steve williams Posted July 19, 2004 Share Posted July 19, 2004 Does anyone know if there is any company planning to make a digital back for the F5? Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gary_woodard Posted July 19, 2004 Share Posted July 19, 2004 If it aint broke don't fix it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joey_tjosephy Posted July 19, 2004 Share Posted July 19, 2004 Well based on no evidence: no. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andre_noble4 Posted July 20, 2004 Share Posted July 20, 2004 No because there's no money in it for Nikon. Would detract from their digital scamera sales. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dominic_. Posted July 20, 2004 Share Posted July 20, 2004 Similar question:<br><br><a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=008cv1">Digital Back</a> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill_harris1 Posted July 20, 2004 Share Posted July 20, 2004 Seems like Kodak built a digital back not to long ago..I am not sure what camera it was built for...I thought it was for a Nikon F5..I really can not remember the the details.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShunCheung Posted July 20, 2004 Share Posted July 20, 2004 Kodak is supposed to make a digital back for the Leica R8 and R9. The announcement was almost a year ago; nothing has shown up in the market yet. Making a digital back for the F5 would be an excellent way to lose a lot of money. As starters, why would anybody want a DSLR with the built-in film compartment, film transport, and film advance motor in an F5? You simply cannot recover the R&D cost from a few camera collectors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wen_lin Posted July 20, 2004 Share Posted July 20, 2004 Kodak have a few digital slrs based on existing slrs, take a body, slap on a digital back (and bottom). I have seen some basd on F801, F90x F5 and EOS 1. (from 2 to 6 MP) However, there are no LCD and it uses a PCMCIA adaptor for CFs. Terrible buffer, terrible battery life and BIG. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nikos peri Posted July 20, 2004 Share Posted July 20, 2004 Run a Google search for the Nikon F6 and you should turn up some interesting, or at least amusing, sites full of speculation about a camera that has apparently already existed in Nikon's R&D for a few years now... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilkka_nissila Posted July 20, 2004 Share Posted July 20, 2004 There are a number of reasons why it would be attractive. There are no current DSLRs which have interchangeable viewfinders. The current digital SLRs which have useable autofocus and manual focus characteristics are extremely expensive, while people would hope that the digital back would contain just the digital part and be cheaper. Also, it could be upgraded without paying for the AF and viewfinder optics (which seem to cost and arm and a leg if the camera is digital) again and again. Sensor cleaning would be very easy, much less risky than with the present setup. An antialias filter could be removed or added as desired, depending on whether the user would like to optimize for artifact-free rendering of texture, or for sharpness. But as said above, Nikon doesn't want to optimize functionality for minorities, all they care is optimizing the profits of the shareholders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShunCheung Posted July 20, 2004 Share Posted July 20, 2004 Nikon has been losing money in the last few years, mainly because of problems in their semiconductor stepping business. No company can sustain losses for a long time or they'll go out of business. It is critical for Nikon to be profitable again. They simply cannot afford to introduce any stupid products that don't sell. The F5 is an 8-year-old, somewhat outdated design. E.g. the 11 AF points in the D2H is far superior in action photography. During normal film-body product cycles, the F5 would have been replaced by an F6 now. There is no point to invest in an expensive digital back and put it on an F5. There is also no point to introduce any film-based F6 when most professional photography is now digital. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilkka_nissila Posted July 20, 2004 Share Posted July 20, 2004 Shun, Nikon's camera business is highly profitable and if they have problems with their stepper products then they should do something about that in that product category instead of paying for it with their camera sales. Nikon is a company which specializes in optical products and they have to produce a variety of specialty items as well as volume products. I sure wouldn't want Nikon to go the path of Olympus, where they only make money with a mju compact camera, giving up the SLR business as they did years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david_h._hartman Posted July 20, 2004 Share Posted July 20, 2004 Chances are excellent that Nikon has an F6 in the works. Chances are it will be a hybrid accepting both film and silicone like the Hasselblad H1 but in 135 and ??x?? format. It will surely will incorporate D2H technology. For a supposed Luddite I shouldnt be so optimistic about the future but I am. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaime-elizaga Posted July 20, 2004 Share Posted July 20, 2004 I am not sure if there are digital backs for the Nikon F5 but Kodak made several DSLRs based on the Nikon F5. There were the 2.0Mp fast shooters, the DCS 620, DCS 620x and DCS 720x, for sports photographers and journalists. And there were also 6.0Mp slow shooters, the DCS 660 and DCs 660M, targetting portrait and studio photographers. I've seen a few of these being sold at ebay for less than $1k. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShunCheung Posted July 20, 2004 Share Posted July 20, 2004 In the mid to late 1990's, Kodak modified several Canon and Nikon film SLRs and added their digital sensors. I still recall that it was like the summer of 1999, I walked into the digital department at B&H and they tried to sell me a $15000 Kodak DSLR. (Yeah, right. I'll take two of them.) A few months later, Nikon introduced the D1 and literally changed the entire picture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walterh Posted July 20, 2004 Share Posted July 20, 2004 Any rumors yet on the F7 ? ^-^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david_h._hartman Posted July 20, 2004 Share Posted July 20, 2004 <em>Any rumors yet on the F7 ? ^-^" --Walter Schroeder</em><br><br>No but Ill start one: It will produce ultra fine detailed 3Dholographic images that hover in space and the camera will befree with any lens purchase. It is said that these images scarethe holy hell out of ghost. Hang one in you living room and itwill exorcise all unpleasant manifestations from the entirehouse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guts80 Posted July 20, 2004 Share Posted July 20, 2004 A little off topic BUT there has been a digital back for the F3, released by kodak back in '91: http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/hardwares/classics/nikonf3ver2/variations/f3limited/ (scroll to the bottom of the page) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scott_warn Posted July 21, 2004 Share Posted July 21, 2004 It may be a bit "out there" but I think that at some point in the future someone will start making digital backs for 35mm film cameras. It may take 10 or 15 years but there is a market for it and it will get larger when 35mm film is phased out, collectors are also often users, and this will create a niche market for something like this. It will probably be along the lines of a standard module with an adapter specific to the camera model and I don't think it will be made by Nikon, it'll probably be a company like Vivitar or Sigma. As for Nikon making a digital back for the F5, I really don't see that happening but who knows, maybe they will surprize us. It's a bit of a shame because the F5 is a fantastic camera and I would really love to have a digital back for mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alistair o Posted July 21, 2004 Share Posted July 21, 2004 It is still hard to beat an F5 for speed of operation, speed and accuracy of focus and exposure and build quality. Even the latest DSLR's are still using F5 technology. (D70 has F5 matrix metering, that is why it is so good; D2H has same focus system [albeit with more sensors]). Having said all that, it is hard to see there being any reason for anyone to make a digital back for it as the market is not big and unlikely to be profitable. The rumoured to be imminent F6 is anticipated to have interchangeable backs. But will they be changeable between digital and film or not? Maybe, who knows? What would be logical in my view is to have an interchangeable back for chip frame sizes. Just change the little cheap (eventually) back with its sensor chip. Change effective focal length, go from a 4 mp for continous shooting action to a 15mp for landscape. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spencer_hahn Posted July 21, 2004 Share Posted July 21, 2004 "D2H has same focus system [albeit with more sensors]" Ehhh...I wouldn't necessarily say that. However, I <i> would </i> say that the D2h keeps the F5 form factor and overall look, one that even Kwanon has entirely moved to for their pro-series bodies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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