EOS Film and Digital Hybrid Camera Body Idea

[braxus]

I woke up from a dream about coming up with an idea for a film and digital EOS hybrid camera. It would basically be a EOS 1V camera with a mirrorless operation type of digital camera guts also put inside. The shutter would operate for the film section, and the mirror in the mirrorbox would bounce the image up towards where the focus screen would normally be, but instead of that, there would be a full frame digital sensor. The sensor would operate electronically without a shutter, so it would be like a mirrorless camera with electronic shutter. The sensor would pick up the image most of the time and send it to an EVF, so you could see what you're looking at. There would be a switch on the camera body to select between film and digital. This camera would be for those who want both film and digital shooting. With all the mirrorless technology they have now, this camera should be a piece of cake to produce. It would be like an EOS 1 camera in size and weight, using the large battery. Im sure they could scale it down to a lighter smaller EOS camera body. This camera would use the normal EF lenses.

So my idea would probably never be made, but I wonder, what do you guys think?

 

[tokam]

Leica tried this hybrid approach with the R8 or R9? Went down down like a lead balloon, Didn't help that the pricing reflected the infamous Leica tax.

Would Canon want to go near this when there are millions of usable EOS film cameras available second hand and the price of full frame EOS cameras that also use the EF mount are dropping fast. Canon have / are exiting production of cameras with the EF mount. They will not be going backwards.

 

[Wallendo]

I have had similar thoughts about Sony SLT cameras with the semi translucent mirrors. There is already a digital sensor for the electronic viewfinder which could be upgraded, and the posterior sensor replaced with film. The advantage of an SLT camera would be that both images were captured at the same time.

Economically, it makes more sense to use a film camera and an iPhone, so the market for this would be very small.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

If I could afford a digi-back for my RB, I would probably go that way...

 

[grain elevator]

Technology wise, that seems the most sensible hybrid concept if heard of. Economically it won't happen.

 

[tokam]

If I could afford a digi-back for my RB, I would probably go that way...

I know how you feel as I can only imagine the results of a digi-back on my RZ67. Then I get jolted back to reality. The Mamiya Rx67 cameras are weighty and rather cumbersome bricks. For the price of a digital back I could probably buy a 40MP+ camera from Sony and have a far more usable rig. I'm never going to print or display in any way an image that large. (Have done 30"x 20" from 35mm C-41 and from 2-3 metres it looks very good but I doubt that I'll get it done again.)

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

I know how you feel as I can only imagine the results of a digi-back on my RZ67. Then I get jolted back to reality. The Mamiya Rx67 cameras are weighty and rather cumbersome bricks. For the price of a digital back I could probably buy a 40MP+ camera from Sony and have a far more usable rig. I'm never going to print or display in any way an image that large. (Have done 30"x 20" from 35mm C-41 and from 2-3 metres it looks very good but I doubt that I'll get it done again.)

I bought the D850 in Autumn 2019. I've used it maybe 8 times. I wanted it for tri-colour gums, and IR...and trips to Japan. The few gum prints I made from it are very impressive (in regards to sharpness).