petrovski Posted July 6, 2005 Share Posted July 6, 2005 Well, this is not an ad, but a question. Is it possible to retrofit an slr, for instance a canon ftb, with a digital chip (in place of where the film would be exposed)? Any leads, pls let me know. peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basscheffers Posted July 6, 2005 Share Posted July 6, 2005 No, the only "retrofit" modules out there are digital backs for medium format camaeras and Leica's "Digital Module R" for their, I believe, R7 and R8 SLRs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly_flanigan1 Posted July 6, 2005 Share Posted July 6, 2005 You could call the product Silicon Film :) :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walter_degroot Posted July 6, 2005 Share Posted July 6, 2005 there was or is a " silicon film" company and there were some issues either political or technical. as a former electronics tech, i see it as possible and do-able. but what would nikon or canon or minilta think if you made a pod that attached like a winder on the bottom and replaced the back or had a small notch on the edge of the back to adapt, say a canon ae-1 to digital? sure you could DO it, but by the time the parts cost comes down the cameras will be too old, I have other desires like panatomic-x to be made again and more adapters for $20.00 for older cameras. I don't think a "silicon film" option is going to happen. someone with big dollars would have to be behind it. and determined to make it work. and make it affordable. and fit many or all older film slr's. not impossible but UN-likely. I can see a thin sensor settable to asa 100-800 by software to match the camera settings and then let it go. it would kill sales of newer digi-slr's. pro's with large numbers of cameras would go wild. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johng Posted July 6, 2005 Share Posted July 6, 2005 See <a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=008cxN">this thread</a> on Photo.net. <p> <a href="http://www.siliconfilm.com/">www.SiliconFilm.com</a> site is still accessible but hasn't been updated in years. <p> --John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ron_goodenow Posted July 6, 2005 Share Posted July 6, 2005 With current prices and compatibility as they are why bother? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joseph_wisniewski Posted July 6, 2005 Share Posted July 6, 2005 The latest news about Silicon Film. http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1140300/000101968705001466/0001019687-05-001466.txt Basically, they're still looking for money. But they're getting set to hit the penny stock market ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petrovski Posted July 7, 2005 Author Share Posted July 7, 2005 well, i might have a sponsor who would be interested in a silicon film type patent. I really like the idea of being able to use old slrs or rangefinders, as they have great optics! So, that said, what cameras do YOU suggest for a digital back/digital type film? I want to narrow it down to 3 canons', 3 nikon's, 3 leica's. I truely believe that the wave of the future is the past... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter_phan Posted July 7, 2005 Share Posted July 7, 2005 No. Especially when you consider that the entire body of a digital SLR is crammed with electronics that support the operation and function of digital capture. And you're expecting that all this technology and electronics can fit into a tiny chip that would then fit into a film SLR? Not a chance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted July 7, 2005 Share Posted July 7, 2005 <P>One possible avenue is for a company to buy or licence the rights to an old lens mount and build a DSLR (or Drangefinder!) that takes the old lenses. Epson has the RD-1. Seagull is rumoured to be contemplating this for the Minolta MD lens mount, which it now owns rights to.</P><P>There may be a company out there that will do the same with the Canon FT mount.</P> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted July 7, 2005 Share Posted July 7, 2005 Sorry, that's "Canon FD" mount. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karim Ghantous Posted July 7, 2005 Share Posted July 7, 2005 Peter (Rzazewski), I think the first candidate for conversion would have to be the Nikon F3. ;-) Peter Phan wrote: "the entire body of a digital SLR is crammed with electronics" Sure. That's why Leica's DMR is the size of a motor winder. Nobody said that small size is the priority here. What Peter Rzazewski is suggesting are devices like the DMR but for other cameras. Even if they have to be permanently fitted to be workable it wouldn't make them a bad thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joseph_wisniewski Posted July 7, 2005 Share Posted July 7, 2005 OK, look at it this way. A $900 (US) Nikon D70 is built on a $180 N75 body. So the digital part is $720. That's based on buying parts in 1 million units/year quantities. That's a 1.5x crop sensor. Do you believe there's a big enough market for a $720 back that turns a Nikon F3 into a DSLR that has: No TTL flash metering (you can't get a decent reflection off a digital sensor for TTL). Metering that is sensitive things outside the 1.5x cropped sensor area, and isn't center weighted inside the 1.5x crop area. (Matrix metering systems on newer cameras will get even more confused). Is manually wound DSLR. (SLRs with built in winders will really act weird, since the built in winder and the electronics of the digital back will be able to keep up with different frame/second rates). Has a viewfinder that shows a normal 35mm full frame, not the 1.5x cropped frame. (some SLRs, like F3, could have a new screen put in, but many others, like Nikon N80, don't have easily interchangable screens). Has a control system where you set the sensor ISO from the menus on the digital back, then set it again on the camera's metering system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joseph_wisniewski Posted July 7, 2005 Share Posted July 7, 2005 Brian, you don't need to "buy or licence the rights to an old lens mount". There's no country where patents last more than 19 years. So not only are the old Minolta MD, Canon FD, Pentax K, Nikon F, Leica M, etc. mounts all fair game, but even the newer Canon EOS, Pentax K-AF, Nikon F-AF mounts are open to poachers... As the recent Ampex vs. Sony case (embedded thumbnails) has shown, it's the digital camera concepts that are encumbered by patents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pieris_berreitter Posted July 7, 2005 Share Posted July 7, 2005 The DMR was mentioned, this is the only commercial incarnation of such a device being built today. The DMR lacks an AA filter, I think Leica claims this is because said filter would have interfered with the shutter. They seem to do ok without it, but I imagine the clearance issues were a significant burden on the design. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craig_gillette Posted July 7, 2005 Share Posted July 7, 2005 There's a big difference between the possible and the available. There's no question that the technical issues could likely be overcome. But there is almost no chance that this is commercially viable. Someone mentioned Seagull and Minolta mounts. Minolta might be the best bet because there is essentially no route forward from the MDs to the Maxxums. I'd guess you'd need to get the mechanism down under $500 retail. I don't think there is a snowballs chance to get it under $250 complete coming off the production line. Which I'd think is where you'd need to be to make a $50 body with a $500 "thing" to compete successfully with the current bodies. If the "old" cameras were commercially viable, we'd still have new 102s, not just little Maxxums. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim_cronin Posted July 20, 2005 Share Posted July 20, 2005 My advice for what it's worth is that basically it comes down to this:-<p> When film is no longer available then look at the viability of fitting digital backs.</p><p> In the mean time which costs more on ebay a Spotmatic F or an 85/1.8 SMC takumar? It's the lens! You can use the lens on most modern digital SLR's with a cheap adapter.</P><p>Don't worry about digital backs until you really need to. Hopefully film will be around for many years yet (please!)</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilkka_nissila Posted July 20, 2005 Share Posted July 20, 2005 I don't think any of us will be see a day when film isn't available, so no need to think about that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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