DX coding hacks

[stillshunter]

Apologies in advance if I posted this in the wrong forum (Mods feel free to move as appropriate).

I have just found myself a sweet little mju-ii which looks in great condition for the price and powers up nicely - but the proof of operation will be in the way it burns the film. My issue is that I only have bulk-roll T-Max 400 loaded in 'blank' cartridges and the mju-ii appears to not allow manual ISO override and defaults to ISO100 - and does not allow the required exposure compensation.

I found an excellent resource for the DX code layouts but have no reference point for plotting this onto the canister. I wondered if someone could help with the measurements, e.g., between the leader and the DX code (which I believe is reserved for the bar code), the height and width of the code, etc. Otherwise if anyone has some ready-made DX code labels (as per this example) can I trouble you for some measurements of these please.

As code-reading appears to be conductive, rather than an optical, operation my intention is to adhere some aluminium foil to a blank adhesive mail label, cut out the right DX code shape and adhere to the canister. Happy to give a pictorial step by step and an account of whether this works if that would be of assistance. But would appreciate a leg up with the measurements (in millimetres please 😱) so I can work out the proportions against the canister.

Of course any simplier suggestions are also welcome. Please note, I have looked into the ready-made DX code labels and these are not available in Australia and I am keen to test the camera NOW rather than wait for arrival from the US or UK in a fortnight! 😀

TIA

Mark

 

[btgc]

How about rewinding into used ISO400 and ISO200 canisters you can pick up in a minilabs? Just make sure you mask film/film connection with a tape so motor can rewind film back into without hassle.
Or shoot that rolls in another camera which allows setting sensitivity manually, this is what I'd do.

 

[raytoei@gmail.com]

hi,

i routinely tape it with scotch tape to mod my expired 1600 color film to 400 iso. since the cameras do not use optical detection but electrical connection, it is possible to diy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DX_encoding

iso 100 -> 010101 where 0 is blank and 1 is black
iso 400 -> 011001

so since you have blank cartridges, are they able to conduct electricity.
if yes, then all you have to do is figure out the spacing to tape it.

if your cartridge is plastic, perhaps, if you could get a dx400 cartridge and trace the outline on a aluminum foil and then cut and stick on the plastic cannister.

raytoei

 

[tj01]

i use my mju-ii and routinely scratch the film canister for 400 DX coding. The trick is to do a long big scratch, and electric tape the middle square. If it didn't work, the camera defaults to ISO 100.

 

[David Hughes]

Hi,

I've just thrown some away but managed to find one.

The segments are a fraction under 8mm round the cassette and a fraction over 5mm parallel to or along the axis of the spool. Six of them in a row measure 33mm so the exact size must be 5 1/2mm.

The best way would be a strip of Al foil with paper blanking out the pins. If I remember correctly (raised in a thread elsewhere) there's just one row of four pins and the earth/ground connection comes off the cassette body in the mju series. So only the speed row of contacts is needed. (As edit) the earth are numbers 1 and 7 segments: I should have looked at the link first...


Hope this helps.

Regards, David

 

[stillshunter]

Thanks guys. Unfortunately the canisters are simple black plastic - so scratching is not an option. I realise it would simply be easier to use pre-existing DX-coded orolls but prices being what they are for film here in Australia - bulk-rolling makes a lot of sense (Teds - our largest Vanilla chain-store sells T-Max for $27! yep AUD27...which is close to USD30!)

if your cartridge is plastic, perhaps, if you could get a dx400 cartridge and trace the outline on a aluminum foil and then cut and stick on the plastic cannister.

Agreed this would be the easiest way, but unfortunately I do not have a 400/36 roll; handy. Maybe it is a task best to save until I have a template. I can use the Canonet for the bulk-rolls until then....I suppose 🙁

Surely it's just my rubbish Google skills. There must be a DX code templates out there...somewhere.

 

[ChrisN]

Hi Mark -still about!

 

[stillshunter]

Hi,

I've just thrown some away but managed to find one.

The segments are a fraction under 8mm round the cassette and a fraction over 5mm parallel to or along the axis of the spool. Six of them in a row measure 33mm so the exact size must be 5 1/2mm.

The best way would be a strip of Al foil with paper blanking out the pins. If I remember correctly (raised in a thread elsewhere) there's just one row of four pins and the earth/ground connection comes off the cassette body in the mju series. So only the speed row of contacts is needed. (As edit) the earth are numbers 1 and 7 segments: I should have looked at the link first...


Hope this helps.

Regards, David

Thanks David. Very helpful indeed. You're spot on the mju-ii (stylus epic) only has four pins to read DX code. So I assume it reads only film speed and not film length or latitude. Examining the charts I can see with only having four pins why it can only read certain ISOs (e.g., 25, 50, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600). I think I've figured out how the four pin combinations can read the speed, but this would mean that the 1 and 7 earth/ground segments are not being used? 😕 So does this mean that it assumes the consistent 1st row ground and then uses the combinations of the next four (contacts 2-5) and ignores the 6th contact and the whole second row?

