Cameras used to film TOS (BTS)

[hbquikcomjamesl]

In the mid-1970s, every significant microcomputer manufacturer used audio cassettes for mass storage, all using proprietary schemes for audio-encoding binary data, because the going price of a 5 1/4" single-side, single-density, 35-track floppy disk drive (max 87.5k per volume) was about $500 in 1975 dollars.

 

[Just a Bill]

Today I found another camera shot on page 131 of the Eaglemoss Hero Collector book Star Trek: A Celebration. As before, I've cropped the image down (and also added it to the first post).

 

[Maurice]

How about those Fisher-Price PXL-2000 video cameras that recorded on audio cassettes? Was it Amiga or Commodore that also used audio cassettes?

Oh god, the PXL-2000 was so bad. 120x90 pixels is lower resolution than an Atari 2600, and in grayscale.

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Many if not most early home computers had the option of cassette drives, as floppy disc drives were expensive. C64 for sure.

 

[Just a Bill]

Many if not most early home computers had the option of cassette drives, as floppy disc drives were expensive.

Yeah, my little TI-99/4A supported both, but I could only afford my self-provided cassette deck. So slow to read and write.

 

[Just a Bill]

For those who care about such minutiae, today I deduced that the BTS camera shot above must have been snapped during filming of "And the Children Shall Lead," judging by the presence, positions, costumes, props, and roles of background performers Roger Holloway, Eddie Paskey, and Jeannie Malone. (Nichelle Nichols and Leonard Nimoy, though not seen in this particular screen capture, are also present on the bridge in this episode in scenes from this general camera setup)

The angle is not a perfect match here, because the camera was set to dolly on a line (or curve?) roughly between the science station and the main viewscreen. You can see evidence of this in the larger version above, as the camera's view line is rotated from the dolly's centerline.

At about 17:45 on P+ you can see a move where the camera starts on a closeup of Sulu and pans to Chekov, aiming at the turbolift for Spock's entrance, and then dollies further left to follow Kirk and Spock as they move to the science station. That scene precedes the later one where Lemli and Leslie are securing the bridge, but I think both segments were probably shot on the same days(s).