a D-FSU?

[rolleistef]

Good evening all,
Do you thing a camera could be turned into a digital camera by adding to the camera back an old digital camera, complete but without any lens (just the sensor and the various digital apparati such as screen etc.), a bit like Leica did w/ the ModulR.
We could get a digikiev, a digizorki, a DigiFed...!
Yes? or just a need to stop LSD and other weird weeds?

 

[darkkavenger]

I think that it would be possible for someone who is very passionate and has the skills to pursue such an aim. (and what a wonderful aim!)

 

[Ash]

If I could get hold of a large sensor (ie a "broken" canon/minolta dslr) I'd likely try it on a Kiev.... that way when it works I can put the back on my soon-to-arrive contax 😀

 

[Jocko]

I posted a link a while back from a Russian site in which someone had mounted a Jupiter 3 on a converted point and shoot digicam, with rather good results. It could be done and probably has been: the FSU is the home of "innovative" repairwork 🙂

Cheers, Ian

 

[reagan]

So, G-man, which FSU body have you been considering/working on ? Or is it a total "black ops" endeavor? Just curious. So far, I haven't taken any steps beyond thinking about it. Should be plenty of room inside the carcass of a Zorki or FED and certainly in Ash's Kiev.

Some time ago, I butchered a small junker digi-cam, attached [with a huge glob of tape] an L.39 extension tube to it, screwed in a Jupiter.8 (I think) got it to focus and took a few rainy day shots out the window and a couple of macro-shots.

 

[Adam-T]

Early on Kodak made backs for the Canon 1N and Nikon F5 and they`re available Cheap on E-Bay, one was even 6MP ! . the sensor sits behind the film gate so I can`t see any reason why they couldn`t be bodged onto a Zorki or FED with a bit of work .. Even stripping down a Kodak 560 (Canon) or 760 (Nikon) which used whole film bodies would be a thought, there was one based on the Nikon F90 too..

I`m wondering if KMZ or FED would release a Digital Rangefinder as the R-D1 is of course 100% manual (apart from A mode which the Bessas have) so why not an FSU one? . I can`t imagine a Zenit-D appearing however, there are too many DSLRs as it is and I doubt a manual one would sell unless it was based on the current Nikon FM3 ..

Even Cosina/Voigtlander needed a collaborating Digicam maker (Epson) to do the electronics so that maybe the stumbling block but a DRF costing under £700 would sell like hot cakes, the only problem would be the stratospherical rise in old FSU lens prices , the Jupiter-9 is rising fast as it is 🙁 ..

One thing which IS a shame is that there aren`t any current FSU RFs being made, with the increased interest in RF cams (CV are doing well) you`d think that KMZ would re-start lens production at least..

 

[Ash]

With the number of members joining since my first posts, I should think it's been quite a RF-boom!

A true digi-fsu would be great, I admit, but it wouldn't happen unless the M-8 was taken to russia, disassembled, reassembled with cheaper parts, and rebadged within a year WITHOUT breaking patents. How anyone is going to manage that, I don't know.

 

[jody]

Ok someone somewhere can do this. Someone somewhere please do this.

 

[Keith]

How about a digicam with a simulated FSU setting on the dial. When you select it the camera totally changes character ... your shutter speed is restricted to 500 ... the LCD resizes down to around 1cm square ... something immediately falls off or comes loose and the whole thing develops a faint odour of vodka!

But ... you enjoy taking the photo much more!

😀 😀

 

[varjag]

With the number of members joining since my first posts, I should think it's been quite a RF-boom!

A true digi-fsu would be great, I admit, but it wouldn't happen unless the M-8 was taken to russia, disassembled, reassembled with cheaper parts, and rebadged within a year WITHOUT breaking patents. How anyone is going to manage that, I don't know.

There is nothing impossible in making a digital RF without reverse engineering a Leica. Witness R-D1 🙂

An FSU rf is not likely to appear though, since most of the plants got done with photographic equipment manufacture altogether.

 

[ZorkiKat]

Ok someone somewhere can do this. Someone somewhere please do this.

There are various concerns who could cooperate/collaborate to make one. There are many Chinese makers of inexpensive digicams. Someone could pick up all those old-new stock FED-5 and stick digital components on their backs.
Or else get the old FED camera making equipment (FED stopped making cameras more than a decade ago) and restart the lines again... too expensive proposition...

BUT whoever that someone is, lets pray that it isn't the LOMO Society!!! Otherwise, given their reputation of overpricing inexpensive toys, the digi-FED or digi-Zorki will end up costing as much as the M8!

A sensor at least half the area of 24 X 36 mm should be used. The typical inexpensive digicams use sensors which are thumbnail sized. Such sensors will convert a 50mm Industar into a long telephoto.



Jay

 

[Ash]

I simply want someone to make a 'digiback'. Rip off the original designs for digital back for hasse's etc, and reshape it to look like an oversized 110-cassette. That means it'll slot into more than one camera, and thus larger audience, and shouldn't be too difficult considering the technology is there.

You need someone stupid enough to make it is all

 

[lubitel]

there was a company that made "digital film" - that you can put in any film camera. But I heard that Kodak bought that company, so it unlikely we will hear anything about that 🙁

 

[rolleistef]

It's here! Arsenal Made it! With a soviet Leica ModulR they made the very first Digi-Kiev, the IIIaDs Mk1.23² (demo version, the firmware may produce some bubbles when the super-CCD sensors is too hot.=)
see my gallery...

 

[vanyagor]

Unfortunately as far as I know KMZ stoipped producing even Zenits. And they have abandoned their digital SLR plans even before that. (source: KMZ website). Now they only produce specialized and military equipment and glass (also they keep customer support for Zenits).

FED factory has not only stopped producing cameras some time ago, but it has collapsed alltogether as far as I know. 🙁