Beam splitting prism assembly with bias light source

Claim 1

A television camera, comprising: an objective lens; a color resolution prism system positioned behind said objective lens, said color resolution prism system comprising first, second, third and fourth prisms arranged in this order from the side of said objective lens along the optical axis thereof, said first and second prisms being mutually separated by an air gap, said second and third prisms being mutually separated by an air gap, said second prism provided with a first dichroic coating on a face thereof facing said third prism, and said third and fourth prisms being mutually adhered through a second dichroic coating; bias light introducing means disposed between said objective lens and a face of said first prism that faces said objective lens, at such a position that does not interfere with the image light which has passed through said objective lens; and plural image pick-up devices respectively facing the exit faces of said color resolution prism system, wherein the following inequalities are satisfied: ##EQU3## where, θ11: a prism angle of said first prism, θ12: a prism angle of said second prism, θ13: a prism angle of said third prism, θ14: a prism angle of said fourth prism, β: an angle formed between the optical axis of the objective lens and the bias light having the maximum incident angle to said image pick-up device in a plane perpendicular to the edge line of the prism γ: an angle formed between the optical axis of the objective lens and the bias light having the maximum incident angle to said image pick-up device in a plane parallel to the edge line of the prism, F: the minimum f-number applicable with the prism n: the refractive index of the prism.