Leica LTM Who wants a digital Barnack?

Leica M39 screw mount bodies/lenses
Since we are talking about $5000, and custom conversions, how about this:

Take a Micro 4/3rds camera

Put an accessory rangefinder in the hot shoe

Put a follow focus on the lens
maybe something like this one?

http://www.idcphotography.com/kart/index.php?p=catalog&parent=42&pg=1

Have a camera customizer attach a threaded rod under the camera that connects the rangefinder to the follow focus.

Something like we discussed here:

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=86503

Surely that could be done for less than $5000?
 
Current technology cannot produce a sensor thin enough to meet the requirements to construct a Digital Barnack Camera.
 
Roger Hicks said:
I saw at least two generations of this [EDIT: i.e., "digital film"] at photo trade shows. Several things killed it, including the difference in the distance between the film chamber and the sensor position (a non-trivial problem, as soon as you start thinking about it); the size and shape of the film chamber; the difficulty of positioning the sensor in exactly the right place; the difficulty of communication between camera and 'digital film'; and, I think, in those days storage/download.
Click to expand...

Which is why I'm hoping somebody will at least try this for a cartridge format - 126, 110, APS, take your pick. There must be enough room inside an Instamatic cartridge. I wouldn't mind a digital Instamatic 500... http://elekm.net/pages/cameras/instamatic-500.htm
 
@batterytypehah: I was under the impression for years that sensor prices would eventually have to drop enough to make such a thing possible, but then I learnt that the big manufacturers act a bit like a cartel in keeping sensor prices artificially high. They also have a huge vested interest in keeping new lens sales brisk, meaning they'll never back a device that re-values old glass. If the "digital film" thing is ever manufactured, it'll come from China, and it won't happen in the next five years.

*fingers crossed for a digital AE-1 back before he dies*
 
No way ! A digital Barnack could only exist as a similar looking body with a bunch of plastic inside, and that would ruin the essence and the nature of film photography anyway.
A digital Holga is another matter and I think that could sell.
:eek:
 
I got a load of 7.5" x 5" prints back from the lab today. They were taken on a 14.7MP camera. Every one is unmistakably, horribly, digital even at about 600ppi. It's the lack of acutance and the inability to hold any highlight detail.

I did have a good 15" x 10" print from the same camera but that one is unusual - it has been slightly sharpened in software, converted to b/w and it has no highlight detail anyway, being a misty silhouette.

So no, I wouldn't want a digital Barnack.
 
tapesonthefloor said:
@batterytypehah: I was under the impression for years that sensor prices would eventually have to drop enough to make such a thing possible, but then I learnt that the big manufacturers act a bit like a cartel in keeping sensor prices artificially high. They also have a huge vested interest in keeping new lens sales brisk, meaning they'll never back a device that re-values old glass. If the "digital film" thing is ever manufactured, it'll come from China, and it won't happen in the next five years.

*fingers crossed for a digital AE-1 back before he dies*
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Personally, I'd not bet on China in its present form lasting 5 years. Google 'Jasmine Revolution'.

Cheers,

R.
 
All of this stuff already exists.

Digital barnack? The people who want such a camera are obsessed over mechanical, bulletproof operation. No one could make a camera with electronics that would satisfy people so dedicated to mechanical operation -- they'd always find something to complain about.
If you're saying "oh I'm not a such a purist, I just want something small with good image quality," there are countless great, tiny P&S's, along with the m4/3 cameras. If you want a metal dial, wait a few weeks for the X100 or buy an X1.

Digital Holga? Toy camera app for your Android or iPhone. Or www.polardroid.com . Or any of the hundreds of Lightroom/PS actions.

If your instinct is that none of this stuff is quite the same, of course it's not, it's digital. Shoot film if you like film, and film cameras if you like film cameras. =)
 
Sparrow said:
How hard can it be?



... and it has an MP3 player
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1) Where's the room for the actual rangefinder (ahem: don't forget the lens needs to be coupled)

2) Where will the screen fit? (ahem: don't forget the lens needs to have the same distance in there)

3) If I said (well, mocked) it once, I'll say it again: people really want that MP3 player as part of the bells and whistles package.


Now, if you add a roof, an extra set of wheels, leather seats, and a roomy trunk to a Harley-Davidson, you no longer have a classic motorcycle, do you? Add the DVD player, and you're one mochachino away from erasing its soul.

You cannot have "the same" when you change something into something else. A compromise has to be made, and often many of them.
 
I don't really care about the tooling, or the name. Some day a Taiwanese, Korean, or Chinese company composed of non idiots will come out with a solid plastic puck of a camera with manual focus, a fixed lens, a barely in existance LCD, and a well done raw converter.

I might but one, depends how good and cheap it is, digital's raisin of erte.
 
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