If this is the case then the hack is far easier - when it comes to single row pins as evident in the mju-ii - as length around the canister does not matter and the only thing to be mindful of is blocking out (with the spool on top) the top two contacts....or looked at more simply, just bridging the two bottom contacts.

Does this sound about right....or am I reading the DX CAS decoder upside down 😉

 

[stillshunter]

Hi Mark -still about!

Yep! 😱 Though staring at these DX-CAS sheets is making my head spin...

 

[sepiareverb]

I use the silver foil tape we used to use to crop 35mm slides for projection to hack ISO codes. That and regular paper mailing labels made black with a sharpie. I use that same site to figure them out. I like PanF+ at 40.

 

[David Hughes]

Hi,

Will this help?

Regards, David

 

[stillshunter]

Thanks David.

As per advice received via PM, this exercise requires a more empirical bent. So I'll be ordering some factory film shortly, will make measurements from the source and will publish a reference template, esp. for the Olympus mju-ii (Stylus Epic), shortly after it arrives. Hope it might be of some assistance to other curious spendthrifts such as myself 😱

 

[caasols]

This might help you... http://www.focomanual.org/index.php/topic,3451.0.html

Use google translate, from Portuguese > English and it should to the trick.

 

[Aristophanes]

http://isolation.net/photo/dxcodes.html

Try real duct tape, as in the stuff made of real foil used on interior ventilation systems. Put that on as the base and then the lack areas cane electrician's tape.

 

[stillshunter]

Update: For those wanting to hack DX codes for the Olympus mju-ii (a.k.a Stylus Epic).

This camera has only four (4) DX read pins. The top pin is always ground (silver - conducive) and the remaining three pins downwards reads the speed (rather than four further pins and hence why its ISO ratings are so limited - no 64, 125 or 320 I'm afraid).

ASA (ISO) with long end of spool cassette reading from the left (or 'top to bottom' of mju-ii)
X = black (non-conducive)
O = silver (conducive)

0050 - O O X X
0100 - O X O X
0200 - O O O X
0400 - O X X O
0800 - O O X O
1600 - O X O O
3200 - O O O O

Having only four pins there is no second row and so need to indicate number of exposures or latitude.

I will follow with photos at ISO400 shortly....just waiting for the glue to dry.

 

[David Hughes]

Hi,

I mentioned another thread and have remembered what it was; years ago I noticed that the majority of my cameras only had a row of 4 connectors and one had 6.

So I asked if anyone had, or had seen, one with all 12 connectors. I don't think anyone had.

Back on topic: why not go to your nearest 1 hour lab where they will have a sack of dead cassettes. Scrounge one for each ASA film speed and then rip the ends off, flatten the body and use a pair of tin snips (or old kitchen scissors) to cut off the pretty little panel? Then glue it to the plastic container...

Regards, David

 

[stillshunter]

I mentioned another thread and have remembered what it was; years ago I noticed that the majority of my cameras only had a row of 4 connectors and one had 6. So I asked if anyone had, or had seen, one with all 12 connectors. I don't think anyone had.

Yeah I studied this thread David - great read. I thought someone found an SLR with the full complement? Meanwhile, I thought that there were a few other cameras out there with only 4 terminals - hence why I avoided the temptation of having this thread moved to the "Fixed Compact non-RF" folder.

Back on topic: why not go to your nearest 1 hour lab where they will have a sack of dead cassettes. Scrounge one for each ASA film speed and then rip the ends off, flatten the body and use a pair of tin snips (or old kitchen scissors) to cut off the pretty little panel? Then glue it to the plastic container...

Meanwhile, we don't have many (or 'any'...not quite sure) 1 hour labs left in town. I say 'town' but it is the capital city of Australia...just very backward when it comes to anything niche - like film :bang: Why are so many capital cities so vanilla flavoured? Anyway, so I did the next best thing and bought a cheap roll of colour 400 off the supermarket shelf. Dual purpose really:
1. I now have a template, and
2. good to reacquaint myself with rolling my own - aka loading dev tank rolls - in the confines of a tiny change bag 😱

Thanks to all for your help. I only need cut the templates, load my film and shoot! Glad the mju-ii is water-resistant as the weather continues to be awful!!

 

[charjohncarter]

I just use a knife and scotch tape to change the DX on my film for my Olympus Stylus Infinity, which I hear is a Mui.

Here is all you need to know:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DX_encoding

Sorry if someone else has posted this but I can't read all the posts.

 

[jb17kx]

You can by DX code stickers - no idea on price but these could allow you to keep going with your plastic canisters without too much DIY work.

Alternately you can buy new reloadable canisters with DX codes applied.