EOS Rangefinder: OpenEOS

[john_van_v]

I just got to using my EOS digital SLR, a Canon Xt.

As an aside, digital still sucks in most respects but moving on...

I noticed how small the mirror is because it supports the smaller APS sized sensor standard, and realized how tall the section that holds out the lens mounting flange is, and that it is probably hollow can actually be removed or reduced creating an EOS with its mount even closer to the focal plane.

All I could think was, this camera has potential as a rangefinder; this reduced mount could accomodate RF lenses.

Seeing how Cosina issues so many rangefinders and SLRs that look exactly the same on the bottom, the real difference for us really only the lens mount.

Extending the idea, this camera could be fully manual, or could keep the concept of a full fledged operating system. Canon dSLRs used to have the Unix-like Vxworks OS, but now uses their own neatly named DryOS. An open system would probably use Linux, or perhaps FreeDOS.

Pulling back the mounting flange so far creates another option for "prime" lenses (which are the only kind I use now because I believe that zooms absorb too much light). A focusing section with a turn screw could live where the flange mount is (or was in this fantasy) and possibly an electric motor there could replace the on-lens focusing systems, and interface with the auto focusing in the operating system.

My latest criticism of digital is the lack of color saturation, even under perfect conditions. My Canon Xt has less color rendition that my Kodak c875 point in shoot, and far less than 35mm pictures taken through a Jupter-8. My hope is that I can take good nighttime "noir" photos such as Weegee did, but without flash. If not the Canon is going back on Craig's list, along with the horrid Tamron, and the mounts I bought.

 

[myoptic3]

One way to add more color saturation is to buy a $30 lens adapter w/ focus confirmation, and put a Leica R 50 Summicron on it. If that doesn't do it nothing will. Just to play around I bought an Eos Rebel II film camera ($18!) and the adapter for the lens, and it is pretty neat. You have to meter in stopped down mode, which is no big deal, and it works fine in aperture priority mode. Cheapest way to shoot Leica glass. I don't much like digital images, but I have seen some on the web shot w/ Eos DSLR's and they look very good. Canon L glass is great, but Leica is different, especially the colors. Not all of the Canon DSLR's meter correctly w/ this setup, but I think the XT is one that does. There's a lot on the web about people shooting w/ this setup. You can also put M42 mount lenses on them and I think the Zeiss too.

 

[40oz]

The idea is intriguing.

I'm not sure why motorized autofocus would be valued on a digital rf, as there are already so many autofocus cameras out there. I mean, why bother with the complicated and expensive rf mechanism at that point and just use a finder. I don't think autofocus on an M8 would make it any more desirable for the money.

But assuming Canon could pull off something like a CV or even a past Canon RF model with an APS sensor that accepts M lenses, they'd actually could have a quite desirable product. I'd assume it would cost more than an RD-1 but less than an M8, if I wanted to inject the real world into this.

But I'd still not buy one. So I can't say how popular it would really be. It would be kind of nice to see and use, however.

 

[john_van_v]

"But, I can't understand what advantage it would be to Canon to make anything that will take M lenses. The market for such a camera would be tiny. Canon sold 22 million digital cameras last year. They aren't looking for a niche market."

You are missing the whole point of "open." This fantasy has nothing to do with Canon; it attempts to escape it. DryOS is replaced with free Linux, or a traditional mechanical arrangement, and the flange is pulled back to allow RF lenses.. For SLR there is space to introduce alternative auto-focusing.

This is the component concept where Canon is left out in the cold. "Also ran" Cosina suddenly challenges the Nikon/Canon turf. But unlike Pentax, Sony, Sigma, Olympus and the others, it can do so on Canon's terms, it can beat Canon at its own game.

 

[john_van_v]

One way to add more color saturation is to buy a $30 lens adapter w/ focus confirmation

Ok, this is a big bugaboo. I have read that the auto confirmation chips are made by who-knows-who in the slums of Hong Kong, and that they may work on 35mm Canon SLRs, but also can fry the circuits on a Canon dSLR.

They sell a hell-of-a-lot of them on Ebay, so I assume that even some of them work on an XT or XTi, but I am personally reluctant to take chances.

The source I saw actually had one that worked on a film EOS but fryed a digital EOS.

Has anybody had any experiences? I ask this as an OT, because I am really into this OpenEOS idea with the sunken flange mount.

Sometime soon I will write about my experiences with a Pheonix SLR and how it broke and how I noticed it is built on the same chassis as my up-scale Bessa RF... And how that inspired this OpenEOS idea.

Not only would the fronts and tops be "open," but also the backs -- put any old sensor in it! I hear a lot of the Soviet sattelites are into these non-copyright non-patent ideas; I know that the Ukraines have very high technical competence.