Changing screen in a digital camera for a smaller screen.

I am determined to do an experiment, I don't want to divulge details just yet, I don't want to be told it is not possible, if I manage I will upload a video in you tube showing what I've done for fun, It involves trying to turn an analog camara into a digital camera, the main problem is the large size of the screen on the back of the digital camera , the battery I suspect could be smaller also since it will not do heavy work. I am good at soldiering in miniature from N scale train work but I don't understand electronics. I do have a lot of experience with analog cameras of all formats. The first step is to know if it possible to change the screen for a much smaller one and if it is possible, to be guided by someone who understands the electronics of digital cameras. I hope one of you can help.
Thank you very much in advance.

Digital screens have their own control communication protocol which isn't based on any global standard. So every manufacturer and even every screen type have their own ways to interact with the display controller.

I would all your chances pretty dim. You need to find smaller display with the exact same control protocol as your large display.

I'm going to have to rethink this entire project. Thanks for the information.

Replacing a screen with an identical screen is generally a fairly straightforward project, but replacing it with a different model screen typically is a very large reverse engineering project which may easily brick the device.

It isn't an entirely impossible project, but you'll likely find more useful content on an electronics or electrical engineering forum, and there does exist the chance that someone has already gone through the trouble of doing that reverse engineering. Just be prepared for doing a lot of googling for obscure topics and chasing down leads.

Gutting a digital camera and making small details to how boards are connected and fit into a housing is something that has been done before, and is totally a doable project. And without a lot of luck the odds of being able to convert to a smaller lower powered screen without eating the energy savings up with a signal conversion process is 'not great'.

Plus the connections involved typically require some fairly advanced soldering techniques due to how small everything is, and is several steps above what is typically needed for model railroad work. Diving straight into a project like what you've described so far without a strong background in electrical design is a path to frustration and failure.

But putting that project up on a shelf sounds like a source of potential drive to learn and build up to working on it.

Skimming my YouTube subscriptions, the following channels may prove useful for building up to that.

https://www.youtube.com/user/bigclivedotcom
https://www.youtube.com/user/bkraz333
https://www.youtube.com/user/eaterbc
https://www.youtube.com/user/thebenheckshow
[Really basic overviews, but very accessible for anyone needing a 'place to start']



Good luck on your adventures. Remember to watch out for high voltage capacitors!

vedostuu said:

Digital screens have their own control communication protocol which isn't based on any global standard. So every manufacturer and even every screen type have their own ways to interact with the display controller.

Click to expand...

Not entirely accurate-- there are standards. But there are many of them. Any given camera is probably using a relatively standard driver chip, but the chances of finding two screens out there with identical resolution, but very different sizes, with the same driver, are very slim.

It's definitely an "advanced" electronics project, not a basic one.

For the OP, you might want to check out sites like adafruit that have LCD screens with drivers available-- not because they're going to have a compatible screen, but so you can get an idea of what technologies are out there, and what's involved in creating a display.

You might want to look at Raspberry Pi. You didn’t say what specs you want, but display screens and camera modules are available. There’s an active community building all sorts of projects around this platform.

https://www.raspberrypi.org/