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Re: [OM] digital back

Subject: Re: [OM] digital back
From: "James N. Crawford, Jr." <jncrawf2@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1999 10:13:06 -0600
Great idea Kenneth.

I have thought for sometime that a CCD back for all these manual cameras
made a lot of sense.  With the interchangeability of the Olympus backs
between the various cameras, they would make an excellent candidate for such
a product.

It would be a little more difficult to design than a Polaroid back, however.
The
back itself would be simple enough, but then you must design a module to
store all that data you would capture using our excellent Oly lenses.  Also
must have the capability, electronic hardware and software to transfer data
to some type of download device (computer, recorder, etc.)

I think it is a great idea and if it could be developed  and marketed at a
reasonable price there should be a tremendous market for it.  This would
allow us to extend the usefulness of our Olympus "manual" cameras into the
millenium.

When I say "reasonable" price, I don't have any idea how much it would cost
to design/develop such an item.  It would not be cheap, but of course could
be amortized over several hundred thousand units if properly priced in the
range of a Polaroid back or a little higher at first.

One consideration would have to be upgradeability.  With the
changes/improvements in the digital technology taking place seemingly daily,
it would be essential to be able to "pop out" the old CCD array and insert a
new one with higher resolution capabilities.  And of course be able to
"flash" upgrade the software.

Again, I think it is a great idea if it can be made and marketed for a
reasonable price.

I would like to hear everyone's ideas on this subject.

As you can tell I am not an engineer,  but surely with all the smart people
who contribute to this list we could come up with some ideas.  Ever since I
got my Epson printer a couple of years ago, I have been impressed with the
possibilities of digital photography.  I saw an Alps demo in CompUSA the
other day and the "photos" were very impressive. And as slow as it was to
print, it still beat my time in the darkroom by a Texas mile.

Jim Crawford
Garland, TX
jncrawf2@xxxxxxxxxxx


-----Original Message-----
From: Kenneth Sloan <sloan@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wednesday, February 10, 1999 5:26 PM
Subject: [OM] digital back


>Just a random thought - what would the market be, and what is the
>feasibility of, a "digital back" which converted a classic SLR to a
>digital camera?
>
>Clearly, the form factor is all wrong for systems based on floppy disks,
>and some of the glitzy controls on current digital cameras would disapper
>- but it would make for an interesting beast, no?
>
>Can't be any harder than designing and producing a "Polaroid back".
>
>How much would *you* pay for one?
>
>--
>Kenneth Sloan                                            sloan@xxxxxxx
>Computer and Information Sciences                       (205) 934-2213
>University of Alabama at Birmingham                 FAX (205) 934-5473
>Birmingham, AL 35294-1170   http://www.cis.uab.edu/info/faculty/sloan/
>
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