Admit it; You'd like a Nikon FE-2 with a digital back

I'd like an Olympus OM-1n with one.
Sensor dirty? Just open the back up and
clean it easily. No messing around with myriad
silly controls and menus, just basic, auto or manual
control. Film area becomes the battery compartment
on the left, electronics go in the right film compartment.
Mirror is the same, shutter is the same.
Meanwhile, fully metal, beautifully made reconstructed
SLRs become replacements for all the plastic entry-level
DSLRs, for enthusiasts of course. Why should only cars
being going "retro?"
-Rich

Rich wrote:
I'd like an Olympus OM-1n with one.
Sensor dirty? Just open the back up and
clean it easily. No messing around with myriad
silly controls and menus, just basic, auto or manual
control. Film area becomes the battery compartment
on the left, electronics go in the right film compartment.
Mirror is the same, shutter is the same.
Meanwhile, fully metal, beautifully made reconstructed
SLRs become replacements for all the plastic entry-level
DSLRs, for enthusiasts of course. Why should only cars
being going "retro?"
-Rich

Is that why I love to play with my immaculate fifty-year-old Leica 3f? I
thought it was just me, now I know there must be at least 2 of us!

Dennis.

In article , Rich
wrote:

'd like an Olympus OM-1n with one.
Sensor dirty? Just open the back up and
clean it easily. No messing around with myriad
silly controls and menus, just basic, auto or manual
control. Film area becomes the battery compartment
on the left, electronics go in the right film compartment.
Mirror is the same, shutter is the same.
Meanwhile, fully metal, beautifully made reconstructed
SLRs become replacements for all the plastic entry-level
DSLRs, for enthusiasts of course. Why should only cars
being going "retro?"
-Rich

Oh, I agree - so much so that I usually skip the digital part and just
put film in it.

On Thu, 23 Mar 2006 02:12:48 -0500, Rich wrote:

I'd like an Olympus OM-1n with one.
Sensor dirty? Just open the back up and
clean it easily. No messing around with myriad
silly controls and menus, just basic, auto or manual
control. Film area becomes the battery compartment
on the left, electronics go in the right film compartment.
Mirror is the same, shutter is the same.
Meanwhile, fully metal, beautifully made reconstructed
SLRs become replacements for all the plastic entry-level
DSLRs, for enthusiasts of course. Why should only cars
being going "retro?"
-Rich

There's a real problem with putting he electronics into that film
area; that's a lot of electronics to put into a very small space,
which leads to heat problems.
So, the camera will be slow (to keep heat down), and have a very small
buffer (same reason).
Then, the battery compartment will require a proprietary battery (no
AAs), which will turn a lot of people off right away.
Plus, where to put the memory card?
It's been tried:
http://www.side.com/

--
Bill Funk
replace "g" with "a"

Rich writes:
Meanwhile, fully metal, beautifully made reconstructed
SLRs become replacements for all the plastic entry-level
DSLRs, for enthusiasts of course. Why should only cars
being going "retro?"

http://bythom.com/2005dreamdslrs.htm

discusses a hypothetical "FM3D" with manual focus and a 6mp -monochrome-
CCD sensor using Zone System metering.

On Thu, 23 Mar 2006 07:48:51 -0700, Bill Funk
wrote:

On Thu, 23 Mar 2006 02:12:48 -0500, Rich wrote:

I'd like an Olympus OM-1n with one.
Sensor dirty? Just open the back up and
clean it easily. No messing around with myriad
silly controls and menus, just basic, auto or manual
control. Film area becomes the battery compartment
on the left, electronics go in the right film compartment.
Mirror is the same, shutter is the same.
Meanwhile, fully metal, beautifully made reconstructed
SLRs become replacements for all the plastic entry-level
DSLRs, for enthusiasts of course. Why should only cars
being going "retro?"
-Rich

There's a real problem with putting he electronics into that film
area; that's a lot of electronics to put into a very small space,
which leads to heat problems.
So, the camera will be slow (to keep heat down), and have a very small
buffer (same reason).
Then, the battery compartment will require a proprietary battery (no
AAs), which will turn a lot of people off right away.
Plus, where to put the memory card?
It's been tried:
http://www.side.com/

I personally hate AA batteries, I'd had enough using four of them in
my old Olympus C-3040. Give me ONE proprietary battery anytime.
As for the digital backs, you are right, there are some pretty
insurmountable obstacles to overcome to do this right.

But as for heat, perhaps the American ideal of the digital camera
is not so good? Black cameras (the majority on the American market
in the prosumer DSLR side) tend to absorb far more heat than silver
ones. Carry a black DSLR around in the sun for awhile and you can
feel how hot it gets. This causes noise levels to rise substantially,
as does cooling a camera causes noise levels to drop. Maybe
(despite its appearance) the silver Rebel XT is the best idea?
But then the plastic body must also act as an insulator, not allowing
heat to escape like a metal body would.
-Rich

"Rich" wrote in message
...
I'd like an Olympus OM-1n with one.
Sensor dirty?

Since volume helps get the price down, count me in too. I love the feel of
my OM-2.

On Thu, 23 Mar 2006 02:12:48 -0500, Rich wrote:

I'd like an Olympus OM-1n with one.

I'll pass, thanks. Why have the worst of both worlds?

I don't have anything against "going retro." While I don't own
an OM-1n or an FE-2, I do own and shoot a Nikon FA. But you can
use even the most sophisticated modern dSLR exactly in the manner
you envision, without ever touching a menu setting.

