they're looking at.

You owe technology connections a beer ;-)

@CathodeRayDude

3 жыл бұрын

YOU'RE TELLING ME GOSH GOLLY

I never get tired of your technical story telling. The 80’s and 90’s went through tech faster than the 1800’s to 1979. What a time to be alive!

This was genuinely fascinating and very very well presented and edited. You've earned a sub, I'm glad technology connections put us on to you!

@CathodeRayDude

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you so much! Yeah, I'm pretty indebted to him, haha.

@joannaatkins822

3 жыл бұрын

@@CathodeRayDude I wouldn't say that, he just saw your excellent, interesting content and wonderful delivery and gave you a little boost. You would have been recognised for your hard work sooner or later if you'd kept the quality to this quality level. Keep on Grinding!

@thedave7760

2 жыл бұрын

@@CathodeRayDude One of the reasons was for image sharpness, if you make a colour CRT VF then you couldn't have hi resolution in such a small form factor. I would rather have a sharp image so I can check for focus and trust that my white balance is working properly.

Great video on an amazing piece of technology. One reason that professional TV cameras had monochrome viewfinders until very recently is based on the needs of videographers, and a little bit on technology... There are 4 basic things a videographer is worried about: 1) Composition, how the shot is framed. This isn't hampered by screen technology. 2) Focus. This is the important one. If it's out of focus, it's useless. So a professional TV camera, which (almost) always use manual focus, must have as sharp a screen as possible to help the camera operator judge their focus. So if you are going to add color to a viewfinder, you have to be able to do it in a way that doesn't compromise resolution at all. Add to that the human eye sees much finer detail in monocrome, and there isn't any real need for color to focus a camera. 3) Exposure. Again, it's the brightness of the image that really matters. A profesional TV camera has a large iris control right there at the operator's fingertips (except in a studio/multi-camera environment where a "Shader" is remotely adjusting exposure & color on all cameras so they match.) Again, it's easier to see brightness in monocrome, and you certainly couldn't compromise the dynamic range for the benefit of color. 4) Color. Obviously good color is important when producing color TV. In a professional environment you need really good color rendition to monitor color, or it's not worth doing it. So when you factor all those things in together, until you could get a viewfinder that could produce images as bright, sharp, & accurate as a full size video monitor, adding color to the mix was more of a hindrance than a help. It's not that it couldn't be done, but it was very very difficult to do well enough, so monocrome actually worked better for professional applications. Color was (and to a degree still is) something handled by someone with a high quality color monitor somewhere, in a control room or edit bay. I have worked in control rooms making color TV where the only color monitor was the 1 for the "Shader" at the engineering position, and the entire rest of the wall was black & white monitors, even to make a color TV program.

@CathodeRayDude

3 жыл бұрын

That all makes a ton of sense! Like, imagine if *THIS* thing had wound up in a pro camera - they would have sold flat out *zero* units. The color just isn't important beyond white balance, which can always be done in post, compared to a clear and distinct image - focusing with THIS viewfinder is impossible, you just can't do it, but I've hand focused that Panasonic, on my shoulder, while panning, with no external display, and nailed it. I didn't have a chance to demonstrate the difference between the consumer and pro B&W finders as clearly as I would have liked, because I forgot to bring home an 80s camera with a *working* viewfinder (e.g. with eyepiece) but the quality of the viewfinder image in those was *markedly* inferior to the Panasonic. Looking through the VF on the studio camera you quickly forget it's not in color, even as a layperson. I had a few other drafts where I made this point better, but the last take of this video popped a lot better than any of those so I went with it even though I skimmed over this point. Anyway, thanks for watching!

@Andrew_Sparrow

3 жыл бұрын

Saved me from typing almost the same ;) - Thanks

@alex.thedeadite

3 жыл бұрын

So that's one way how colour mismatch continuity breaks can happen, sometimes only the colour correctors know the right colours so others can't point it out if they miss something unless they are in view of the set.

