Great news! You HAVE to use your old 35mm camera now!

[super8man]

The return of vaporware?

http://www.re35.net/

I'll wait till I see it available at B&H or Amazon...

[BK]

Didn't the Japanese camera companies bought the patent for this 10 years or so ago because they are scared ? Looking forward to a digital super 8 cartridge as well.

Bill

[S8 Booster]

Zcertainly in-the-rest-ing ... to zee zhe results budd i got a pocket full of iPhones for digital...in zHat case one should have zhe otter pozket FULl of ISO 400 filmz zto zwap be-tveen te to .. To a-void carrying 2 heavy age SLRs...

sinze old film type ZLRz seemz much more rugged than modern GiZmo Zlrz it is a verry interezting!

Lockin FWD to zee zomm rez.

Zshoot...film...outta.hell....;)

[grainy]

gad, I remember hearing something about this (idea only maybe?) back around 2001.
I love the idea of people being able to use their beautiful old 35mm cameras with impunity again, and I like how hacky it seems to cram some digital cartridge into an old slr. Seems kind of Blade Runnerish in a good way. Technology-wise, I can't imagine it'd be anything different than digital tape, though. Maybe I'm not thinking Outside The Box enough...
Very curious, but only in passing.

[carllooper]

The return of vaporware? http://www.re35.net/

The iVolution of gizware, viral, adapting to the shape of a-digital hosts.

Carl

[beamascope]

Seems others have found this is an April Fools joke. I guess it was too good to be true as well as too insane an idea!

[super8man]

It just WON'T happen...

[S8 Booster]

Popular Photography: The RE 35 Will Not Turn Your 35mm Film Camera Digital

The problem with April Fool's jokes on the web is that, as we move away from that silly holiday, the results remain online to be found and drooled over by unsuspecting folks. Over the course of the day today, we received more than a couple emails alerting us to a new product that fits inside of a 35mm film cannister and effectively turns your analog body into a digital camera. Sadly, it's all a cruel prank.

The website for RE 35 is incredibly slick, which makes sense since it was put together by a serious design firm. All of that flash does a lot to make it seem legitimate. The site claims that everything required for the transformation fits into the film can, including a battery, flash menory for storage and even a flexible CCD censor that can be retracted when not in use. There's even a picture of the packaging, which outlines the 4-, 8-, and 12-megapixel flavors.

A few subtle jokes on the page make it more obvious that we're not dealing with a real product. For instance, the phrase "Set the ISO to 400 and your done - your camera will now take high quality digital pictures," should send up a red flag while providing a good chuckle. There are also some obvious technical issues that would prevent a product like this from working in "all" cameras as the page suggests, especially rangefinders.

While it might have been funny a few days ago, the joke is getting increasingly cruel, sitting there on the web, waiting to raise the hopes of die-hard Nikon F5 users, only to dash them to the ground. Of course, they could always pick up that Digital F3 from last week's Ebay Watch.

.....more


shoot.......

[S8 Booster]

but it is technicaly possible IF the buyers are there but at the price of a simirez Digital SLR? the sensor do not need to be flexible wind back...

shoot.....

[S8 Booster]

Or Maybe Not After All....

shoot...

[carllooper]

At the dawn of the digital photography age, digital backs for SLRs were made. And these days it's not that difficult to source components and build one yourself. But then again it's also not that hard to source sensors with readymade C mounts.

What about a digital back for Super8?

The size of the Super8 cartridge is more than enough to house a sensor and associated electronics including storage card.

However, with current technology the quality would be worse than a dedicated digital video camera. The reason is that sensors the size of the Super8 frame, (as you would need), would have far less pixels than a dedicated digital video camera (which have physically larger sensors).

Another problem is that the sensor would have to sit right up next to where the camera's claw pokes through the film plane.

One way around the above problems would be to include a second optical system in the cartridge which translated the film plane deeper into the cartridge and onto a bigger sensor. But would add to the cost and introduce additional stress on the optical quality of the image.

That all said, it would be an interesting novelty.

From a DIY persepctive you could build a toy version using an old webcam, where you remove the webcam shell and place the sensor into an empty cartridge - with the lead running out of the cart and out the camera door to a notebook. However you do have the problem of the camera claw.

Carl

[S8 Booster]

i am certain to remember from my soft disk that Beaulieu designed a combo S8 camera in the 80s or 90s using a beamsplitter for the CCD still letting the imagery also hit the cart gate if desired but also from my soft disk it never materialized.

now, i know where i read it and some day i may recover the zStory...

shoot....

[super8man]

Go post there Booster...yup, I could not read German and simply thought they were nuts...ha!

Still, I recall the 35mm cart that came out in 2000 and was basically vaporware - probably got a piece of the overflowing investment capital back in those days and bought a home or something...(tok the money and run?).

Ah well, there WOULD be a market for such a device but so far only Hasselblad and larger format cameras have such things available to the tune of $14K to $80K I believe.

Cheers,
Mike

[aj]

Well, this was a thing presented in the time of print, so to say:

Silicion film:
http://www.imaging-resource.com/NEWS/1032460933.html

http://cultureandcommunication.org/dead ... licon_Film

Now it would be even more possible to actually build such a thing while most needed components have shrunk in size and increased in speed and storage capacity. There is no real need to make the film part flexible. Interaction with the camera is a bit of a problem if the thing does not hook up to camera-electronics. But it cannot if it supposed to work with any 35mm camera. Say a Leica M3 and other beauties.

I suppose it would still be attractive to many owners of 35mm still camera sets. Use your F100 with all lenses

But what is wrong with using film? Have it scanned at processing and I know from experience that many viewers of will be in disbelief at the stunning quality of color and properties of the digital images. What a strange beauty...
And enjoy the ease of mind while photographing. Use only one set of 6 AA no worries while in the bush for a week (or day). No reviewing at the spot or redoing. Not 3000 photos but only 500 when back from vacation and still have the best set of 36 after selection And likely the digital images never make it to print or into a album. I know from my most recent journey that only my photos were printed and viewable online at the time of the reunion meeting while others took many more months.

[S8 Booster]

probably going to vapour anyways... but,

good points there aj. i join in here.

But what is wrong with using film? Have it scanned at processing and I know from experience that many viewers of will be in disbelief at the stunning quality of color and properties of the digital images. What a strange beauty.

this is my experiences too.

the digital versions of the film cart will probably cost enough to turn most potential customers to new digital SLRs anyway.
good thing is existing lenses and digital transfer for old cams though..

my old Ricoh can continue to shoot even when the batteries dies at a fixed 1/90 shutter speed. no meter reading though.

shoot... more film