The perfect DSLR

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squirrel$$$bandit

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In form, it would be like the SLR's of the sixties--the ideal for me are the Pentaxes, back when they were all metal. Like the Spotmatic F (which I just got and am really enjoying) or the LX. It would be compact and heavy.

It would have either a full-frame or crop sensor, and would COME WITH several INTERCHANGEABLE LENS MOUNTS. It would be designed, in fact, as a platform for older lenses.

There would be no IS, no AF, no face detection, no multiple focus points. It WOULD have focus detection, center point only--you'd get a beep or an LED when you were in focus. It would have a meter, and some kind of AE--aperture priority, I suppose, with very high electronic shutter speeds, so you could shoot wide open in full sun--perhaps my favorite advantage of digital photography.

There would be no in-camera processing, which is increasingly unnecessary, given the far superior equivalents available outside the camera. The sensor would either be a next-gen Foveon with good images at high ISO, or the kind of Bayer that's in my Canon, which makes great pictures, in my opinion.

It would essentially be the SLR equivalent of the M8 or R-D1.

It would cost a thousand dollars.

Anything to add?
 
The only thing I use SLRs for anymore is my macro photography addiction - so MLU is a must. And while we are dreaming, interchangeable finders and screens - so I can plop my 6x DW-4 finder from the F3 in there.
 
How about a electronic shutter. The sensor could be behind a thin removable filter to keep the dust out. This would make the body really thin so that you could fit a full sized mirror and have a small enough registry to make the removable lens mount possible. I would want an m42, Pentax K, Canon FD, Nikon F, Contax C/Y, Canon EOS, and Leica R, at least
 
Hm, magnesium shell and more rounded asside, this sounds like a Canon 5d with some adaptors and a split-image screen set to raw and manual exposure with center weighted metering.

With cropped sensor a used 30d, then you're under $1000.

But you have to turn a wheel to set it to manual and one menu setting to record raw.
 
Well--I have a 40D. And in fact it's great, and there are plenty of lens adapters. But I dislike the bulkiness and styling of it, and of every other DSLR out there except maybe the Digilux 3.

Electronic shutter is a must--thus the very high shutter speeds i want!

Seriously, though--I know I'm dreaming, but is there a market out there for a very basic, but extremely high-quality, DSLR? More than for the M8 or R-D1 I'd say.

Not a big one, though.
 
The perfect "DSLR" will come in a package with the shape and size of a film canister. It can be plopped into any existing 35mm film SLR.

Resolution-wise, start with 45Megapixels, and oh, it will have an option to deactivate the RGB filter (on the sensor), so we can capture true B&W images.
 
mabelsound said:
Electronic shutter is a must--thus the very high shutter speeds i want!
Click to expand...

Ok, with at f1.4 you get to EV16 with 1/8000th. That's very bright light we rarely have here in rainy northern germany but one can reach that at noon on a glacier :)

Nikon and Canon had electronic shutters in some models, the original Canon 1d and the Nikon D70 as far as I recall. That's how they reached 1/500th flash sync. Don't know why they gave it up.
 
I think the interchangable lens mount would create the market, think of all the lenses you could use. Of course, because of all the various, lens to camera communication devices, manual and electronic, I'm thinking that you would need to meter stopped down.
 
I was taking some f1.4, 1/8000sec shots at a construction site here in upstate NY the other day! It's great...here's one of the pics...
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3061/2580656545_317494baaa.jpg

I do love the idea of a sensor that you can pop into the back of any camera. I wish to hell it happens someday, though it's hard to see how it could work, given that the film path is designed to accept something as thin as film...

45 megapixels I can live without. In fact I'd be happy to have stopped at 10. I LOVE the missing RGB sensor idea though!
 
Al Patterson said:
I thought the Canon 5D was the perfect DSLR...

(What do I know, I'm using an old 6 megapixel DSLR.)
Click to expand...


For me it certainly is, all I want from a dSLR. And I could live with 6MPixel, but since I have 12.8 I start framing and cropping for 8x10 :)
 
Look at the L1. Same as the Digilux 3.
I use legacy lenses from Pentax & Leica on it with a $30 adapter.
I get focus confirmation in the viewfinder and ISO performance is acceptable at 800 and (less so) at 1600 when shooting RAW.
7.5 MP. Magnesium Alloy chassis. Highest shutter speed is 4000.
Price: approx $900-1300.
 
shadowfox said:
Resolution-wise, start with 45Megapixels
Click to expand...

Even if you manage that you will be limited by lens resolution. Few lenses break the 80 lppm barrier. If you do the math you will see that by 20-25 MP for a 35mm sized sensor you are pretty much maxed out in terms of resolution that a lens can capture. Beyond that you have to move up in format to MF sized sensors to get more detail.
 
lemalk said:
Look at the L1. Same as the Digilux 3.
I use legacy lenses from Pentax & Leica on it with a $30 adapter.
I get focus confirmation in the viewfinder and ISO performance is acceptable at 800 and (less so) at 1600 when shooting RAW.
7.5 MP. Magnesium Alloy chassis. Highest shutter speed is 4000.
Price: approx $900-1300.
Click to expand...

How's the feel? I'd love to try one out someday...

I was disappointed when the L10 dropped the retro styling and the shutter speed knob and went for a more conventional design.
 
mabelsound said:
How's the feel? I'd love to try one out someday...

I was disappointed when the L10 dropped the retro styling and the shutter speed knob and went for a more conventional design.
Click to expand...

Me too. I thought they had a good thing going.
It feels about the size of my M5 with a standard 50mm, and it handles really well.
 
Sounds like the OP wants a 5D (or 40D) with a classic body style and a few focus-confirm adapters. Unfortunately I don't think anyone will make a classic-looking DSLR. There was a specially made Pentax that was supposed to pay homage to one of their older cameras, but it looked terrible. If you hate the big grips on newer SLRs, you can blame Luigi Colani.
 
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