M3 digital conversion - Kickstarter

[dcsang]

if anyone can do this it will be "that" guy. The issue I would see is getting such a thing mass produced - with good quality control and tight specs on each "upgrade" kit.

That said, it would be interesting to see where this goes - I'd be willing to pop a few bucks his way...

Cheers,
Dave

 

[xyz3450]

I hope he succeeds and his efforts and dynamism are rewarded. He is a smart guy who is about to embark on a physics degree at Oxford University, having just attained the highest grades in the UK's high-school system. He has a passion for science and art and seems to pursue these at a high level. I hope this, his second camera project, works out well. I've signed up 🙂

 

[Ko.Fe.]

I was thinking of getting M3 to use it with my J-3 for a while now.
One of the M3 beautifulness is how it advancing the film.
I guess, I have to do speed up sales of my gear I don't need to get M3 before it is scavenged by lazy fetishist, those who can't handle the film cameras and only care for the looks.
What a shame...

 

[Godfrey]

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.

With the GXR-M you can set up magnification to be a one button toggle. You can also set it to stay in magnify mode, and go back to normal view with the shutter half-press for framing.

That's how I set mine up ... it's quite fluid in use that way. When scoping out a scene, half press the shutter release and frame, rough focus. Take your finger off the shutter for fine focus. Then half press, final framing, press through to release shutter. Sounds more complicated than it is ... in use, it just works. 🙂

G

 

[Godfrey]

I was thinking of getting M3 to use it with my J-3 for a while now.
One of the M3 beautifulness is how it advancing the film.
I guess, I have to do speed up sales of my gear I don't need to get M3 before it is scavenged by lazy fetishist, those who can't handle the film cameras and only care for the looks.
What a shame...

I sincerely doubt that Ollie's conversion of an M3 is going to seriously impact the number of M3s available on the market ... ! They only made the M3 for a dozen years or so, made a quarter if a million of them. There are tons of them out there. He's planning to modify one. If everyone on RFF modified one, that would leave potentially about 200,000 still out there...

More of them are lost by being forgotten in some old codgers bottom bureau drawer and thrown in the trash as "some old camera, who cares about it?"

G

 

[f16sunshine]

Pledge made. Good luck Oliver. You're a legend mate!

 

[Paul T.]

Pledge made. I love that digital prototyping helps facilitate these kind of crazed ideas.

 

[calebarchie]

I don't think people realize but It looks as if Oliver does end up trying to mass produce these it will simply be a part and not a service - eg the end user will still have perform any necessary modifications, assemble and install it yourself. Along with having to source the actual electronic components (sensor etc) via disassembly. I doubt Oliver has plans to manufacture any sensor, or supply the parts from another camera (not sure how that would work out for Sony's stuff etc)

What people are funding now is just for research that of which may not even be successful but pledge away, lets not hope this kills the analogue M3 or any film M.

 

[shortstop]

What about a Rolleiflex conversion?😉

 

[mbisc]

I wish him good luck, but if he really wants to get money from Kickstarter, he should offer more than "warm fuzzy feeling" as reward...

 

[f16sunshine]

Well... he's nearly half way there on pledges.

The man has moxie! He'll get it done.
I think a Bessa body would be a better candidate to concert.
Maybe even a Zeiss Ikon.
I love the idea of a Rolleiflex conversion.
That would rock!

 

[shortstop]

Well... he's nearly half way there on pledges. The man has moxie! He'll get it done. I think a Bessa body would be a better candidate to concert. Maybe even a Zeiss Ikon. I love the idea of a Rolleiflex conversion. That would rock!

Rolleiflex has removable back. Also the aesthrtic result would be nice. The only problem...digital back price... But think shooting with a Planar in low light with no rumor.

 

[splitimageview]

Setting expectations low with 'warm fuzzies' is probably a good thing. There is a high likelihood of unforeseen technical hurdles.

 

[nemjo]

However I'm sure that this project is doable, I'm also sure it's not a business project.

I mean it is silly to destroy a tool to build another tool. At least to me the forseeable cons are much more than the pros. Actually I see only one pro, the real VF/RF. I think that a well built adapter used on an a7 has more reason for potential buyers for much less money.

And than the legal problems. I'm pretty sure that buying a camera doesn't mean buying the software for resell it. No problem if somebody do it for her/himself, but that would mean that the buyer has to disassemble the a7 and assemble the necessary parts with that of this guy's parts and an M3.


nemjo

 

[jaapv]

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?

They didn't have a sensor then, if I recall correctly....

 

[jaapv]

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.

Well, that is the reason that the DMR was APS-H

 

[burancap]

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)

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?

They didn't have a sensor then, if I recall correctly....

The point is attaining that degree of tolerance is a nonissue today.

 

[jaapv]

Given that Leica uses laser interferometry to adjust the sensor indicates that it is not as simple as might seem...

 

[Sparrow]

Given that Leica uses laser interferometry to adjust the sensor indicates that it is not as simple as might seem...

They may well do that ... it's still not a difficult tolerance to maintain

 

[varjag]

Yep. Nothing you can't do with a decent indicator and a set of gauge blocks.