The paper reviews a number of X-ray streak cameras developed at AWRE. These cameras are used to provide temporal and one-dimensional spatial or spectral information on X-rays emitted from laser produced plasmas. Two of these cameras have been designed to be combined with other diagnostic instrumentation; one with a Wolter X-ray microscope (×22 magnification) and the other with a Bragg diffraction crystal spectrometer. This latter instrument provides a few eV spectral resolution and ∼15 ps temporal resolution; a typical experimental application at the AWRE HELEN laser facility will be described. The paper describes the circuitry of the bipolar avalanche transistor ramp generator used to drive the streak plates of the cameras. Improvements to this include: (a) increasing the fastest streak rate to ∼10 ps mm−1 by a distributed capacitance network across each of the bipolar stacks of transistors, and (b) reducing the trigger jitter to approximately ±10 ps by the use of a new mix of transistors in the stack and a Raytheon RS 3500 avalanche transistor. Additional improvements have now been added. These include a ‘half-scan’ user facility to aid initial camera timing and direct switching to select the sweep rate of the camera.