Digital Cartridge for 35mm Film

I think it's very doable, I believe if we challenged cowasaki he'd have something done in a matter of days!?
 
I believe it was actually tried several years ago and failed to achieve production status.
 
I hope not......Imagine how much old cameras would shoot up in price.:puke::D

Andy
 
I would love this to happen. Not sure it will though, I think there are a lot of technical difficulties with it.
 
MisterE said:
I believe it was actually tried several years ago and failed to achieve production status.
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There's the RE-35 cartridge, website here, which was a digital back with the electronics in a 35mm film cartridge-sized cylinder, you'd pull a thin flexible sensor across the film plane and load it in a similar way to a film.

Unfortunately, it was an April Fool produced by a design company. Their press release was made on April 1st but wasn't picked up by a lot of places until later, so it wasn't immediately apparent that it wasn't a real product. There's a disclaimer on the website I've linked above.
 
Additionally because of how much FF sensors cost to manufacture, it would probably be an APS-C sized sensor as well, which would be a waste of the film plane and probably require a new focusing screen with lines to demarcate the sensor size.
 
In some respect it has already been done Leica did it for their R8 and R9 film camera models using a DMR back:

http://www.dpreview.com/news/2003/6/25/leicadigitalr9

Not quite as blinkerz would like :D but I think the nearest it is ever going to get.

Unless you include the digital backs you can get for the medium format machines :thinking:
 
This was tried by a company called Silicon Film in the late 1990's to eary 2000's, unfortunately all it reached was the prototype stage as it was quickly realised by the company that the film to gate distance was different for every camera so a nice drop in cartridge for every camera was not doable, a specific one for every camera was needed. It failed to gain a CE mark in Europe and there was widespread speculation that what were supposedly test images shown at PMA were actually fake. The company ran out of money from investors and the patent was thought to conflict with those held by Eastman Kodak (not something to mess with at the time).

http://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php/Silicon_Film
 
blinkerz said:
Does anyone think in the future there be a digital 35mm film roll, would certainly give old cameras a new lease of life, especially as film gets more expensive and products discontinued..
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I think it is a possiblity in the same way that someone may come up with a hybrid camera that will shoot both film and digi.

Personally I would wish to continue using film as against a digi 35mm film roll not least of all because the film processing/ developing is one of the most enjoyable parts of film photography.
 
I'm afraid the window of opportunity for such a product has passed by. When everyone had 35mm film cameras in their house and digital cameras were very expensive it might have made sense to capitalise on existing film bodies.

World + dog has a digital camera now.
 
basically, your talking about the first production digital backs, and digital backs in general. sure they don't load like rolls of film but do the same job.
if manufactures decided to make 35mm digital rolls then who would buy the new model cameras? but.... take a look at the leica digital module r
but i believe the kodak dcs for modified film slr cameras is as near as we will ever get.
however......what sort of cat amongst the pigeons would there be if a third party came up with the goods on this? but who makes sensor arrays? i think there would be a few burned down factories if someone tried lol
 
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I'd love a manual slr that had a digital back on it.
Although I like slide film, it's the cameras that I like using. Medium wise, I have to say I prefer digital for the convenience, and easily accessible post processing.
 
While I can see the appeal of reviving older bodies I'm not quite sure why you'd do it. One of the reasons I predominantly shoot film, particularly for landscapes is that I much prefer the way film renders colour, even if I do always end up digitising anyway... maybe I'm weird.
 
Not gonna happen, and I find the idea really odd.
I find the idea that peeps could shoot mech cameras primarily for the experience of shooting them, bonkers.
I mean, yeah its an interesting hobby, its nice to shoot the equipment you love to shoot but surely the number one reason is the gear produces a film product...:shrug:....that's where it begins and ends pretty much for me, I don't care how lovely that mech camera looks and feels, if it doesn't shoot film, its a highly polished door stop.
This thread really should be about a film cartridge for my D200...:)
 
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