SiliconFilm?

ziggy53

Some years back, there was a company called, "Imagek" and then, "SiliconFilm" which promised a product that would allow ordinary 35mm film cameras to acquire digital images, using a 2 piece cartridge and attachment.

The specifications were pretty good, but I don't think it ever made it to market as a viable product.

The last I heard was at:

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0209/02091903siliconfilmagain.asp

Has there been any additional information since?

ziggy53

colourbox

You can still go to www.siliconfilm.com. But if you look at the source HTML there are only two links. One opens a sparse "about us" page, and the other is a hidden link to a fact-free one-page PDF that was created in 2002. Hmmm.

If the company was ever any more than a way to attract venture capital, they've been squeezed by today's cheap digital bodies. Why would you attach this device to your 35mm body? To use your old lenses and bodies. But if the attachment doesn't cost less than, say, $650, you'll probably prefer to buy a fully integrated digital SLR body that probably works with your old lenses too, and won't be as cumbersome to carry around as a body+attachment.

Even if the device were to be competitively priced, we still don't know if it could have produced the quality of the hardware in today's inexpensive dSLRs. Canon and Nikon are driving the technology very hard and dropping prices at the same time, and maybe Silicon Film couldn't keep up.

ian408

$230 is a hefty premium for 40 more gigs of storage and the ability to add
video (which btw, 80g is not much space--unless you're watching DVD's).

Ian