Digital back for M Leica

[ashapiro]

I have a M8, but I also have a M6 that's waiting for a good digital back.

 

[photorat]

If you're truly attracted to conspiracy theories then any basis in fact should be irrelevant. 😀 Maybe they were both silenced by less subtle means!? OP beware!

Are you talking about Hugh Finney? And do ANY of us know this for a fact? Has anyone had contact with Hugh? I'm as attracted to conspiracy theories as the next person and would love to know if this had a basis in fact...

 

[parsec1]

Sure, replace the swing down door with a full frame sensor, battery pack fits where the film cassette would have gone, a Leicavit style baseplate holds all the needed electronics, and the LCD screen is an extra priced option because real photographers don't chimp.

'Real photographers don't 'chimp'.

Damn Right !

 

[kkdanamatt]

M Digital Back, please!

M Digital Back, please!

I saw a 35mm cassette with a digital sensor hanging out like a film leader at the PMA Show about eight years ago. It was called E-Film and it was hooked up to a Canon EOS film camera. Anybody know what happened to it?

Yes, my cash is on the table, just show me the back, even a prototype will do. The swing down back on the M-camera just begs for a digital sensor as a replacement. The power supply and the circuitry could be fit into a baseplate-grip-film cassette housing.

I would really like a full-frame sensor, but an LCD is not necessary. It would make the camera too thick, power-hungry and too expensive. Just give me an 8MP full frame with an ISO range of 100-1600. RAW only. I don't need any auto white balance or anything else auto. Thank you. To whom do I mail my check?

 

[carpediem007]

I saw a 35mm cassette with a digital sensor hanging out like a film leader at the PMA Show about eight years ago. It was called E-Film and it was hooked up to a Canon EOS film camera. Anybody know what happened to it?

Hi kkdanamatt ...

Please have a look at the post by Double Negative 3 up from yours (http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=954305#post954305) or mine on page 2 of this thread (http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=953740#post953740)...🙄

Cheers,
Michael

 

[flessas]

It sounds a very good idea.
I believe US$ 900 is certainly a bargain!
I am willing to pay more for a FF sensor.

 

[Ronald_H]

Photrat's signature is the best I have4 seen in a long time

 

[Frankie]

Siliconfilm EPS-1

Siliconfilm EPS-1

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=881562#post881562

I'd buy two... 🙂

Cheers,
Michael

I agree.

The criticism then [2001, eon ago] were: sensor and capacity too small; and power hungry.


Available sensor size and memory chips are not small anymore. A new Sony digicam now even comes with 8Gb chip...an all-in-one, just charge up the battery.

Speaking of battery, we now have lithium-ion, or more advanced stuff soon.

Everyone now has a computer as a household appliance and PhotoShop or whatever is the next favourite...

This time has finally arrived.

 

[Al Kaplan]

A lot of newspaper photographers are still complaining about being forced into using digi-SLR design cameras. A lot of them still own their Leicas and lenses but film is too slow for today's newsroom. News work doesn't require jillion megapixel sharpness and resolution. The older grainier varieties of Tri-X rushed through Dektol looked just fine printed via letterpress on newsprint with a 65 line screen. Today's better printing methods still don't need better image quality than you get from a cheap point & shoot. There's a good potental market there and the upgrades could come later. There are also a lot of unused Leica M bodies and lenses out there belonging to amateurs who no longer want to bother with film.

Something like the "goggles" on the 135 Tele-Elmarit, perhaps with a slightly different magnification, could be mounted in a hinge down mount to fit the accessory shoe. The camera's existing framelines would then work with the smaller area sensor.

 

[historicist]

If you're truly attracted to conspiracy theories then any basis in fact should be irrelevant. 😀 Maybe they were both silenced by less subtle means!? OP beware!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul T.
Are you talking about Hugh Finney? And do ANY of us know this for a fact? Has anyone had contact with Hugh? I'm as attracted to conspiracy theories as the next person and would love to know if this had a basis in fact...

The nearest he seems to have got to a digital back for a M was dismantling a cheap sony compact and putting the sensor somewhere in a M3, with, if I remember correctly, the sony still attached to it by the ribbon cable. If that's all it takes to get brought off by Leica I'm going to do it as well and buy a M8 with the money

 

[Fred Burton]

Al, unfortunately, print newspapers are a rapidly dying breed. The Christian Science Monitor is going 100 percent online, The Detroit Free Press and Detroit News, among other newspapers, announced this week that they will from now on offer only three days of home delivery and push their online editions.

Of course, the web doesn't need a lot of resolution, either, but resolution isn't everything. I'm afraid that anything that news guys buy in the future will need video capability built in as well as still photo capability to satisfy the online news needs.

 

[Paul T.]

The nearest he seems to have got to a digital back for a M was dismantling a cheap sony compact and putting the sensor somewhere in a M3, with, if I remember correctly, the sony still attached to it by the ribbon cable. If that's all it takes to get brought off by Leica I'm going to do it as well and buy a M8 with the money

I think you're confusing him with someone else, I recall he was using a Kodak b/w chip, which was a 1.3 crop or less.

 

[Fred Burton]

That was Huw Finney with the Kodak chip, I believe. DrLeoB did as historicist described. Both apparently moved on to other things.

 

[photorat]

Thanks, Ron! 😉

Photrat's signature is the best I have4 seen in a long time

 

[Al Kaplan]

I got a call a couple of days ago telling me that the North Miami Board of Adjustment meeting had been cancelled this month. Somebody forgot to advertise it in the newspaper as required by Florida law. All those cities and towns and counties, wildlife and water management districts, etc. are required to advertise all of their meetings in the paper. That's probably true in a lot of states. The department stores, drugstore chains, and grocery stores like papers too. You can't clip coupons from a TV screen or walk around with an electronic sales flyer. A lot of folks still like to pour over sports scores and stock market prices without hauling a laptop everyplace. And then there's clipping recipes and reading the comics.

 

[Ron (Netherlands)]

Came across this one and there may be more out there already experimenting!

http://photo.net/leica-rangefinders-forum/00RmbG

 

[dan denmark]

why not practice on the Bessa bodies? oh, right, then you'd have an RD... and i presume the relevant Ms would retain their manual integrities? i'd buy one but at much higher resolution than the RD...already have that one. seems 8mp on an M body is going backwards...i'd act on a 10-12 but then would it be a kind of M8+ clone? $900 isn't much for a camera that could have professional field applications.

i'dunno. maybe novelty value. some might wait til Mach II. in one regard i'd rather pay more and know it was a success with growth potential. maybe new chip inserts for higher res futures. just p***ing in the wind here. but i do encourage experimentation and would support a $900 trial.

go for it!

-dd

 

[Ken Ford]

I'd rather see a great low light 8MP camera than a mediocre available light camera with 12MP or more. 8MP is fine by me on a cropped sensor.

 

[cosmonaut]

I say no.....If I shoot digital I have an E3. I use my M6 because I get tired of WB, AF and all of those complicated bells and whistles. I could get an Oly G1 and the M adapter for the price of a digital back.

 

[ZlatkoBatistich]

I think it's a great idea. The price actually seems about right, maybe even low (depending on the image quality). The critical factors are image quality, reliability and speed/handling/ergonomics. If it's clunky and slow to use, it wouldn't be interesting. Also, ISO 800 or 1250 has to to be brilliant.