@dh2032

3 жыл бұрын

as you said auto focus, was rubbish back then, if it mattered you would not trust it at all, it would just start focusing on the wrong object in view all the time.

@everlastingphelps

3 жыл бұрын

Came here to say nearly the same thing. You even see the B&W option today on pro cameras like the EOS C100 now, along side the other focus helpers like edge zebras and the 4x zoom in the corner.

You did an extremely good presentation. This is coming from a TV tech for 50+ years.

I've gotta say, I think you pulled off the clearest explanation of how a CRT works I've ever encountered. Great little animations, too. Love it. Fantastic video!

@CathodeRayDude

3 жыл бұрын

IT'S BECAUSE I WAS RACING AS FAST AS I COULD thanks!! The animations are so so so much work to make but man they sure help

@sab0004

3 жыл бұрын

@@CathodeRayDude those were amazing

@musicalcacti

3 жыл бұрын

@@CathodeRayDude just a suggestion but try to look a little more directly at your camera, it can be a little distracting when it seems like you are looking at somebody behind me. I know you might be using a teleprompter which can be complicated, but maybe just work on some different shooting angles and see how they work.

Tech Connections brought me here... And he pulls out the 2001 camera I used to use shooting College Football games! Awesome! The B&W was fine for that purpose, because you just wanted crisp focus.

In my opinion, KZreadrs like you are so important! KZreadrs who specialize in old technology and explaining it in details that were even hidden to the majority of people of that era. You document and preserve pieces of history and present it in an easily accessible way. Thank you! The physics and engineering skills of old technology is amazing. You deserve at least as much subscribers as my other favourite retro tech channels, Techmoan, The 8-Bit Guy and LGR.

This lil CRT would be awesome paired with that Wii that was cut down and fit into an Altoids tin.

You're an incredible presenter, 5 min in and I've already learned so much. easy sub

Your channel is about to explode, and after watching this video you honestly deserve it. You're incredibly well spoken and so informative and well researched it's unreal. I've never seen one of your videos before but I'm 5 mins into this one and have already subscribed. I can't wait to see more videos like this in the future.

@CathodeRayDude

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you so much!! I work so hard on these and I always feel like I'm underdoing it - everyone is saying I made a lot of sense but to me I'm like "no!! i went twice as fast as I should have! i didn't pause to let people digest the info!!!" but apparently i'm doing fine?? everyone says i am??? it's so hard to believe!

@danwoodward23

3 жыл бұрын

@@CathodeRayDude I like your fast pace. It kept me watching right to the end. I understood every word and it was overall very entertaining. Best of luck my friend

@awesomeferret

3 жыл бұрын

No, you're doing it perfectly. Don't change!

Damn cool man. I'm a systems engineer, and can confirm that with this kind of feedback it'd be really easy to make a system that gets the beam gun changing the signal at the right rate. Hell you could probably pull it off with just the uv strip, and if you were really good you might be able to cut down the total number of uv strips. But having two strips is a good safe way of doing it.

@joshuascholar3220

2 жыл бұрын

And the problem with having a green strip is that he means that you can't set a totally visible green color all the way to black. That might be why the display "sucks" - ie. has low contrast and faded color.

I dont know how I have not seen this channel before. Its exceptional. This is the third video I have seen of yours and each one is amazing. You have a real voice and flare for presenting information.

@CathodeRayDude

3 жыл бұрын

Glad you enjoy it!

I love how fast you go. Great explanations. Well done!

Welp, this channel is about to take off in a big way - Technology Collections gave ya a shout, dude! Love your style and your apparently great knowledge - new subscriber for sure!

@CathodeRayDude

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you so much! Yeah, I owe him a beer or fifty, hahaha.

@awesomeferret

3 жыл бұрын

I'm surprised he isn't at 50+k by now, he's so much better than many 100+k channels. Sorta makes peu wonder if he got erroneously whacked by some KZread blacklist somehow.

