Nikon HQ-1500

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NikonWeb
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Nikon HQ-1500

Post by NikonWeb »

Nikon HQ-1500:

I bet you haven't heard about this one. It was mentioned in MacWEEK in February 1993, and is not listed anywhere -- not even on Nikon's own website.

It's no DSLR, so this extremely hard to find information is posted here for historical purposes only.

The MacWEEK article (also includes some interesting info about the Kodak DCS 100/Miami Herald):

http://www.stanford.edu/group/mmdd/Sili ... sition.rtf

Here's some additional info kindly provided by Ed Van Buren himself:

'Jarle, the HQ 1500 was a hand built, very limited production camera (Less than 12) that Nikon cobbled together using their 1000 line black & white video camera (tube type) that was used on electron microscopes.

Nikon skillfully inserted a set of rotating glass separation filters and coupled it to a somewhat impressive set of buffer boxes whose output was an acquire module in Photoshop.

It's place in history was between the Sony 1000 and the first Leaf (with external rotating gel filters). Digital photography has miraculously survived in spite of the Sony and the Leaf.

The HQ was a good machine with an honest 7Mb file with no interpolation. It came along at the end of tube based cameras and was expensive in the extreme, costing $64,000 in 1991 dollars. I only sold three and I had to build a studio for the clients in the deal.

The HQ was a "Rack over" focusing camera.'

Thanks Ed!

Jarle
Last edited by NikonWeb on Thu Aug 11, 2005 7:12 am, edited 1 time in total.
Hans Braakhuis

Re: Nikon HQ-1500 digital camera

Post by Hans Braakhuis »

The HQ1500 is not a digital camera.
It was the still image high-definition TV camera that meet the Hi-Visionl standards
It was released in May 1990.

<Specification>
Image pickup tube: saticon tube
Lens mount : Nikon F mount
Scan mode : 1125lines, 2:1 interlace
Aspect ratio : 16:9
Synchronized signal : Hi-Vision standard (BTA S-001)
White balance : Automatic
Resolition : greater than 1500TV -line (HQ-1500CF)
Sensitivity : 2000LX, F4(3200K)
Distortion : not more than 0.1% (Center)
S/N ration : greater than 40db
Electric power consumption : 45W

There are three different types:
High Definition Camera’s HQ-1500 / HQ-1500CI / 1500CF
Hans
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Re: Nikon HQ-1500

Post by NikonWeb »

Hans Braakhuis wrote:The HQ1500 is not a digital camera.
Thanks for the info, Hans. You're absolutely right. I really don't know why I called it a 'Digital camera'. My mistake.

I've modified the subject line of the original message.

Thanks again, and welcome aboard!

Jarle
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