tom l Posted January 23, 2003 Share Posted January 23, 2003 I have seen a lot of information about digital backs for medium format cameras but virtually nothing about them for 35mm cameras. Does anyone make such a thing? I currently shoot both 35mm & 645 but only film. I'd like to make the move to digital but my 645 equipment is old enough that it does not support most digital backs and the only one I've found that does support my camera (Megavision S3 pro) is expensive and tethered (unless you by the $3000 batpac). As an alternative, I wondered if a 35mm digital back was more economical than the medium format backs and possibly work with my existing 35mm equipment. Any thoughts? Thanks, Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NK Guy Posted January 23, 2003 Share Posted January 23, 2003 This comes up all the time here, and there has been a firm promising vaporous offerings for years. The Photo.net consensus has been that such an idea, while sounding great, makes little economic sense and is impractical. There are too many back designs out there, you'd have to build a few models that only fit a few cameras, you'd need to cram a lot of stuff into a pretty tiny enclosure unless you had a huge tethered box and so on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wbowman Posted January 23, 2003 Share Posted January 23, 2003 Most MF digital backs cost as much or more than a whole digital SLR. If you have nice lenses for a Canon or Nikon, just buy the SLR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom l Posted January 23, 2003 Author Share Posted January 23, 2003 I'd love to be able to use my lenes on the latest Canon. Unfortunately they too are old (FD) and I understand will not fit. That was why the interest in looking for a 35mm digital back to see if it'd work with my old A-1 camera and thereby let me keep my existing equipment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richard_oleson Posted January 23, 2003 Share Posted January 23, 2003 Even if someone was making a digital back for an existing 35mm SLR, you can be pretty sure that they aren't going to develop one for a camera that hasn't been made for a couple of decades. rick (who'd love to have one for his OM-1 too) oleson :)= Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_rose1 Posted January 23, 2003 Share Posted January 23, 2003 http://www.siliconfilm.com/ I dont know if this is for real or not since th esite has remained unchanged for about a year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom l Posted January 23, 2003 Author Share Posted January 23, 2003 Regarding siliconfilm - thank you for that information. Sure sounds like a neat idea. I did a quick google search on that and came up with the following review of silicon's status. It is an article dated Sept 2002. http://www.imaging-resource.com/NEWS/1032460933.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
continuity Posted January 23, 2003 Share Posted January 23, 2003 DUDE. SILICON FILM IS VAPOURWARE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neil_parker Posted January 23, 2003 Share Posted January 23, 2003 SF has been discussed about a zillion times on photonet, it is not just vaporware, it is an investment scam! Even their original claims (4 or so years ago!) were to support the latest high-end electronic based cameras only such as an Eos 1v or F5. So forget an FD canon, too bad, I'd love to put a digi back on my old F2 or Leica! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted January 24, 2003 Share Posted January 24, 2003 <P>First let me join the chorus of voices denouncing Silicon Film. There, that's out of the way.</P> In a more general way, Tom, there's a lot of us poor photographers out there with old equipment, wishing we could upgrade it in a modular fashion to the latest technology while retaining the virtues of our old lenses etc. The camera makers know we are there and they are determined we shall not succeed. Their business is built to a large degree on the obsolescence of their product. It looks like if you wanna do digital you gonna have to spend big money.</P> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom l Posted January 24, 2003 Author Share Posted January 24, 2003 Brian, thanks for letting me down easy. <g> I guess this means I can quit looking to digitally upgrade my Canon VT equipment too (such nice lens for that one). <bg> Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_sew Posted April 4, 2006 Share Posted April 4, 2006 I've been looking for my Nikon FE, but it seems there is a lack of interest in the manufactureres of digital backs. It seems to be such a waste, to discard or shelve older equipment for new. But this is the kind of world we live in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fourfa Posted April 5, 2006 Share Posted April 5, 2006 There is one finally - the <a href="http://www.photo.net/equipment/leica/dmr/">Leica DMR</a> for the R-series SLRs. Not cheap but has really nice Kodachrome-like colors straight out of the camera. 10 mexapixel chip made by Kodak, 1.4x crop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgill Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 <p>Hi folks: I am also among those poor photographers who has love for old machines like Nikon F4, FM2N FM, F90, EOS1N, Pentax LX, screw mount bodies and looking for digital back since long. IMHO if Leica can make a back for R8 & 9 then any third party can manufacture back of leading old workhorses. I picked EOS 300D with different adapters but no build like F4 or EOS1N.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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