Years ago I knew someone who put a bar magnet near a CRT and was thrilled by the effect it produced. When she pulled it away, the funky colors ramained and no amount of degauzzing would fix it. So it was possible to not only magnitize the shadow mask, but to physically distort it thus damaging the CRT and have it always display the wrong colors.

I can hear the distinctive sound of the CRT while watching this video.

Wow you weren’t kidding. That was quick. Great video. Love the “it’s interesting but totally useless now” genre of topics. Every time you say eyecup I just remember “say ICUP out loud”

@CathodeRayDude

3 жыл бұрын

I was actually MORTIFIED that I kept saying eye cup. It's accurate, but NOT the phrase I wanted to use on camera! I kept trying to say "eyepiece" which sounds a little less... weird, imo, to the uninitiated? But eyecup just kept coming out and I threw up my hands and just went with it because the rest of the shoot was going so well. Thanks for watching!

This is the first video of yours I've come across and I just wanted you to know I think you're an exceptionally good teacher. I've subscribed.

Great video, what's crazy is I could hear the high pitched CRT sound in my headphones from this video

The thing about degaussing color CRTs reminded me of something we used to do long ago in college. In the early '90s, I went to a tech school that had a computer center full of DECstations, with huge (for the time) CRT monitors. A bunch of us discovered that if you flicked the degauss button on those monitors really lightly with a fingernail, the screen would do about half of the usual "rainbow pulse" thing and then stay that way until the button was pressed properly, at which point it would go back to normal. Then you could wait for someone who didn't know the trick to come along and be like, "Oh no, something's wrong with this one," and you could walk up and "fix" it and look like a wizard. We were easily amused in those days. :)

Great stuff. A really good high speed overview of CRTs, too

Love it. Here from TC as well. You’re a great presenter!

Thank you for this wonderful video! It’s great to see you gush passionately about something even as you say it’s pointless in a way. Wrapping it up into a message about researching the seemingly mundane is exactly the kind of thing I appreciate about you and your keen perspective! Also: again, thanks for the captions. :>

and now I understand how CRTs work so much better than I ever did, thanks as usual for presenting interesting topics and being a very engaging teacher!

Dude, you're a legend, this was really interesting!

Soo interesting!

@jeremycodes6670

3 жыл бұрын

Hey, je regardais vous vidéos depuis 2012, ça a alimenté ma passion pour l'électronique, merci

@piefadaseyt7893

3 жыл бұрын

Hey, haven't seen you in years!

@atmel9077

3 жыл бұрын

Ça fait plaisir de vous retrouver ! Incroyable comme le monde est petit.

What a wondefully succinct description. So nice to see a techie who can describe things properly. Duely impressed, thanks!

Nicely presented, clearly spoken and easy to understand by anyone interested in CRTs.

The KZread algorithm is starting to shine on this man

@TheAechBomb

3 жыл бұрын

nope, just Technology Connections :P

"i have an ebay saved search for every single indextron ever made" gravis-like typing detected XD

@CathodeRayDude

3 жыл бұрын

Do Not Own Me

I'm here from Technology Connections and I must say I am very glad I found your channel. Great work and you've got a new subscriber!

Having been in the TV Repair bizz for almost 40 yrs myself, you are very knowledgeable and well spoken with your explanations....well done young man..!! Great channel also.!

Hey, a fellow CRT afficiando! Great video. I had no idea about a color CRT viewfinder.

Great content I wish you luck on your journey on KZread brother I'm gonna be a long time subscriber excited to see where your channel goes!

I think your on screen presences is really really good...its why I watch. And your show are always very interesting and fascinating.

Excellent video and really superlative description of the technologies. Thanks.

woah this video is way too under rated, awesome video!

@JerryFlowersIII

3 жыл бұрын

Under rated? It looks like you caught the video only about an hour after it premiered. It's POPPIN' now.

Subbed from Technology Connections, hello!

@Purple431

3 жыл бұрын

Me too ❤️

This is an amazing video my man, I absolutely love everything about it

Congratulations! Very fun and informative to watch. Thanks.

