Kickstarter Digital Back for 35mm Film Cameras

[CameraQuest]

"I'm Back" 16MP digital back

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/samellos/im-backtm-pro-low-cost-digital-back-for-35mm-analo

I like the idea,
but the prototype seems to be a bit clunky in design with its large bulge on the back,
plus the relatively small 16MP will likely be met without much enthusiasm.

Stephen

 

[CMur12]

I've been hoping for something like this for a long time. However, I'm not sure how well the unit will fit 35mm cameras of different sizes and, even more importantly, with that big appendage on the back, one couldn't really use the camera's eye-level finder.

- Murray

 

[Huss]

Cool now we can use those neat old film cameras to take cat pictures.

 

[BillBingham2]

Reminds me of the Marty Forscher back for Polaroids some years back.

It's a great solid first step. Not for me, but it's a very interesting approach. I can see it more on a MF camera.

Interesting that we are seeing more photography focused kickstarters, wonder what will be next?

Thanks for the heads up SG!

B2 (;->

 

[mooge]

It's a digital camera that takes a photo of the image projected onto a groundglass on the film plane of a film camera.
-Apertures larger than f/3,5 recommended to avoid vignetting
-shutter of film camera must be set to B and held for 2-3 seconds

 

[Corran]

It's also just a cellphone camera in the back unit. Funny how the Yashica Y35 gets panned hard but folks are salivating over this awkward conglomeration of parts. One only knows how you actually look through the viewfinder with a giant box sticking out the back of the camera. Have fun.

 

[Arbitrarium]

Considering that guy who converted a Konica Auto S3 to have a digital back hardly added any bulk to the camera, this thing is just comically oversized. Why anyone would want to walk around with this abomination rather than just adapt old lenses to their digital camera is beyond me.

 

[Bille]

The concept of digital backs for film cameras is obsolete since the Sony a7.

 

[Archlich]

The concept of digital backs for film cameras is obsolete since the Sony a7.

If only it were as simple and intuitive to use as a...you name it.

The Nikon Df could be like that, but they were too afraid to dive into the niche.

 

[jsrockit]

Reminds me of:

http://www.nikonweb.com/dcs100/

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

An A7 feels much more like your old camera than grafting your old camera onto this crazy thing would.

 

[x-ray]

Reminds me of:

http://www.nikonweb.com/dcs100/

That's exactly what I was thinking. I can't imagine the image quality being very good capturing the final image off a ground glass or focusing screen. I used some of these early cameras and have no desire to go back to the bulk and terrible quality.

No thanks, we've moved way beyond this.

 

[DanskDynamit]

"a second chance for your analog 35mm camera"

(facepalm)

 

[Huss]

"a second chance for your analog 35mm camera"

(facepalm)

yeah, it's called buying a roll of film and using it.
🙂

 

[jsrockit]

Yep, just use film... and you could probably have better results scanning it with your cell phone.

 

[ruby.monkey]

If only it were as simple and intuitive to use as a...you name it.

The Nikon Df could be like that, but they were too afraid to dive into the niche.

I can't say I've found working a power switch and then turning a shutter-speed control dial to be too taxing mentally. If you can work a Nikon F80 - Hell, if you can walk and chew gum at the same time - you can work a Sony A7 with a manually-operated lens.

 

[JoeLopez]

"I'm Back" 16MP digital back

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/samellos/im-backtm-pro-low-cost-digital-back-for-35mm-analo

I like the idea,
but the prototype seems to be a bit clunky in design with its large bulge on the back,
plus the relatively small 16MP will likely be met without much enthusiasm.

Stephen

I've read about the previous progress, such a great tool! I'd love to have one. The video has that great vintage look and feel!

 

[mich rassena]

That's a very rough prototype. It looks like the controller just remote controls a VNC session. You can see it in the demo where the user just moves a mouse cursor around to launch an app. Is this just a Raspberry PI with a camera module under the hood?

Photographing a ground glass gets around the problem of the crop sensor giving you a full field of view. That's good. But in the video there's a lot of vignetting. The real problem is the requirement to use bulb mode. Certainly there's a way to create a circuit which triggers the SPI ports on the PI with the PC or hot shoe flash sync, and use that signal to tell the PI to capture from the onboard camera. Then at least you can actually use the shutter, however limited that might be.

Don't get me wrong, it's a neat hack, but the form factor of the Kodak DCS 420 is long out of fashion. This design is too little, too late. There's a long way to go from this demonstration to an actual product.

 

[Dralowid]

What was the digital back for the Leica R series called and did anyone actually use one?

 

[Luke_Miller]

What was the digital back for the Leica R series called and did anyone actually use one?

I believe it was called the DMR. And Kodak did something similar with the DCS 6xx/7xx series using Nikon F5 film bodies.