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Petercat
Tinkerer
Username: Petercat
Post Number: 16
Registered: 01-2007
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, October 23, 2007 - 11:31 am: | 
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I have an extensive (and expensive) collection of FD lenses, and several working A1s. I also have a good Canon EOS D30. Is there a web posting that I can't find which gives advice useful in my quest to combine the guts of the EOS with the shell of an inoperative data back for an A1? Or an F1(n)? Or something? I found one once where a man was going to convert a Leica RF to digital, but I can't find it now. Maybe he got too many death threats from the purists... |
Rick_oleson
Tinkerer
Username: Rick_oleson
Post Number: 415
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, October 23, 2007 - 04:48 pm: |
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not that i know of. the early Kodak/Nikon DSLRs were Nikon film bodies with Kodak digital backs on them, so that might be a place to start... at least it's possible to separate the parts without destroying them. Carving the necessary bits out of a working D30 sounds like a very costly form of entertainment. |
F16sunshyn
Tinkerer
Username: F16sunshyn
Post Number: 23
Registered: 05-2007
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, October 23, 2007 - 07:28 pm: |
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It is hard to imagine a very tidy shooting arrangement. The A1 or F1 are large enough already (though not so big). To arrange a sensor and needed widgets behind the shutter would be quite funky. If using your lenses is the real goal, why not get an adapter for the 30d? |
Rick_oleson
Tinkerer
Username: Rick_oleson
Post Number: 418
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, October 23, 2007 - 07:52 pm: |
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There aren't any good adapters to use FD lenses on any DSLR, unfortunately... the FD's lens/film register is too short. Best you can probably do is to swap out the FD lenses for equivalent Nikon, OM or M42 bits which you can adapt to the EOS. |
Glenn
Tinkerer
Username: Glenn
Post Number: 199
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, October 24, 2007 - 10:17 am: |
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Your immediate problem is that the D30 may not be the ideal donor body, thus making an almost impossible task even more difficult. You should first examine the the early Kodak/Nikon DSLR cameras and the Leica digital back, to get some idea of how the digital backs interface with the body. Whilst any body with a bit of common sense can mount a sensor in the focal plane of an SLR, mounting the batteries and ancillaries in a functional package is something else. You will certainly need to engineer a more substantial mounting system, than a defunct data back. |
Mikel
Tinkerer
Username: Mikel
Post Number: 58
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, October 24, 2007 - 03:16 pm: |
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All of the advice you have received so far is excellent. I would only point out that one of the more popular conversions on Canon DSLR's is the Contax/Yashica adaptor which allows the use of the manual bayonet mount Carl Zeiss and Yashica lenses. |
Glenn
Tinkerer
Username: Glenn
Post Number: 202
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, October 25, 2007 - 07:55 am: |
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Many years ago, when digital first hit the photographic scene, there was a company who started to develop an 'add on' digital back. Over the years I have come across four references to these items - all seem to come from different sources, but the details are so similar that I suspect all refer to same development.
From memory the first development was aimed at the Nikon F and Canon F-1 systems. This was a logical approach, as both of these cameras had bodies designed to accept interchangeable backs. This is a completely different concept to attaching a data back, which weighs nothing. As Rick mentioned, the Nikon/Kodak development took this concept down a rather expensive and specialised road.
That the original idea (for the enthusiast/amateur?) was not developed or catch on, can be put down to many reasons - just look at the Leica product, which is a brilliant piece of kit and one that I use a lot. However mine is permanently attached to a body, so negating the reason for its development. One of the main reasons I think the early development(s) died; was the fact that some 35mm slr bodies, do not have light baffling that is conducive to digital images of good contrast.
The best 'film' examples I can give are the Pentacon and Kiev medium format slr bodies. If you apply one of the after-market mirror box baffle/flocking kits, the increase in contrast when using certain lenses under particular lighting conditions, is quite marked. This problem is certainly not found on the more 'up market' medium format slr systems.
I wish you well in your endeavours, but suggest you may get better 'digital' results from your FD lenses, by using film in the original cameras and then a good scanner. |
Petercat
Tinkerer
Username: Petercat
Post Number: 17
Registered: 01-2007
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, November 11, 2007 - 05:55 pm: |
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Thanks for all your advice. Believe me, I plan on using film for a loooonnnng time to come. I just do have a need for digital photography, and the D30 seems to be of low enough value to make it a useful experiment. From what I've seen so far, it is pretty modular, and once I have the parts separated I think that I can graft the entire plastic back assembly onto a databack. Not too much extra weight, and the databack (when latched closed!) seems solid enough. I'll post the results. Selling my FD collection is impossible, as I still use them with film. |
Rick_oleson
Tinkerer
Username: Rick_oleson
Post Number: 430
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, November 13, 2007 - 05:37 pm: |
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let us know how that works out..... |
