Hitachi SK-97 Computacam
A broadcast ENG camera whose on-board computer could set full color balance and registration in two minutes - and whose only real rival was the studio deck it was cut down from.
Overview
The SK-97 is the shoulder-mount half of Hitachi's Computacam family. It is a broadcast field/studio camera built around an on-board computer instead of the bank of front-panel trim pots that defined the previous generation of ENG gear. Hitachi's own literature pairs it directly with the SK-970 and says the two "combine on-board computers and advanced technology to provide the maximum flexibility and control available today." The SK-970 was pitched as the studio body. The literature notes it takes either Plumbicon or Saticon pickup tubes and delivers up to 700 lines of horizontal resolution. The SK-97 is the EFP shoulder-mount version, with the same computer and, per Hitachi, "the same technical features."
That shared computer is the whole story of this camera. Hitachi advertised that no competitive video camera automatically set up full color balance and full registration, including the green channel, in just two minutes. Each camera's on-board computer could set up as many as 42 cameras simultaneously within that same two-minute window. If an auto set-up failed, only the one camera was affected, not the whole chain. The system also offered real-time registration correction during lens zooming and focusing, and automatic corner registration correction as part of the auto set-up. A prism heat sensor paired with a pre-programmed ROM held registration in real time as the prism warmed. Hitachi's copy claims no other camera in the class had a full-function "smart" Remote Control Unit with that much capability in that little space.
Video performance was quoted at a 59 dB signal-to-noise ratio, which Hitachi called "superior noise-free video." Resolution was the same 700 horizontal lines as the SK-970, and high gain was adjustable in 3 dB steps from 0 to 21 dB. Boards were completely interchangeable, and built-in auto diagnostics rounded out the package. Those numbers are Hitachi's own advertising claims, not independent bench measurements. Treat them as the manufacturer's spec sheet.
The camera found real broadcast buyers. At SMPTE, Hitachi announced a contract to supply the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. with 20 SK-970s and 10 SK-97s. So the SK-97 was a working newsgathering tool ordered in fleet quantities. In the same period Hitachi was also pushing the FP-Z-31, a three-tube auto-setup ENG camera positioned as a low-end entry into the Computacam line at $8,000. That places the SK-97 above it in the hierarchy, though no exact figure for the SK-97 itself turns up.
The record does not give a production run, an original price for the SK-97 specifically, or any independent period review of the camera's measured performance. The Mix chunks that surface in searches for this model are studio-listing pages from 1988 and 1989. They are facility rate cards and credits, not equipment reviews, and they say nothing about the SK-97. Contemporary Mix (April 1988, p.158) listings, for instance, advertise Northeast video post facilities with Rank Cintel telecine, daVinci color correction, and Abekas A62 digital video recording. Those are studio services, not camera evaluations. The engineering story - a two-minute full-color auto setup, 42-camera simultaneous alignment, real-time registration during zoom - is well attested in Hitachi's own literature. The market story is not.
eBay Listings
As an eBay Partner, we earn from qualifying purchases. This helps support our independent vintage technology research.