NikonWeb.com

Dear friends,
is anybody able to inform me what happened with the IMAGEK EFS-1 (electronic film system), that was introduced in February 1998? It was a digital insert for camera bodies like the Nikon F3 and had a CMOS sensor of 1.3 Mp. I've never seen one so I am asking if one of you has ever shot images with it. I know that development was hampered and that the German photoshop-chain Ringfoto was trying to market this system.
Thanks & regards,
Nico

http://www.nicovandijk.net

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D1/D1X/D1H etc.

Nico,
I think this product (better said: developement) was also known under the name SiliconFilm.
It ticked many lovers of classic cameras but I do not believe a working version ever existed.
Regards, Gilbert

It never made it, but apparently they had a working prototype at some point:

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0209/02091 ... magain.asp

"Irvine Sensors, a 51% share holder of Silicon Film, has today announced that it is suspending operations at Silicon Film. What started as a rumour, grew into vapour ware, became a product which was demonstrated at PMA 2001 but was simply never attractive and always crippled by storage, battery, environment and sensor size limitations has now turned into vaporized-ware."

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0109/01091 ... orizes.asp

Jarle

Thanks Jarle, it is a pitty that it became vapour-ware. Maybe someday somewhere one of the prototypes will appear.
Regards,
Nico

www.nicovandijk.net

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D1/D1X/D1H etc.

Hi,

Vaporized ware.

I like it!

This thing fit into a category I have, known as:

A solution looking for a problem

As those of us that used the Nikon/Fuji E-series and/or the Kodak DCS 4xx series, a DSLR needs to offer a bit more than just a digital sensor in a film camera.....

later!

Stan

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Amateur Photographer
Professional Electronics Development Engineer

At the time, it seemed like a good idea to me. I would have liked a transition to digital on my FE2, and the idea of being able to put one of these things in a Rollei 35 or a Minox 35GT would still be very appealing to me.

Christoph

Hi,

I wouldn't mind using older film cameras as digital, either. A major problem would be exposure, though. I run into this all the time with my DCS 560 using non-Canon lenses. The metering in the camera is not up to that, so I have to check my exposure on each shot using the histogram on the LCD.

So, the only way I can see to pull this off would be to produce a whole new film door unit with the digital bits so one could have an LCD on the back to use as the exposure meter. Just dropping in a digital film cartridge wouldn't be enough to work well.

I strongly suspect that this is what really killed the idea off. If most of the shots taken were too far off with exposure, then the users of the beta-test units would have been pretty unhappy with the thing. Another thing is that the DSLRs were rapidly evolving at that time and so the market was changing faster than anyone could keep up with.

later!

Stan

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Amateur Photographer
Professional Electronics Development Engineer

I agree with Stan that it'd be very hard to go back to being unable to look at images right after taking them.

On the other hand, I'm not sure a new camera back would really be necessary. A stick-on unit with an LCD panel and a few buttons could be made, and communicate with the digital unit inside the camera using very low power digital radio signals, something like Bluetooth except it would not have to be nearly as complicated a protocol since it would be dedicated to a single purpose.

I suspect the tech isn't quite there yet for this, given the size limitations, but it will be. Unfortunately, by the time it is, absolutely nobody will be interested in making it. Personally, I'd buy one if not completely unreasonably priced and it had at least an APS sized sensor (preferably full frame, not asking a lot am I).

Cheers,
Ross

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Ross Alford
http://www.pbase.com/northqueenslandphotos

Hi friends,
In ten years time hardware and software changed and/or developed rapidly. In those days there were problems with the power consumption (as Nikon had as well with its pre-D1), where to put the hardware (look at the Kodak DCS bricks), connectors (no USB) and the memory cards (PCMCIA - now mini-SD). The Nikon cameras without a film advance lever (all AF cameras) were problematic as the camera need to ‘know’ when the next image can/could be shot. Nowadays these problems can be easily solved, but both Nikon and Canon have introduced more than 25 digital reflex cameras each through the years (not to talk about all other brands), so who would buy a digital back, or an insert like the Imagek, for his Nikon FM2 or Nikon F-801S? It may sound crazy, but I would! I do not need al those snick-snack 'features' of 'modern' cameras. Aren't we a bit 'over-featured', like face-priority, GPS, fireworks settings or (in a car) rain sensor on your windscreen?
Regards,
Nico

www.nicovandijk.net

_________________
D1/D1X/D1H etc.