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I have a sack full of just gorgeous Nikon lenses and camera 'backs'. But the backs are all single lens reflex for 35 mm film. I have nothing that uses CCDs (c

I have a sack full of just gorgeous Nikon lenses and camera 'backs'. But the backs are all single lens reflex for 35 mm film. I have nothing that uses CCDs (charge coupled devices, solid state, electronic photon captures). But the lenses are just gorgeous. Is there any way I can get a modern camera back, electronic, with a CCD or some such photon capture means, etc. that will let me exploit my old lenses, including, right, a just gorgeous 50 mm lens, a 108 mm, a 200 mm, etc.? So, the modern camera back need not have a mirror and, instead, show in the view finder what it sees via its CCD sensors.

graycat 4y ago
Gee, I didn't get any answers to my question. So, I did some investigating, and, yes, now there is a theme in both still photography and movie making: Don't use any film. Instead, detect the photons with an electronic sensor, i.e., a thin little rectangle of CCDs (charge coupled devices). And for what used to be a view finder, just use the data from the sensor. So, these are all digital cameras (camera backs), that is, use an electronic sensor and use no film. Now a big example of this theme is the smart phone, either iPhone from Apple or an Android phone. It's possible to make movies with a smart phone. But now an example of a high end camera for movie making is from a company Red (this investigation today was the first I ever heard of it), and one of their cameras can cost $30,000. Apparently compared with a smart phone, a Red video camera can have more pixels in the sensor, more dynamic range, and a higher frame rate. And, yes, there are digital camera backs by Nikon, some of the other, old still image camera makers, and even Sony as I recall relatively new to cameras. For my question about my old Nikon lenses: The old lenses were designed to work with the famous SLR (single lens reflex) Nikon F camera of 1959. The SLR meant that for the view finder, a mirror moved down, behind the lens, and in front of the film, and kicked the image up to a prism and into the view finder. So, this way the view finder showed essentially exactly what the film would see when a picture was shot at which time the mirror pivoted up and out of the way of the light to the film and a shutter over the film moved and exposed the film. So, the many lenses for the Nikon F camera were called F series lenses. Well, my collection of Nikon lenses are all Nikon F series. Now Nikon has some digital camera backs that can still use F series lenses. These cameras are called FX or full frame cameras, and, yes, the sensor is about the same size, width and height in millimeters, as old 35 mm film. Some of these are SLR, that is, have a mirror. The Nikon D650 is an example. But Nikon also has a new series of digital camera backs with, right, no mirror, called their Z series. These are also full frame and can use F series lenses but to do so need a tube between the back of the lens and front of the camera back. So, to use my old Nikon lenses with a digital camera, I could buy a D650 digital SLR camera back or a Z series camera back with an adapter tube. The sensors commonly have either ~24 million pixels or ~48 million pixels. And there is some question about the dynamic range of the pixels. It appears that there is an engineering problem of handling the data rates of 48 million pixels per frame, with a lot of dynamic range (bits) per pixels, at a high frame rate, say, 60 or 120 frames per second for slow motion. Another theme for these digital still cameras is to be able to take enough frames (exposures) per second to become essentially movie cameras. It appears that this engineering problem is slowing progress of these former still image cameras to being good movie cameras. It appears that the Nikon Z series camera backs have little or no traditional optics, that is, lenses, mirrors, or prisms, and, instead, are all electronic or nearly so. E.g., the view finder is replaced by a small video screen. Well, IMHO, any such all electronic device is highly vulnerable to rapidly falling prices. So, I would guess that the Z series prices will have to fall. Soooo, if I get a digital camera back that will accept my F series lenses, I should go for a cheap one; for something more capable I should wait until prices come way down.

graycat 4y ago

Gee, I didn't get any answers to my question. So, I did some investigating, and, yes, now there is a theme in both still photography and movie making: Don't use any film. Instead, detect the photons with an electronic sensor, i.e., a thin little rectangle of CCDs (charge coupled devices). And for what used to be a view finder, just use the data from the sensor. So, these are all digital cameras (camera backs), that is, use an electronic sensor and use no film. Now a big example of this theme is the smart phone, either iPhone from Apple or an Android phone. It's possible to make movies with a smart phone. But now an example of a high end camera for movie making is from a company Red (this investigation today was the first I ever heard of it), and one of their cameras can cost $30,000. Apparently compared with a smart phone, a Red video camera can have more pixels in the sensor, more dynamic range, and a higher frame rate. And, yes, there are digital camera backs by Nikon, some of the other, old still image camera makers, and even Sony as I recall relatively new to cameras. For my question about my old Nikon lenses: The old lenses were designed to work with the famous SLR (single lens reflex) Nikon F camera of 1959. The SLR meant that for the view finder, a mirror moved down, behind the lens, and in front of the film, and kicked the image up to a prism and into the view finder. So, this way the view finder showed essentially exactly what the film would see when a picture was shot at which time the mirror pivoted up and out of the way of the light to the film and a shutter over the film moved and exposed the film. So, the many lenses for the Nikon F camera were called F series lenses. Well, my collection of Nikon lenses are all Nikon F series. Now Nikon has some digital camera backs that can still use F series lenses. These cameras are called FX or full frame cameras, and, yes, the sensor is about the same size, width and height in millimeters, as old 35 mm film. Some of these are SLR, that is, have a mirror. The Nikon D650 is an example. But Nikon also has a new series of digital camera backs with, right, no mirror, called their Z series. These are also full frame and can use F series lenses but to do so need a tube between the back of the lens and front of the camera back. So, to use my old Nikon lenses with a digital camera, I could buy a D650 digital SLR camera back or a Z series camera back with an adapter tube. The sensors commonly have either ~24 million pixels or ~48 million pixels. And there is some question about the dynamic range of the pixels. It appears that there is an engineering problem of handling the data rates of 48 million pixels per frame, with a lot of dynamic range (bits) per pixels, at a high frame rate, say, 60 or 120 frames per second for slow motion. Another theme for these digital still cameras is to be able to take enough frames (exposures) per second to become essentially movie cameras. It appears that this engineering problem is slowing progress of these former still image cameras to being good movie cameras. It appears that the Nikon Z series camera backs have little or no traditional optics, that is, lenses, mirrors, or prisms, and, instead, are all electronic or nearly so. E.g., the view finder is replaced by a small video screen. Well, IMHO, any such all electronic device is highly vulnerable to rapidly falling prices. So, I would guess that the Z series prices will have to fall. Soooo, if I get a digital camera back that will accept my F series lenses, I should go for a cheap one; for something more capable I should wait until prices come way down.