Future DIGITAL back for FD bodies????? maybe

I hope one day we can have both formats digital and film in one

camera. Especially for CANON FD fans. Kodak has developed 10MP

digital back for Leica R8 and R9 film cameras. It will be matter of

time they will develop full frame back for all film cameras. I�ve

told my brother who is about to purchase very expensive Digital SLR.

One day you will regret getting rid of all film lenses and cameras.

I am sure many others will too. I make decent money now days but I

can�t justify purchasing cheap plastic Digital SLR for a fortune. I

love build quality FD cameras and lenses, and about to add another

FD A1 body for my L lenses. The digital camera back for Leica R8 and

R9 is selling at BH for nearly $6,000 dollars.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?

O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=341911&is=REG&addedTroughType=search

Whats wrong with 35mm? There was a company called siliconfilm.com , but they never made anything but prototypes. I think the chance of a large manufacturer making a digital back is zero. If you want digital, buy a digital SLR. If you want film, buy a 35mm SLR. Whats wrong with owning both?

Nothing is wrong with owning both formats digital and film. Think for a minute there is many superior Fd prime lenses out there. Today�s mid grade zoom lenses is no match for FD prime lenses, build quality or superb optic performance. Think about 25MP full frame digital back in future for these beautiful lenses. When it comes to forming the image it is about lenses not camera. Lately you can get quality FD prime lenses for about nothing.

I have now sold all of my FD equipment. I think some day there will be a digital back for FD bodies but I also think that will be 10 to 15 years from now. I was not willing to wait that long. Who knows, by then maybe everyone will have forgotten about FD.

 

 

Unlike Leica, who has respect for all of their customers, Canon has cut all possible ties with FD customers. It would be so easy for them to mass produce the FD-EOS 1.26x converter and sell it for $300 USD, instead of having people pay $1000 to $1300 for it on eBay, if they find one. It would also be easy in my opinion for them to develop an adapter without the protruding element for use with most of the FD line, and maintain infinity focus. However, Canon is more concerned about selling many more EF lenses than they are with selling a few more DSLR's.

Ford no longer produces parts for the 71 Mavrick either. So why should Canon bother to support a product they quite marketing over 10 years ago.

 

The only reason Leica still supports their older cameras is that they still make camera with the very finest 1955 techniology. they have to rely on other companies to produce any modern products no matter how far behind the curve those products end up once the finally come to market.

My New F-1 is a camera, not an electric picture generator.

Up to about 2 years ago, I was very worried about my FD equipment not being worth anything any more. I was also very worried that in a year or two I'd not be able to get any film any more.

 

I have absolutly great FD gear: 15 mm Fish - eye, 14mm, 20 - 35mm L, 24 mm F1.4 L, 55 mm F 1.2 ASPH, 85 mm F 1.2 L, 135mm F2, 200mm macro ... If I'd be in the EF line, I could only dream about that, I'd never have bought L glass.

 

I fully realize I'll never be able to sell that gear near the price I bought it. Wel, I couldn't care less. Why should I ever sell it?

 

I get excellent results with it, so why should I let myself get pushed over by the digital hype?

 

I'll keep on using it as long as they sell 35mm film at a feasible price, and when that's finished, I'll switch to Digital. By that time the FD gear will be written off.

 

Right now, I even keep on buying FD gear. Just bought a 135mm F2, mint condition, for $ 250, for god's sake. Just unbelievable. The EF costs $ 980. I'm gonna have fun with it, take very sharp shots, enjoy the great bokeh, and when I'll finally not be able to use it any more, well, $ 250 is not the end of the world.

 

If they ever have a digital back for say the T90, I'd be willing to consider it.

 

Dirk.

What I don't understand is why nobody like Pentax or Minolta has produced a DSLR that supports FD lenses or, better yet, is designed with some removable adapter that allows support for their native glass and FD. It can't be THAT hard, and any patents on the FD mount would have long since expired.

The thing is, things always sound easier to create than they are in reality to engineer. I'm not familiar with the inner workings of FD cameras, but I'm reasonabley confident that each body has a different shape, different electronics for interfacing with a data back (or none), etc etc.

 

With this in mind there are 2 major things I can think of that are an issue:

 

1) How does the digital back know when the shutter has fired? and with what aperture and shutter speed - across EVERY body. It will need to know this to know when to capture an image, maybe not the aperture but it's nice to have for EXIF data.

 

2) Which body would an initial back be aimed at? With a DSLR you release one product, with a digital back you need a product for every significant design difference in the line of bodys.

 

3) What crop factor to settle for, this will significantly impact cost. A 6K back at 1.3X crop is probably double that at full frame, I can buy an entire EOS prosumer system for 6K and maybe a full pro system for 12.

A couple months ago I read Nikon was halting production on many film lenses including primes and ALL enlarger glass and ALL larger format glass.

 

Then yesterday I read Pentax is also stopping production of numerous film lenses including primes. This inspite of the fact that both companies produce digital slrs.

 

I think Canon is at the top of 35mm digital slrs race. Indeed, Canon won the competetion. I have not noticed any end of production alerts for the EOS system.

 

Sure I'd love to use my Canon FD primes on a digital slr body. It would be great if Canon would reissue the 1.26x system converter and macro converter. But with the limitations of 1.26x and the introduction of 1-5x macro eos lens I kinda doubt it will happen(again).

 

In the meantime I'll continue to use my 1999 kodak dc290 until it dies. It became obsolete about 3 years ago when kodak no longer provided service or parts for their 1999 issue $1,000 point and shoot.

When it dies I'll get another P&S digital. Over the years I've read about and considered numerous brand P&S replacements, but my DC290 Kodak keeps going and going and...

 

Lindy

My predictions and I'm far from an expert... Canon will never make an FD digital back, why bother? It will take someone like Cosina to pick up the ball. They could do one right now, but it would be $3000 and I'm not going to pay that kind of money for one. Other than that, in the future, things should get so cheap in terms of manufacturing digital cameras that someone will eventually build one, but I think that is at least 3-5 years away... In the meantime, I wish someone with more techinical skills that I would find a way to replace an FD mount on a EOS digital camera somehow...

I don't any big companies doing it. Development costs would be prohibitive. Some entrepreneur may take a stab at it and a few will MacGyver a system. But, for the most part, I see it as just a pipe dream.

I also have many good FD lenses along with an F-1 and A-1 bodies.

 

 

 

 

 

An alternative would be to shoot film with your FD lenses and scan them using a dedicated 35mm-scanner such as the ones made by Nikon, Konica Minolta or Microtek. I have the KM Dimage Scan Elite 5400 II which I bought for under $600. I can't imagine a digital back for my Canon F-1 selling anywhere near that if such a one existed. I even would be satified with a 5-megapixel one.

 

 

 

With a good scanner and programs such as Adobe Elements 4 or Adobe Photoshop CS2 (there are other good ones,too) you may be able to have your cake and eat it , too.

 

Roger

I use a Nikon ED50-V back with my F1s: 120MB files, exquisitely sharp (routine 13X19"), zero noise at 1200ei, not 8mp prosumer digital-fake-looking, no expensive memory cards, no batteries...

 

...and NO PLASTIC.