Photographer
Rp-photo
Posts: 42711
Houston, Texas, US
I discovered that there is still a demand for manual focus SLR's, and that a Chinese company Seagull markets "clones" of the Minolta X-370 / X-9 body under various names (Phoenix, Centon, Dakota, etc.).
Has anyone ever thought of producing an "old school" digital that remains mostly manual but incorporates a modern CCD sensor? This would be a Godsend to owners of old MF lenses and photography students on a budget who still use film today due to DSLR expenses.
Just as you can have a "whiz-bang" film camera, couldn't there also be a mostly-manual or fully manual digital?
Photographer
FootNote Fotography
Posts: 18809
Gainesville, Florida, US
hm.. well now thats an intresting idea
Photographer
Columbus Photo
Posts: 2318
Columbus, Georgia, US
Leica makes a digital rangefinder.
Paul
Photographer
Belair
Posts: 359
Downers Grove, Illinois, US
rp_photo wrote:
I discovered that there is still a demand for manual focus SLR's, and that a Chinese company Seagull markets "clones" of the Minolta X-370 / X-9 body under various names (Phoenix, Centon, Dakota, etc.).
Has anyone ever thought of producing an "old school" digital that remains mostly manual but incorporates a modern CCD sensor? This would be a Godsend to owners of old MF lenses and photography students on a budget who still use film today due to DSLR expenses.
Just as you can have a "whiz-bang" film camera, couldn't there also be a mostly-manual or fully manual digital? The Nikon D2x's meter will work in Manual and Aperture Priority modes with non-CPU AI MF lenses. To my knowledge, this is the first D series Nikon body to allow for this. I suspect that Nikon will make future DSLR bodies downwardly compatible with older AI lenses. There's a lot of great Nikon AI glass out there for sale.
Photographer
Rp-photo
Posts: 42711
Houston, Texas, US
Paul Ferrara wrote:
Leica makes a digital rangefinder.
Paul Let me guess, it costs 2X to 3X that of a good DSLR!
For my idea to be practical, the "OSD" should cost less that the typical DSLR so as to compete with film cameras.
You have confirmed my fear that they exist but actually cost more!
Photographer
Rp-photo
Posts: 42711
Houston, Texas, US
Belair wrote:
The Nikon D2x's meter will work in Manual and Aperture Priority modes with non-CPU AI MF lenses. To my knowledge, this is the first D series Nikon body to allow for this. I suspect that Nikon will make future DSLR bodies downwardly compatible with older AI lenses. There's a lot of great Nikon AI glass out there for sale. My fear confirmed again! This is an expensive, high-end DSLR!
These are good examples of the "Yuppie effect" in which old practices are taken away for awhile, then brought back at high prices.
A good example is the "town square" concept in some new communities. Once, everyone had access to them, then they vanished, and now they are essentially high-end luxaries for the rich!
Photographer
Belair
Posts: 359
Downers Grove, Illinois, US
rp_photo wrote:
My fear confirmed again! This is an expensive, high-end DSLR!
These are good examples of the "Yuppie effect" in which old practices are taken away for awhile, then brought back at high prices.
A good example is the "town square" concept in some new communities. Once, everyone had access to them, then they vanished, and now they are essentially high-end luxaries for the rich! I don't know if it is so much a matter of classism here. I think it may have been a matter of cost vs. perceived benefit. The added cost of including "AI" meter coupling to cameras like the D100 was probably perceived as a waste because they may have felt that not many purchasers would see it as an attractive feature because they didn't have many AI lenses. LOL...then along comes e-Bay.
Photographer
Simon Gerzina
Posts: 2288
Brooklyn, New York, US
rp_photo wrote:
Let me guess, it costs 2X to 3X that of a good DSLR!
For my idea to be practical, the "OSD" should cost less that the typical DSLR so as to compete with film cameras.
You have confirmed my fear that they exist but actually cost more! It's a great idea, but not feasible at all. It costs money to integrate a CCD and all the electronics and logic that one involves, not to mention a CompactFlash storage mechanism, into an essentially classic camera. And you want it to have LESS than modern functionality and be inexpensive on top of that?
