I am in the midst of deciding to buy back into a modern 35mm SLR system.

One factor that could easily sway me towards a particular system is the promised availibility of a high quality, affordable digital body as soon as the the technology allows such a thing. By this I mean a digital body that can produce an image good enough to make an 8x10 that is equal in overall quality to what I can get from modern ISO 100 films. The body must also be affordable, say about $1000 USA maximum. And, of course, the body must be fully compatible with the slr system lenses, flashes and other accessories. I guess a few minor incompatabilities might be OK, but certainly not many.

Has any 35mm slr manufacturer made such a commitment? I realize that such a body is not now practical, but I feel that at some future time it will be and all I want to have to do is buy a new digital body, not an entire SLR system to support it!

-- Stanley McManus (Stanshooter@yahoo.com), January 22, 1999

Answers

I think they'll all do it eventually. Who will do it first? Well, look at recent history. Which Company has current digital SLRs? Which has a history in video too? Which had the first fully electronic interfaced lenses? USM motors? IS technology? Eye control focus? A video camcorder system that can use its 35mm lenses?

Hint, it begins with a "C", not an "N".

-- Bob Atkins (bobatkins@hotmail.com), January 22, 1999.

I will look into the Contax system immediately. I had not considered them before. Thanks.

-- Stanley McManus (Stanshooter@yahoo.com), January 22, 1999.

i think ANY of the current systems could work on a digital body without too much fiddling. in fact, doesn't kodak make both a nikon and canon digital body? (for about $20k)

but it does seem to me that canon is more "gadget" oriented then any of the others. with minolta being second.

not that it's a bad thing, but nikon, contax, leica, etc seem to be more oriented toward maximizing the optics and other "glass" oriented things; rather then AF, IS, and other "electronic" things.

P.S. by the time a <$1000 digital body as good as you want comes out it will be time to re-buy everything you own anyway. new lenses for each system come out at the rate of 3-4 a year and we all know we need to have the latest one(s). ;-)

-- Sean Hester (seanh@ncfweb.net), January 22, 1999.

Sorry Stan, but I was obviously refering to Cosina. Contax will probably come up with a superback incorporating a built-in scanner for polaroid film for their first attempt at digital.

Both Nikon and Canon currently have expensive (Kodak chip based) digital bodies which take 35mm lenses (any and all EOS lenses in the case of Canon, who knows which Nikon lenses fit the Nikon....).

Bob, I would assume any lens that would work with the N90s would work with the Nikon version of Kodak's digital back, since that is the camera body it is attached to. Of course those of us with EOS lenses don't have to wonder what works with the Canon version.

Brad

-- Bob Atkins (bobatkins@hotmail.com), January 22, 1999.

Word on the Nikon Digest is that Nikon has announced a new Digital F5 with the following features:

>>--Nikon F5 Camera System >>--Metal Frame to complement the Nikon System >>--NEW M15 CCD technology >>--Calibrated exposure and color >>--Calibrated Flash >>--Auto white balance sensor with manual (4 settings) override >>--Custom white balance >>--Full Viewfinder >>--Color LCD for image review on rear of camera >>--Single, 4 up, and 9 up display functions on color LCD >>--Capability to tag images on color LCD for selective downloading or >>transmission >>--High Speed serial interface connector (IEEE 1394) on exterior of camera >>--Dual type II/single type III PC Card removable storage >>--Red LCD indicator for PC Card busy >>--Back status LCD to display white balance, battery, frame number, frames >>left on disk >>--Menu driven approach on color LCD to control date/time, compression, raw >>data, disk format, erase all, overexposure highlighting >>--4 buttons to control menu, display, white balance, delete image, select, >>and microphone >>--Sound annotation via rear mounted microphone >>--Vertical shooting capability, vertical shutter release, vertical >>control, vertical AE lock on bottom right of camera >>--Main switch/Navigator button >>--AC adapter connector on camera >>--removable rechargeable battery >>--2 million pixel images (2:3 aspect ratio) operating at 200-1600 ISO >>--0.5 fps continuos frame rate with 3.5 fps burst for up to 12 images >>--172mm tall, 162mm wide, and 82mm deep >>--1.83 kg > >Snyder also indicates that: > >>The DCS620 is the twin of the DCS520, but based on the Nikon F5 camera >>body.This camera works exactly like the film camera that all photographers >>are used to. The SB28D Speedlight flash has been designed by Nikon >>specifically for use with the DCS620 Digital Camera. This flash when used >>with the DCS620 provides accurate TTL flash exposures. The SB28D is >>available exclusively from Kodak. >

-- Stanley McManus (stanshooter@yahoo.com), February 02, 1999.