I worked as a cameraman for community TV for a long time using the 1610 camera. This camera was made to work with Sony's Beta 1 portapak but I can't remember the model number. The camera is absolutely useless in low lighting conditions like Christmas concerts. The tube was also pron to burning in any bright light. The camera with portapak and batteries would add an extra 50 or 60 lbs. Also every time the lighting conditions changed the "White Balance" has to be redone manually. On camera edits are also no good because there is a 5 second run-up to establish a steady control track. The camera was good in its day but now it is not even good as a paperweight. It's replacement was the DXC-1640 that still uses the same Beta 1 portapak and is virtually the same. 1 good thing was that the tapes were also made to work with Sony's SLO-383, RM-440 editing unit and that is about the simplest editing system I have ever worked with.

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