  We have obtained broad-band near-infrared photometry for seven Galactic star
clusters (M92, M15, M13, M5, NGC1851, M71 and NGC6791) using the WIRCam
wide-field imager on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, supplemented by images
of NGC1851 taken with HAWK-I on the VLT. In addition, 2MASS observations of the
[Fe/H] ~ 0.0 open cluster M67 were added to the cluster database. From the
resultant (V-J)-V and (V-Ks)-V colour-magnitude diagrams (CMDs), fiducial
sequences spanning the range in metallicity, -2.4 < [Fe/H] < +0.3, have been
defined which extend (for most clusters) from the tip of the red-giant branch
(RGB) to ~ 2.5 magnitudes below the main-sequence turnoff. These fiducials
provide a valuable set of empirical isochrones for the interpretation of
stellar population data in the 2MASS system. We also compare our newly derived
CMDs to Victoria isochrones that have been transformed to the observed plane
using recent empirical and theoretical colour-Teff relations. The models are
able to reproduce the entire CMDs of clusters more metal rich than [Fe/H] ~
-1.4 quite well, on the assumption of the same reddenings and distance moduli
that yield good fits of the same isochrones to Johnson-Cousins BV(RI)C
photometry. However, the predicted giant branches become systematically redder
than the observed RGBs as the cluster metallicity decreases. Possible
explanations for these discrepancies are discussed.
