Physics question: How does a tv camera pick up light and turn it into electrical signal?

Question

What happens to the light ray after it enters the tv camera lense? How does it send a whole picture?

Answer 1

The answer is different for older cameras and newer ones and for color vs b&w.
In old cameras, the color image is divided into three parts through filters and then is picked off as described next for b&w in each case.
The light rays of the picture are focused onto a phosphor screen which is scanned by an electron beam. Where the light is falling the electrical flow is different and this becomes the video signal.
In modern TV cameras, there is an array of solid state devices, Charge Coupled Detectors (CCD) in one case, that are provided with a charge and the light photons discharge them. The scanning is done by referencing the grid, like memory chips.
The whole picture is sent by scanning back and forth across and then down the detector(s), collecting and amplifying the signal, and assembling it with markers for start of picture and start of line. When it arrives at the TV set, the internal electronics are sweeping a beam (or scanning pixel locations) back and forth and up and down the screen and the markers allow synchronization so the bits are aligned on the screen.