“Before flat screens came down in price”, yep he’s right about that one. I remember people wouldn’t shut up about “plasma”.

@kuronekogaming8378

3 жыл бұрын

Oh damn! Nearly forgot about these.

I honestly just thought this was the Technology Connections guy but 5 years ago

Very well explained, Dude. Probably the best explanation of colour CRTs, I have ever heard.

Super happy I got lead down this rabbit hole. Super interesting to learn about tech I had no idea I even wanted to learn about. Good niche!

Fascinating! Subbed

Go find yourself a Sony Videomagic. Beam index (single gun) color tube projector.

I've never seen a more concise and coherent explanation of how a color CRT works - I now actually understand what a shadow mask is and why it exists. Excellent animated diagrams, too. Well done.

Wow that is a really neat display.. And you seem to have a lot of interesting devices and CRTs that you can show more to us and explain more like this one.. great video!

Basically a more personable Technology Connections

@ds-il7ik

3 жыл бұрын

How dare you

@Left-Earth

3 жыл бұрын

*"Don't judge or compare people to your expectations, please."* LoL 😂

Appreciate you being succinct. Good format. Good audio (important). Good framing. Enjoy the ambient thing spread.

@CathodeRayDude

3 жыл бұрын

haha, ambient thing spread?

You do an AWESOME job at explaining things.

The passion of this guy is amazing, you can tell he truly loves what he does!

I went to film/broadcasting school from 2002-2006 and my professors told me a black and white viewfinder was preferable. We were told black and white was better for seeing contrast and exposure and especially focus, and that viewfinder color wasn't trustworthy anyway, we were told to use scopes and field monitors for checking color. I don't know if it's rose colored glasses looking back, but I do remember b&w viewfinders pretty comfy for composition and checking exposure and such. But I'm definitely glad to have the tech we have today lol

This is so cool! Thanks for sharing this. It’s amazing how these things work, I had never heard of this.

Sweet video dude! Thank you for sharing your knowledge! I'm excited to see more!!!

this is excellent material, hoping this channel gets the attention it deserves!

Super cool tech, I really appreciate all of your videos. For real.

This is an underrated channel. Thanks for the video @cathode ray dude

I've worked in TV for decades and have seen lots of one of a kind implementations, but I had never heard of this one before. Thanks.

God... it took me a few days to watch this, but .... for a guy with only a few thousand subs this is great! Energetic, knowledgeable, a bit fun. Love it! I’m a subscriber now

I love anything with a CRT in it... so wished I found your channel a lot sooner... BUT I'M HERE NOW!

The level of detail in both research and presentation is awesome. I am looking forward to watching many more of your videos. You are truly fantastic. Also here from TC and I have subscribed.

@CathodeRayDude

3 жыл бұрын

thank you so much! it hurts me physically to say things that either aren't complete ideas or feel like they aren't totally correct so I can't help but research as hard as I can to try to be as right as possible.

I played with a camcorder with that kind of color screen way back in the day. I thought it was neat that the color would go away when you covered the sensors, but never delved any deeper. I had no idea how fascinating the tech was. Thanks for expanding my knowledge on this!

I didn't notice technology connections gave you a bump, but I like his videos, I'm seeing your videos popping up all of a sudden, and I like your videos as well. Subbed.

What a bizarre and delightful creation. More pls!

the CRT squael in these videos is painfull im so glad I got into the broadcast biz after CRTs were phased out id die every time I walked into a studio

Dude this amazing info. I wish more people appreciated this kind of old display tech. Your presentation style is so clear and precise. Amazing total package video.

@CathodeRayDude

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you so much! It physically hurts me to explain something partially so I just try to get the WHOLE STORY into one go.

@CullenCraft

3 жыл бұрын

@@CathodeRayDude you did very well. One suggestion, the 15.7khz crt whine is slightly audible in this video. You probably know about it, but I wanted to let you know in case you didn't. It's easy to pull out with an equalizer in post production, but it might add to the style of your channel. Can't wait for the next video!