There was, at one point, a DigitalFilm project...basically creating a replacement film plane for certain 35mm SLR bodies that had a CCD but was an aftermarket swap. And it was too problematic to ever be released.
Why not just get a Hassy 500-series and digital back? Seems like what you're really asking for. I don't see any other situation in which a manufacturer would put a modern sensor into an outmoded camera.
Photographer
Marvin Dockery
Posts: 2243
Alcoa, Tennessee, US
Simon A Gerzina wrote:
It's a great idea, but not feasible at all. It costs money to integrate a CCD and all the electronics and logic that one involves, not to mention a CompactFlash storage mechanism, into an essentially classic camera. And you want it to have LESS than modern functionality and be inexpensive on top of that?
There was, at one point, a DigitalFilm project...basically creating a replacement film plane for certain 35mm SLR bodies that had a CCD but was an aftermarket swap. And it was too problematic to ever be released.
Why not just get a Hassy 500-series and digital back? Seems like what you're really asking for. I don't see any other situation in which a manufacturer would put a modern sensor into an outmoded camera. I have a early Nikon 5000 5MP digital that will shoot both tiff and raw files. It also has a hot shoe, allowing studio lighting to be used. I use it 100 percent on manual, seting both the shutter speed and f stop. Even the footage scale is set using a thirty foot tape. This have led to a lot better images. (Most of the time I set the camera to Tiff.)
Photographer
Simon Gerzina
Posts: 2288
Brooklyn, New York, US
Marvin -
I'm not sure I understand your point. I've got a Nikon D100 and Canon 20D that shoot both RAW and TIFF files, and both allow me to work with studio lighting. I use both in fully-manual mode and set both aperature and shutter speed. I'll often focus manually as well, and I could use a tape measure to do so if I didn't trust my eyesight. But what does that have to do with a classic film camera or a camera that could shoot both film and digital?
By the way, there's very little reason to shoot TIFF when your camera supports RAW and you're comfortable with RAW processing. You're starting from the same capture data either way, but with TIFF you're tasking the camera to do additional processing in order to write the file and limiting your post-processing options.
Photographer
BlindMike
Posts: 9594
San Francisco, California, US
Belair wrote:
The Nikon D2x's meter will work in Manual and Aperture Priority modes with non-CPU AI MF lenses. To my knowledge, this is the first D series Nikon body to allow for this. I suspect that Nikon will make future DSLR bodies downwardly compatible with older AI lenses. There's a lot of great Nikon AI glass out there for sale. Actually AI/AIS lenses mount on the D70 and work in M mode. You lose metering but it's not the end of the world - photography did exist before meters. Honestly I'd gladly give up AF in exchange for a nice big viewfinder.
Photographer
BrooklynPhoto
Posts: 290
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US
rp_photo wrote:
I discovered that there is still a demand for manual focus SLR's, and that a Chinese company Seagull markets "clones" of the Minolta X-370 / X-9 body under various names (Phoenix, Centon, Dakota, etc.).
Has anyone ever thought of producing an "old school" digital that remains mostly manual but incorporates a modern CCD sensor? This would be a Godsend to owners of old MF lenses and photography students on a budget who still use film today due to DSLR expenses.
Just as you can have a "whiz-bang" film camera, couldn't there also be a mostly-manual or fully manual digital? What a brilliant but utterly unmarketable idea. . .
Cameras are too smart for their own good these days, at least some of the time. What I wouldn't give to be able to set my shutter speed, apeture and flash totally independantly and manually (including any exposure comp) without spending $2k plus on camera and flash. . .
Photographer
Joe Albright
Posts: 222
Fort Wayne, Indiana, US
BrooklynPhoto wrote:
What I wouldn't give to be able to set my shutter speed, apeture and flash totally independantly and manually (including any exposure comp) without spending $2k plus on camera and flash. . . Canon Digital Rebel, $900.00
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