Digital film cartridge.

Many of you will remember the e-film insert that was under development, about ten years ago. I have mentioned it on this forum before.
Basically, it was an idea for a sensor cartridge that would fit inside a 35mm film camera, occupying the space where the film would go, with a very thin sensor plate extending across the film gate. It never got off the ground because it was slow, only 1.3 megapixel, could only hold a few images and needed to be connected to a computer to download the content. It would also have been horribly expensive.

Now... Technology has moved a long way forward since then. Perhaps now such a device could be made that had an FF sensor of say 5MP, a CF card slot and battery.
Wouldn't it be great to be able to use our Spotmatics, KXs and LXs Digitally? - 'Course it would!. In fact, I would happily pay two to three hundred quid, for such a device. I think it's time a manufacturer looked again at this idea.

Nice idea, I'd love to get my OM20 with interchangeable backs alive again but I think £200-£300 is very optimistic. An APS-C 8-9MP sensor is about £120 - the FF sensor easily costs a min of £500 a pop. Last time I looked the Canon 1D sensor costs more than $800. It isn't the pixels that cost, it's the silicon area and consequently much lower yield. So asking for a 5MP FF sensor is going to be about the same cost as a 12+MP sensor.

C

OK, I'd pay three to four hundred quid for one... And be a bit less happy.

I've always thought it was a good idea and disappointed that it was never taken up and improved.

I'd like something like this, IMHO its very feasable but the very small market for it means it would never take off IMHO:

Full Frame sensors are expensive, You wouldn't want a silly little crop sensor in there.

Most cameras have a different length from film cartrige to the frame (I know a good work around for this) which can make creating a generic design difficult specific model designs would be VERY costly and market limiting.

Not a lot of room in there for electronics, I would like to see a small rechargeable Li-Ion battery to run it and a WiFi output for downloading pics and changing settings. Once its in the camera you really want to leave it in there IMHO, removing it to download is asking for damage IMHO.

I have looked at a dead spotmatic I have in pieces and a couple of DSLRs to see if I think I could make things fit.

How would the sensor talk to the camera?
HOw will you be able to release the shutter on the sensor or is it constantly taking photos and how will you able to change ISO?
There are a lot of problems with the interface I believe

I don't think it would be a small market. There are hundreds of millions of high quality 35mm SLR cameras in the world, that could be given a new lease of life by this thing.
Yes, it would need to be made in various sizes, but presumably all Pentax SLRs have the same film chamber to film gate distance, so one would fit any Pentax SLR. Another version would fit any Nikon, and so on.

You could program ISO via a wifi connection and phone app (also a good way to check images, no need for a screen). Or just set the iso when you load the film canister.

Why does the sensor need to talk to the camera??? a film doesn't.

you could switch power to the cartrige on and off using the film rewind crank, the senor can scan the RHS of the film plane and record as soon as it detects light from the moving shutter curtain.


EDIT: Mowog (correct spelling and everything ) you just need to make the sensor to fit into the gate (not sure that is the correct term but it will do) and connect it to the canister with a long enough flexible ribbon cable, you then just wrap as much of this cable as you don't need (and I reckon we are talking an inc or so max) around the canister as you put it in.

If you keep the function simple and try and make an electronic film not convert a spotmatic into a digital SLR I think its relatively simple. the buggest cost issue is the full frame sensor, if whoever made the canon 5D sensors is still going I'm sure they would be adequate, about 12.7Mp and old enough to be cheap.

the real reason the idea was abandoned in the first place.....
every camera made had only conform to the standardized size of the film canister and frame size, not frame location, therefor the distance between the film canister, the image frame and the rewind crank were never standardized, meaning you'd need to build this contraption specifically to fit certain models of camera...

if it fit the k1000 for example, it would not fit the me super...

Frame location only varies in one dimention and that is easliy solved by my method above.

Perhaps the sensor position adjustable on rails, rather than ribbon.

Anything exposed to the sensor is written when the "wind on" mech is activated.

Sensor is fixed ISO either 100 or 400 or 64,000. 8 mega pixels would suffice at FF nice big pixels.

You can send your camera off to have it fitted.

I'll have one please.

So why don't you work it through? Maybe a Dragon will cough up some cash to get it going?

How do you power the sensor just out of interest?

powered by pheonix pooh cells of course

I don't think that will work or do the camera rewind the film while it's getting expose?

Film is always sensitive to light a sensor isn't, it needs to know when to be turned on and when to be turned off.

The sensor just pools the incident light until the wind on mech turns and then its written to memory. Only if the shutter fires would the light hit the sensor, so giving complete control to the camera program or manual settings. The sensor is just a dumb sensor.

No rewind would exist.