This is fascinating and your passion is powerful.

@CathodeRayDude

3 жыл бұрын

thank you. I only have two modes, utterly breathless and disinterested

Subbed. Great content, good production. What a blast from the past

That is so cool. So specific and so cool. Thanks for doing that video. I didn't came from Technology Connections but you showed up on my homepage, probably cause I'm a TC subscriber and they all suddenly watched your videos.

@CathodeRayDude

3 жыл бұрын

People keep telling me The Algorithm is Blessing me, and I guess it's true! Thanks for watching!

Whoa 6 minutes in & I can understard CRTs way better than before, thanks! 👌

So, I just saw your videos for the first time today. I automatically got the "Alec Connectify but much nerdier" vibe and decided to subscribe before I even finished the video. It was the one about the old m9dem from the 60's that won't die. I LOVE your videos!

These will definitely go up in value. Smart hobby.

I'm so happy that Alec from Technology Connections linked to this video in one of his posts. This is good stuff that deserves more eyes on it.

CRD!! please keep up with this stuff :) really valuable to the community

you have the best tech ephemera channel on KZread, carry on

Good job with that vid man, Technology Connection gave you a pretty epic shout out, You’ve got a certain way to make viewers be interested in what you show them!

i love your shirt dude and i also love CRTs and learning about them

Super cool - thanks for making this. Love the detective work.

Thanks TC for showing me this cool channel

Well done sir!!! This was the most complete and concise explanation of CRT operation that I personally have ever heard. Karl Ferdinand Braun would be proud

Man I love your style. Liked and subbed. Keep educating people dude you're great at it 👍.

Those monochrome CRTs were used in pro (even digital high-def) cameras for a long time for the simple reason that they could produce a VERY sharp image on a tiny surface, which allowed the camera operator to preview the image and adjust things like iris or focus without having to use a large outboard monitor. Colour CRTs always have some degree of image granularity because of their shadow mask, while monochrome CRTs could in theory have a 'resolution' of single electron hitting their screen.

@jimhutton2390

3 жыл бұрын

CRTs do not loose resolution with motion, very annoying with football games. Probably more importantly CRTs work over a very wide temperature range unlike LCDs. Color CRTs generally have an electron beam size that covers about 5 holes in the shadow mask. Especially small size monochrome CRTs can have very small spot sizes if the high voltage is high enough.

This is fantastic. What a great video you've made cathode ray dude. The de-gauss explanation was great. Always wondered what it actually did, I knew it was magnetic, but what did it do ??. I had a huge Sony PC monitor in the 90's and the de-gauss function made a hell of a " boink " whenever it was activated. Now I know why. Your videos are superb buddy. You're a great presenter too. Hats off to you.

Subscribed... love the way you explain things quickly.

Your speaking and writing is really clear and concise. Thanks for the video, look forward to the next one.

@CathodeRayDude

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you! I always feel like I'm rushing and skipping so much but everyone seems to think it's okay, so I guess it is!

@HeilKromdor

3 жыл бұрын

@@CathodeRayDude I am a chemistry teacher and your description of electrons and their movement was obviously well thought out. It is always great to learn more about CRTs, one of the ways electrons were studied in the first place. I think you do go quickly, but it doesn’t detract from the quality. Remember, people can slow down videos if they really need to :)

So glad I found your channel!

Superb presentation, definitely earned that subscription.

So glad i stumbled across this video via Technology Connection. Instantly subbed.

You have an incredible speaking voice! Love the editing. This is the first video I watched of yours. Looking forward to more.

@CathodeRayDude

3 жыл бұрын

thank you so much - you can't imagine how frustrating trying to get the words to come out right is, but apparently I get it right in the end

This is excellent work. Your style is enjoyable, too.

Same as the others, great explanations, clear message no frills ! Came here from TC link and subbed ! It’s now time to dig through the other videos.