Camera arrangements, for example for television

Claim 1

A CAMERA ARRANGEMENT, FOR EXAMPLE FOR TELEVISION, COMPRISING A CASING, AN IMAGE-RECEIVING UNIT HAVING AN IMAGE-RECEIVING AREA OF GENERALLY RECTANGULAR SHAPE, AN OPTICAL OBJECTIVE OF VARIABL EQUIVALENT FOCAL LENGTH, THE MINIMUM VALUE F0 OF WHICH IS NOT GREATER THAN 4 TIMES THE LENGTH OF THE DIAGONAL OF THE IMAGE-RECEIVING AREA, AND HAVING FRONT AND REAR ASSEMBLIES, OF WHICH THE FRONT ASSEMBLY INCLUDES MEMBERS RELATIVELY MOVABLE FOR EFFECTING VARIATION OF THE EQUIVALENT FOCAL LENGTH OF THE OBJECTIVE WHILST MAINTAINING THE RESULTANT IMAGE POSITION CONSTANT THROUGHOUT THE RANGE OF RELATIVE MOVEMENT, WHILST THE REAR ASSEMBLY HAS AN INVERTED TELEPHOTO CHARACTERISTIC WITH EFFECTIVE AXIAL BEAM DIAMETER GREATER AT ITS REAR SURFAC THAN AT ITS FRONT SURFACE AND INCLUDES A STATIONARY CONVERGENT REAR MEMBER HAVING EQUIVALENT FOCAL LENGTH FR AND IN FRONT THEREOF AT LEAST ONE MEMBER WHICH COOPERATES WITH THE FRONT ASSEMBLY TO FORM A DIVERGENT GROUP WHOSE EQUIVALENT FOCAL LENGTH BEARS TO THE EQUIVALENT FOCAL LENGTH OF THE COMPLETE OBJECTIVE A CONSTANT RATIO LYING BETWEEN FX/F0 AND FR/3F0, SUCH DIVERGENT GROUP ACTING TO PRODUCE A VIRTUAL IMAGE OF THE OBJECT IN A CONSTANT POSITION LYING BETWEEN FR AND 4FR IN FRONT OF THE FRONT SURFACE OF THE SAID CONVERGENT REAR MEMBER, WHEREBY SUCH REAR MEMBER ALWAYS RECEIVES A DIVERGENT BEAM AND FORMS FROM SUCH VIRTUAL IMAGE A RESULTANT IMAGE OF THE OBJECT AT A BACK FOCAL DISTANCE BEHIND THE REAR SURFACE OF THE CONVERGENT REAR MEMBER GREATER THAN 6 TIMES THE LENGTH OF THE DIAGONAL OF THE IMAGE-RECEIVING AREA, MEANS FOR MOUNTING THE IMAGE-RECEIVING UNIT AND THE OPTICAL OBJECTIVE SIDE BY SIDE WITHIN THE ACAMERA CASING WITH THE IMAGE-RECEIVING AREA AT THE REAR END OF THE IMAGE-RECEIVING UNIT, AND MEANS FOR DEFLECTING THE IMAGE-FORMING BEARM EMERGENT FROM THE REAR SURFACE OF THE OBJECTIVE TO CAUSE IT TO BE INCIDENT ON THE IMAGE-RECEIVING AREA AT AN EFFECTIVE DISTANCE FROM THE REAR SURFACE OF THE OBJECTIVE EQUAL TO THE BACK FOCAL DISTANCE OF THE OBJECTIVE.