Digital M closer than you think

It's still a long way from being finished. So don't count your chickens yet.

That having been said, I do have more faith in Huw than Leica.
 
Remember his "Mad Project" of installing a working meter in a Barnack body?

This guy can hack anything (bad pun intended)!!
 
Question: if you could pay somebody to install a chip and accompanying electronics into your rangefinder, thereby "converting" it to digital, how much would you be willing to pay? If it came with several shortcomings, i.e. somewhat heavy vignetting on the corners, a predilection to collect dust from your cloth shutter curtains, slightly inaccurate exposures due to the mechanics of the camera, very little interface (maybe a single red LED in the viewfinder to indicate that the camera needs to be dumped, etc.) would you still be interested?

What about if you had to connect the camera to your computer in order to change the ISO or tweak other capture parameters due to the lack of interface?

Taking it further, if you had the option of ordering the conversion with a premium full-frame sensor or an APS-C sized sensor in either permenant monochrome or normal color, would that make the conversion process more desireable? What if you could send it back to have the sensor upgraded?
 
It seems that his projects have a very sweet and delightful madness...

It would be nice if he also decides to make it commercially as a kit able to be customized and installed in any RF...
14 mp in B&W ... mmmm....sounds damn good!
It would convince me to jump into digital...

Ernesto
 
Huw admitted in an earlier thread when he first announced his intentions that the full frame sensor without microlenses would probably produce significant light fall off. I'm sure it won't be perfect, but it sure is interesting to watch this happen and wish I had one.
 
For all the time spent "modin" the Leica, I'd rather spend the energy using it unmodded..

It's a cool project, only if you're into that sort of stuff. Otherwise, it's rather worthless for the rest of us..

yawn....
 
ywenz said:
For all the time spent "modin" the Leica, I'd rather spend the energy using it unmodded..

It's a cool project, only if you're into that sort of stuff. Otherwise, it's rather worthless for the rest of us..

yawn....
Click to expand...



I guess it's usefull hobby. Even photographers have hobbies. I wish my other diversions could possibly have me making usefull cameras and the like...
beats eating nachos and watching the Super Bowl.
 
In the vernacular of other seamy sites I visit, 'I'd hit it'.

I would just pick up another M2 for film, and have the best of both worlds.

- robert
 
I'd buy such a back for a Kiev as long as it was full frame. Yeah, there'd still be plenty of other issues, but so long as I don't have to deal with cropping, I can imagine getting digital images with my prewar uncoated 50/2 Sonnar... :D

William
 
I don't think I'd be interested in having one of my Leicas permanently made into a digital. If there was a way to replace the film door and stuff something into where the cassette usually goes (maybe a Bluetooth thing that transmits the image data to an iPod in my pocket), then maybe I'd be interested, if it didn't cost more than a grand. At least it could be shuttled from one body to another. Otherwise I am happy using the least-expensive kind of digital camera for snapshots that get e-mailed, and shooting film in all my paid-for film cameras until film can't be bought and/or processed economically. Then I'll see what's out there, and no doubt it'll be better than what's out there today, and I'll have saved thousands not upgrading piecemeal in the meantime. That goes for the "Digital M" as well. I can't see it being in the cards for me money-wise.
 
Fascinating! I wish Huw well. If he can pull off something workable, it makes me hopeful for a practical alternative to buying unrepairable cameras and their matching lenses. Since it is not in the interest of major camera makers to build such devices, it stands to reason that a hobbyist would seek to fulfill his own need.

In the same way, if film were not available, I'd hope a similar sort of project would be attempted with a jug of light sensitive chemistry, a roll of plastic sheeting, and a box of Jell-O. Of course, I'd expect one would need to factor in the filter effect of the flavor of Jell-O being used. But I digress...
 
ywenz said:
It's a cool project, only if you're into that sort of stuff. Otherwise, it's rather worthless for the rest of us.. yawn....
Click to expand...

Not worthless to me. :rolleyes: I find it not only interesting, but also very useful IF properly implemented. It would be nice if the door only could be modified so that the entire body would not need to be dedicated to digital. Certainly, it would be worth a look see at the very least ... to each his own!
 
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