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HP 7510A, possible vector monitor ?

inakito

inakito

Experienced Member
Joined
Oct 5, 2011
Messages
297
Location
Spain
Hi.
Recently I purchased an old HP 7510A "film recorder".

This interesting device creates a color image on a film camera, using HPGL commands.
The image is displayed on a monochrome CRT tube which is reflected on a mirror. The reflected image goes trhrough a set of four motor-driven color filters to reach the SLR 35mm camera.
The camera itself is a Contax 139 MD Quartz (it is labeled "HP Camera" but it is actually a Contax; it lacks some buttons present on the original Contax camera; the camera winder and trigger are controlled by the 7510A itself).

What I am asking myself is whether the CRT monitor on the inside could be a *vector* monitor, instead of raster.
I have not tried it yet, but have found some slide picture demos that look absolutly sharp, without any sign of raster lines.

Could anyone confirm this CRT is a vector one ?

Here is a link on HP Computer Museum: http://www.hpmuseum.net/display_item.php?hw=502

inakito.
 
I have found a detailed description on 1986 HP Catalog. It is definitely a vector monitor. It is able to address 16344 x 10896 points. Which is not clear is how much persistence it has.
It will be interesting to see how well it would work with a modern digital camera.
 
inakito said:
...Which is not clear is how much persistence it has.
It will be interesting to see how well it would work with a modern digital camera.
Click to expand...
I would imagine the film provided the "persistence" and it seems you would need a digital camera that could hold long shutter openings. Can you not still get film developed in Spain? Seems a shame to modify it.
 
paul, the good part is that the camera is actually removable, just as easy as mounting a lens on an ordinary SLR camera.
I own a Contax 137MD and have replaced the camera in a snap. And the "HP Camera" mounts Contax lenses as if it were original.
So you can replace the original camera with a digital or going back to the film camera just as easy as replacing a lens!
 
g4ugm, I bought it on ebay.fr.
There are still three more units for sale!
 
g4ugm said:
Thanks for that. I got one two! have you powered yours up? Any links for the manuals?
Click to expand...

The manuals can be found on hpmuseum.net.
However these days they have some trouble with the website so you may need to wait to download the manuals and other stuff.

In the meantime, You can read a detailed description about this device on hp 1986 catalog, which can be found on hparchive.org.

Now i am in the process of finding a way to use a Contax to Canon adapter, in order to use a digital slr camera in place of the film camera. However It gets out of focus as the system used in the 7510A is fixed focus and there is no way to focus the internal lens, as far as i can tell.
 
I found the links on hpmuseum.net but although they say "fix by end of august" its not fixed and only a couple of days to go...
... pity you can't get a 35mm frame sized LCD sensor...

You din't say if you had powered it on and if you had done anything special...
 
I have powered it on. It displays a menu on the lcd where you can set film settings, from Kodachrome64 to Fuji400. You can shoot the camera from this menu too. However my camera Look like it is dead. The 7510a does not care however, it completes the process anyway, which is good. The color filter wheel does work as well as the monitor. If i find a way to fix the focus problem it should be possible to take pictures. Does your camera work, for instance when you select the option "advance frame"?.
 
Powered mine up. The camera seems to work fine. Sadly there is no focal plane indicator on it so its hard to get a replacement in focus as you say. Disk also seems to work in that I see red and blue pictures. I also have the manuals. Lots of reading I think....
 
Dave, where did you get the manuals please!? :)

I removed the camera box and placed inside a camera mounted in a tripod with a macro lens. This is why I got only B/W images.
If you select PREVIEW on the LCD panel, you can get the image displayed without the camera.
I used a Viper card to generate the images through GPIB. It should work also with the RS232 interface from a common PC.

The quality of the plotting is amazing. One cannot do it justice to it just by taking a picture.
 
Thank you for the link! I have taken a look at service manual and found which was the problem with my camera! The connector was backwards!. Now it works!. By the way, i have found it takes a lot of time to complete a picture. For instance, demo 3 takes about 2 minutes to expose at 400 ASA. May this long time be normal?.

Which Contax adapter have you ordered? Mine is Fotodiox, the cheap version (15usd).
 
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