I'm the owner of an old Canon A1 camera (bought in 1983) and I like it very much. Now I'm considering to use digital image processing in my work and, before buying a new digital camera, I'd like to know if is there any digital kit for the A1 allowing me to use it for more and more years. Thank you very much. Bye.

-- GianLuca Chiarucci (glchiaru@tin.it), February 19, 1999

Answers

Hi GianLuca,

I believe a cheaper alternative may be getting a good film scanner(like those reviewed here) and use traditional film (positive or negative) instead. Those digital back seems to be much more expensive than a film scanner and I doubt they can even come near the quality of a film. They are also very heavy and hungry for power too(I believe).

Actually, I am facing the same problem as you are.

Gary

-- Gary Ng (gng@extracomm.com), February 23, 1999.

There really aren't any alternatives currently for converting a 35mm film body to digital. (Persistent rumors of a device from Imagek, but still no product.) I tend to agree with Gary - get a scanner, or buy a good digicam. As digitally-oriented as I am, and owning an Olympus D- 600L, I still tend to do most of my shooting on film, and scan the images I really want to play with digitally. - Lets me use all my (expensive) Nikkor lenses, giving a lot more flexibility than the digital option. The one BIG advantage of the D-600L though, is that I have my pictures instantly! - We use it for all the product shots we've begun taking as part of the camera reviews.

-- Dave Etchells (hotnews@imaging-resource.com), February 24, 1999.