Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/05/01
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]"640k should be enough memory for anybody" - -Bill Gates 1981 "128 MB RAM - £29.69" Crucial Technology 2002 - -----Original Message----- From: Jim Brick [mailto:jim@brick.org] Sent: 01 May 2002 01:25 To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us; 'leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us' Subject: [Leica] RE: Digital M?? At 01:32 PM 4/30/2002 +0100, Beddoe, Neil wrote: >There's theoretically nothing to stop a savvy manufacturer building a gizmo >that allowed you to replace the back flap of an M6/7(or any other SLR) with >a digital unit in place of the pressure plate. What you have said above is pretty much out of the reach of today's technology. For the past five years I have been immersed in the designing and building of a next generation digital camera for a major manufacturer. I have disassembled many of the current state of the art digital cameras. I have on my desk, our camera all spread out. Five PC boards and flex cable (between boards) up the gazoo. Digital cameras and film cameras are two completely different animals. The innards of a digital camera is jam packed with electronics. It takes many megabytes of memory to simply take a single digital exposure. Then the image has to be transferred out to media of some sort. How is this going to be fitted into a trap door on the back of an M camera? It cannot. For the exact same reason that this failed: http://www.dpreview.com/news/0109/01091702siliconfilmvaporizes.asp When Silicon Film first announced what they were doing, I predicted that it would never see the light of day. It didn't. It couldn't. Bad idea. And in their very own words: "It was simply never attractive and always crippled by storage, battery, environment and sensor size limitations has now turned into vaporized-ware." After you read about it, push the "PREV" button on the screen, then think of how much electronics is jammed into those Panasonic/Leica cameras. Tons more than would ever fit into the little back on a little M6. Silicon Film could have been made to fit into a Leica M camera. This would have allowed one to make an exposure on to silicon. But at best, it would have been a toy. Digital cameras operate under a completely different premise than film cameras. A digital back for an M camera, even if it could be made, would not be an attractive accessory. Just ask the Silicon Film people... Jim - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This message is intended only for the personal and confidential use of the designated recipient(s) named above. If you are not the intended recipient of this message you are hereby notified that any review, dissemination, distribution or copying of this message is strictly prohibited. This communication is for information purposes only and should not be regarded as an offer to sell or as a solicitation of an offer to buy any financial product, an official confirmation of any transaction, or as an official statement of Lehman Brothers. Email transmission cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free. Therefore, we do not represent that this information is complete or accurate and it should not be relied upon as such. All information is subject to change without notice. - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html