Nikon patents digital back for 35mm film slrs

[James24]

See here

http://nikonrumors.com/2012/12/17/nikon-patents-a-digital-back-for-35mm-film-slr-cameras.aspx/


Not sure if it will come to fruition, but it would be a dream come true. Even better would be a digital Nikon rangefinder...




Edit to add: just noticed the story is old news. (December2012)

 

[Buzz40]

Oh, please, please, please, puhleeeezzze, Nikon. Build this. Market this. Make me the happiest photographer in the world. I still have a pair of FE2s and a few wonderful Nikkors AiS lenses sitting around. Really. Build this. ;-)

 

[Clint Troy]

A dream come true, this would be!!

 

[Tijmendal]

Awww yis! That would be amazing if they made this. And long overdue really. I really hope they're actually going to release this.

 

[Frontman]

Pessimistically speaking, Nikon might patent such a system so as to prevent anyone else from producing it (whilst not producing it themselves). Why buy a new Nikon when you could simply put a digital adapter on an old camera?

 

[btgc]

Pessimistically speaking, Nikon might patent such a system so as to prevent anyone else from producing it (whilst not producing it themselves). Why buy a new Nikon when you could simply put a digital adapter on an old camera?

If anything else fails, then make adapter in a way that it only allows to use it with Nikon film on which backups of digital digital images are stored 🙂

 

[sc_rufctr]

How is this any different to the Leica DMR?

But late aren't they 😀

 

[dogberryjr]

I wonder what the price point for something like this would be.

 

[gavinlg]

Nikon, make this and I will sell all of my canon stuff and pledge me allegiance to the nikon brand forever.

Imagine an f3hp with period nikkors and zeiss ZFs with a d800 sensor. Wow.

 

[sevo]

Nikon, make this and I will sell all of my canon stuff and pledge me allegiance to the nikon brand forever.

Imagine an f3hp with period nikkors and zeiss ZFs with a d800 sensor. Wow.

The diagram looks líke a DX sensor - given the experience with digital medium format, where nobody succeeded at making a digital back whose active sensor area covered the entire film window, I would not expect a FX sensor to happen in a even smaller format (where the inevitable sensor margins relatively take up even more space). So something like a D7100 sensor would be the best we could hope for.

 

[luibargi]

I'm pretty sure Frontman marked the point.
Having patented the concept closes the door to anyone else and avoids a possible new market of digital backs on their cameras.
It is in every manufacturer's interest to definitely kill the film market.
Furthermore, only few of the old lenses are suitable for digital sensors.

 

[jsrockit]

I'd settle for a FF digital camera with the shape of a F3 or FM3. A back would be game changing though if done right.

 

[Archlich]

Should it be the petite Nikon 1 sensor everyone will have to grab a 18/3.5 AIS...

 

[DNG]

How is this any different to the Leica DMR?

But late aren't they 😀

the same in usage...
Leica introduced it in 2005 with 1.37x sensor (APS-H)

Today's DSLRs have much better IQ, as expected over time as tech advances.

Nikon will never make it, just a patient to protect the tech needed so no else makes one.... which, no one else will make one either!!. with or w/o Nikon's lock on those patients.

If we only knew how many patients where registered just to prevent future manufacture of a product that could cut into current sales...

 

[rbsinto]

Here we go again.....
First we'll see. And then we'll know.

 

[raid]

Someone at RFF or PN tried to convert an M3 into a digital camera many years before the M8 came out or the M 4/3 system. He was in the UK.

 

[David Hughes]

Hi,

And there was a digital back for the Minolta 7000 years and years ago. I've seen pictures of it but nothing else is known, as far as I know.

Regards, David

 

[sevo]

And there was a digital back for the Minolta 7000 years and years ago. I've seen pictures of it but nothing else is known, as far as I know.

IIRC the one I've seen depicted was a one-of-a-kind (perhaps experimental, perhaps customer request) Kodak DCS (the off-the-shelf versions were built around a variety of Nikons and Canons).

 

[Sparrow]

... this LTM attempt failed for the lack of a bit of blue-tack

 

[zuiko85]

Wonder if a established company could run with this as a Kickstarter program. Then the folks who said they would buy this kind of product would be able to put their money into it. A study and survey before starting the Kickstarter would determine the price threshold and feature set that would sell . With a survey on price/features the company could determine if such an effort was realistic even to start. (ie; many people might sing up for $500 each but the company may find minimum price would need to be $1200 each for a production run of 6000 units and the potential market drops precipitously as price point increases.)