Among the engineering challenges I see:
-- The digital back would require an active component to detect
shutter activation, so it would know when to start and stop
recording.
-- There'd have to be some sort of hacked together electro-mechanical
system to prevent firing the shutter when the digital back wasn't ready
to record.
-- You'd also have a "split brain" problem with the ISO speed,
requiring setting it both on the camera and the body.
-- Metering would be limited to 1980's technology. Chances are that
TTL flash metering wouldn't work, even on an FE-2, due to the different
reflectivity characteristics of the sensor.
-- General issues of dust and sealing. If you have to open the
back to change a battery, or swap memory cards, won't that expose
the sensor?

Not that people haven't thought of this before. In fact, a company
by the name of Voyager One holds patents on this very invention,
which it acquired from a company named Silicon Film. According
to their last Edgar filing, that company has lost over 6 million
dollars since inception, has current assets of $1000, current
liabilities of $2.67 million, and has yet to produce any revenue
at all, whether from product sales or patent royalties. They do
own the domain name side.com, though, which probably has some real
value.

See:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=VYGO.OB

--
Michael Benveniste --
Spam and UCE professionally evaluated for $419. Use this email
address only to submit mail for evaluation.

On Thu, 23 Mar 2006 17:55:19 -0700, Bill Funk
wrote:

On Thu, 23 Mar 2006 17:21:04 -0500, Rich wrote:


There's a real problem with putting he electronics into that film
area; that's a lot of electronics to put into a very small space,
which leads to heat problems.
So, the camera will be slow (to keep heat down), and have a very small
buffer (same reason).
Then, the battery compartment will require a proprietary battery (no
AAs), which will turn a lot of people off right away.
Plus, where to put the memory card?
It's been tried:
http://www.side.com/

I personally hate AA batteries, I'd had enough using four of them in
my old Olympus C-3040. Give me ONE proprietary battery anytime.
As for the digital backs, you are right, there are some pretty
insurmountable obstacles to overcome to do this right.

AAs ar eliked by a lot of people. Personally, I don't much care. But
that's me. When I travel, I take our POV. I don't fly. I have lots of
carrying capacity, so multiple chargers don't bother me.

But as for heat, perhaps the American ideal of the digital camera
is not so good? Black cameras (the majority on the American market
in the prosumer DSLR side) tend to absorb far more heat than silver
ones. Carry a black DSLR around in the sun for awhile and you can
feel how hot it gets. This causes noise levels to rise substantially,
as does cooling a camera causes noise levels to drop. Maybe
(despite its appearance) the silver Rebel XT is the best idea?
But then the plastic body must also act as an insulator, not allowing
heat to escape like a metal body would.
-Rich

My DRebel is silver, and I don't think anyone thinks about it one way
or the other. But yes, a black camera will be hotter, especially here
in Phoenix in the summer.

A 20 deg. change in camera temp will produce a visible difference in
noise levels at higher ISO speeds anyway. If you are out in the
winter (in the north of course) and the temp of the camera drops to
near freezing, noise can drop by (subjectively) half of what it is at
70 deg. F. Thats why astronomers who take long exposures use
electro-mechanical coolers and liquid nitrogen on their CCDs.
-Rich

On Thu, 23 Mar 2006 17:21:04 -0500, Rich wrote:

On Thu, 23 Mar 2006 07:48:51 -0700, Bill Funk
wrote:

On Thu, 23 Mar 2006 02:12:48 -0500, Rich wrote:

I'd like an Olympus OM-1n with one.
Sensor dirty? Just open the back up and
clean it easily. No messing around with myriad
silly controls and menus, just basic, auto or manual
control. Film area becomes the battery compartment
on the left, electronics go in the right film compartment.
Mirror is the same, shutter is the same.
Meanwhile, fully metal, beautifully made reconstructed
SLRs become replacements for all the plastic entry-level
DSLRs, for enthusiasts of course. Why should only cars
being going "retro?"
-Rich

There's a real problem with putting he electronics into that film
area; that's a lot of electronics to put into a very small space,
which leads to heat problems.
So, the camera will be slow (to keep heat down), and have a very small
buffer (same reason).
Then, the battery compartment will require a proprietary battery (no
AAs), which will turn a lot of people off right away.
Plus, where to put the memory card?
It's been tried:
http://www.side.com/

I personally hate AA batteries, I'd had enough using four of them in
my old Olympus C-3040. Give me ONE proprietary battery anytime.
As for the digital backs, you are right, there are some pretty
insurmountable obstacles to overcome to do this right.

But as for heat, perhaps the American ideal of the digital camera
is not so good? Black cameras (the majority on the American market
in the prosumer DSLR side) tend to absorb far more heat than silver
ones. Carry a black DSLR around in the sun for awhile and you can
feel how hot it gets.

Of course the real reason it feels hot is because it is better able to
radiate all that heat back out into the open air. I promise you if you
left 2 cameras of the same model one black one silver the internals
of both will be at air ambient temperature with a couple of seconds
of each other.

This causes noise levels to rise substantially,
as does cooling a camera causes noise levels to drop. Maybe
(despite its appearance) the silver Rebel XT is the best idea?
But then the plastic body must also act as an insulator, not allowing
heat to escape like a metal body would.

But if its a better insulator surely it will not get so hot inside in
the first place!
-Rich