M3 digital conversion - Kickstarter

Oliver Baker - the Oskar Barnack of the digital age. Already got the same initials ;). Seriously though, that looks like a lot of fun although I fear it might mean an increase in film M prices, just now that I'm in the market for one...
 
Ask and Ye Shall Receive

Ask and Ye Shall Receive

Awesome. I am in. I wish him luck and I hope it works out.
 
He's got a lot of work cut out for him, that said the kickstarter looks premature at most. Interesting to see where this goes.
 
Great news!!!

My best wishes to this project.

There are many technical issues when joining a full mechanical camera to a digital media but i think it´s all testing and time to solve them!

So i think it can take a while but for sure it will succeed!!!
 
Jaap, not that hard. The bigger issue is sensor dimensions w.r.t. film guide rails and gate size. I had to file the ceramic envelope down on mine, very tedious and error-prone work. The IR cut-off filter on the sensor will have to go, too.
 
I also wonder about the lens register problem, micro height adjusting screws to calibrate the sensor does not seem to be an option.

Very interesting approach, though!!

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jaapv said:
I really wonder how he is going to handle the register distance of the lenses. It seems quite hard to get the sensor in the same plane as the film ( and that with a tolerance of 1/100th of a mm, which you need to be able to focus all enses accurately)
Click to expand...

1/100th of a mm? The question is not how Ollie is going to do it, but rather how did Leica do it 60 years ago with a swinging barn door, plate, and springs?
 
I am really impressed by this guy. As I wrote in another thread, I see a bright future ahead for him. So, more power to him.

But: my heart bleeds a bit when I think about the consequences of this kickstarter project. M3 bodies converted to digital will mean M3 bodies disappearing from the market for analog users. Yes, M3 are comparatively plentiful, yes, but once this catches on, and the "nuisance" of "film only" is waived, potentially A LOT of people are going to want to have a Franken-M3.

Greetings, Ljós
 
maddoc said:
It does!

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Click to expand...

Well then, perhaps a replacement digital back and bottom cover could be made by 3D printing. The back to hold the sensor and then interface (with gold plated contacts) with the new bottom cover that would have enough depth to hold power supply and related electronics along with a card slot. The film pieces could be retained to configure the camera back to film if desired.
 
even an APS-C Nex 6 sensor (20+ mg pixels) and can use RF patch to focus in a not so big package would be a winner! i think a full frame sensor is quite tough to deal with but you never know until you try :) looking forward to future development. look like he will get enough money soon with all the publicity he is getting.
 
if i can jam my gxr sensor into an M4-2 body i would prob do it! the only thing i dont like about the gxr is just the lack of RF focusing. live view is ok but a lot of button pushing to zoom in/out recompose.
 
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