Abstract: A system and method of automatically deriving and using a black level control signal for use in long term target integrating camera systems is disclosed. The method employs the steps of, sequentially, first operating the camera in a long term target integration manner at a pre-selected exposure time and detecting and holding the inverse peak level of the television video signal derived from this scan taken from the central portion of the target, generating a corrective signal from the held inverse peak level and applying that corrective signal to the camera while operating the camera for long term target integration periods in essentially the same manner and exposure time to produce a corrected television scan signal, and using that corrected signal to reproduce an image.