Amazing! This guy turned a Konica S3 into a digital rangefinder.

Hi Ollie, that is an interesting idea. Maybe a closer look at an Epson R-D1 could serve as a source of inspiration (or parts) for your further work. Also have a look at conventional medium format SLRs and how the manufacturers have succeeded in attaching digital backs to them. Or the Leica DMR. But you already know all these concepts, don't you?
 
You might want to take a look at some 1960s era Canon LTM bodies. Much as I hate to admit this, the shortest route to financial payout-crowd-funding would be some means of digitizing a classic mechanical body that accepts Leica lenses. The M bodies would, by design, be awfully difficult to digitize because of their bottom loading. The easiest classic to digitize would be a Nikon RF/Contax/Kiev because of the removable backs, but the user base is just not that deep for crowd-funding. There already is a digital Bessa, though the technology is now almost a decade old.
 
Thanks for the suggestions, someone messaged me and told me that the Leica M3 body shell can be slid off which is amazing as a reversible conversion could be done and it would be a lot less fiddly. Really excited, just need to get my hands on an M3 and possible an A7 too.

Thanks,
Ollie
 
OliverBaker said:
Thanks for the suggestions, someone messaged me and told me that the Leica M3 body shell can be slid off which is amazing as a reversible conversion could be done and it would be a lot less fiddly. Really excited, just need to get my hands on an M3 and possible an A7 too.

Thanks,
Ollie
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All the best on the conversion, Ollie.

Best Regards from:
 
OliverBaker said:
Thanks for the suggestions, someone messaged me and told me that the Leica M3 body shell can be slid off which is amazing as a reversible conversion could be done and it would be a lot less fiddly. Really excited, just need to get my hands on an M3 and possible an A7 too.

Thanks,
Ollie
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Well I think we as rff community might think about joining forces and donate an M3 and a7 to Ollie to make it work. I commit to donating 50 dollars. Let's get it going.
 
Wouter said:
Well I think we as rff community might think about joining forces and donate an M3 and a7 to Ollie to make it work. I commit to donating 50 dollars. Let's get it going.
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Sounds like a good idea. Kickstarter or can Stephen set something up? Easiest if there can be PayPal.
 
Wouter said:
Well I think we as rff community might think about joining forces and donate an M3 and a7 to Ollie to make it work. I commit to donating 50 dollars. Let's get it going.
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You are absolutely right. Lets get this grassroots thing going. We are WAY TOO DEPENDENT on corporations
to make all our crap for us, then bitch and moan all day on forums b/c "they aren't doing it right".
And I'm guilty as well.

This is a smart young guy with the time, energy, and know-how that most of us on RFF dont have,
so why not kick in a few bucks? And this isn't an old piece-o-**** camera, this is an M3!
How many of us pay $10-15 USD for lunch? dinner? A movie is $10. A decent Latte is $3-4 PER DAY!

Come on Folks, why not chip in a few USD/Pounds?, cuz you are going to throw yer money away elsewhere
anyway in the US ("I need more plastic stuff from China") economy.
I'm happy to start.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1807005251/frankencamera-ii
 
Eons ago when I was active here, I proposed such a project on an M2 and was flamed...except moderator Brian Sweeny who had also departed. I suspended my project because of the Fujifilm X100.

My ideal then was to pack the sensor, buffer and processor circuit within the back door that could accommodate as much as 7mm thickness [after removing the pressure plate]...making a box thicker sticks out a little more is still thinner than the brick of an M8/9/M. This unit is internally connected to a battery and a micro/mini/SD card reader/writer via flexible circuits. The on/off switch is the "R" level no longer needed.

I wasn't too ambitious, just an ISO 400+ monochrome, Sunny-16, MF and shoot...film/processing is free.

Dalsa has a 24Mp FF sensor, they do customizing if the order is reasonable. I am sure a monochrome version is no big deal. The sensor itself is 4mm thick. There is enough room within the 45x90x7+mm back door module for a processor circuit/buffer etc.

Given the generally favourable comments, seems I was a bit ahead of my time.
 
Just checked...Dalsa now offers a 24Mp [6000x3988@6u] monochrome.

I have a pristine M2 as a donor...and considerable experience marketing serious retrofits [just ask WILD-Heerbrugg also ordered to rename itself Leica in 1991].
 
Frankie said:
For a FF RGB sensor...see: http://www.teledynedalsa.com/imaging/products/sensors/area-scan/FTF6040C/

For a FF Monochrome sensor...see:http://www.teledynedalsa.com/imaging/products/sensors/area-scan/FTF6040M/

In addition to the M2, I also have a like new Zeiss Ikon and an R-D1...all finger toys now.
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You won't be able to order just a sensor. There are more items at stake here - processors, ram, battery, software, circuit board to connect to the flash card, etc.

You may be able to find those parts elsewhere but it'll be difficult. Hence why taking one camera a part and fitting it into another is a better choice. If Oliver is able to source all that stuff and add it, my hat is definitely off to him! (Even moreso than it already is).

If I can throw in my two bits - I'm not much of a Leica shooter. I'd recommend a retrofit of a classic SLR like the Nikon F3 (the fact that I have one is just coincidental 🙂). But seriously, I think many of these SLRs have the same design of the back. To get a big bang for the buck, you might want to look at the highest production numbers of cameras and if there are backs that can be "universal".
 
jkrumsick said:
You won't be able to order just a sensor.....

I am well aware of that......but you can buy a trial kit and try.

My post is an encouragement for anyone want to do such project, and not a buy-parts-DIY this weekend thing.

I made my diagrams long ago in my design stages from dissecting an M for taking measurements, etc., etc.

I eventually abandoned my project and simply buying an X100...it is a thankless task doing such thing in a Leica'phile world.
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Frankie said:
Think along this line...
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Frank, the sensor has to rest on the inner rails: the outer rails are for the pressure plate. Also, the chip itself is typically below the enclosure surface, so the surface has to be moved even further in.
 
The key to such a project [for all cameras] is to somehow fit the sensor and electronics in a box with a front surface mated to the guide rail surface within the 35mm wide shallow grove channel...most sensors are wider than that.

A simple solution is to under mount the sensor to a wider plate for "attaching" to the camera chassis [much like under mounting a sink in kitchen counters]...but make sure the sensor surface ended up proud and at the same plane as the guide rail surface. The likely difference in "depth" between the outer and inner rail is ~0.008" [thickness of the film plus some room]...and a Nikon F2 provides 50mm wide space, while the M backdoor is 45mm...

[I had a small lathe/milling machine, still do...but 3D printing service was not available then as yet.]

To fit the assortment of electronic devices needed would dictate a custom mother board...same task facing the M8/9/M designers. Luckily, flexible circuit board helps. [Some years ago a brave soul took apart an M8 and posted detailed pictures on an Internet Leica forum where I had studied it for days...]

A Leica M is a simple 2-function machine...shutter, RF; while the lens provides another 2-function...focus, aperture. One could ignore "ISO" because sensors would provide 14-bit latitude...all in underexposure. Sunny-16 could be re-conceptualized as Overcast-16 and still works.
 
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