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| Photography - The Digital Zenit SLR |
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| Written by Richard Smith | ||||||||
| Wednesday, 30 September 2009 | ||||||||
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Well it's probably about time I finished this project and posted the results. So here we go  Click Read More to Continue OK so the aim of the project was do build a digital Zenit SLR and in the process maybe update the old camera a bit. The Zenit (In this case we used a 12XP) is mostly a mechanical camera. The batteries in the 12XP only drive the TTL metering and no other function which limits the camera to slower shutter speeds. (Though it works without batteries). Now if we are going Digital we need batteries anyway so may as well over come any short comings in functionality whilst we are at it. (Digital back won't work without batteries anyway). Also it would be nice to use Film when required. After some research on the net I pulled up.......well nothing. There were people that had the idea of taking apart old compact digital cameras and stuffing the insides into the body. This would prove problematic as compact camera sensors are usually very small so the focal length would be way off. There is nothing on a compact camera to activate the shutter or flip the mirror and if would be very difficult to use. (I.e 2 shutter buttons and the one on the camera would only be used to open the shutter to expose the sensor). All sounds a bit naff. So lets do some maths, a film costs a fiver. To get the film developed and scanned to get images equivelent to 6 Mega Pixels in resolution costs a further £20. (Sources D-LAB7 and LAB35). So thats 25 quid for 36 frames, 360 shots would cost £250 using this method so lets use this as the budget point. You can spend as much as you want at the end of the day, I won't stop you. So I figured a good starting point for be a DSLR, now I already had a Nikon D40 but at the time I started this project you could pick one up for £200. For some time I tried to figure out a way to insert digital guts into the Zenit. The Zenit is quite simple. Back in the day people said "Lenses are all that matters" and to a certain extent they were right, film camera's like these Zenits are just light boxes. All they do is open a shutter to expose the film behind with the light shining through the lens. So the easiest way to do this was not to replace the film but the light box. Gutted, yes I cheated. It meant that the Helios 44 or any other M42 lens I would have used on the Zenit body would mate to the D40 using an adaptor. The adaptor I bought cost 8 quid and has the correction lens in. But this meant that the Helios 44 or what ever lens was mated to the Zenit 12XP when I wanted film capture and the Nikon D40 with adaptor when I wanted digital capture. Also you get 4000th sec shutter speeds on the D40. Just one slight flaw though, the Nikon D40 looses metering when used with non Nikon CPU lenses. So had to purchase an external light meter. These can be had off ebay cheaply. I went retail and spend £70. You still hate me for this but when you think it all makes sense. Anyway the results: They can be found here at http://www.richs.me.uk/component/option,com_gallery2/Itemid,36/?g2_itemId=20916 You can see how much better the D40 performed to the Zenit body. Yes I just said that and when you compare the results you will see its true. (I was shocked as well). I can probably explain why. Firstly the Zenit 12XP was an ebay find, it cost a couple of quid and to be honest I only bought it for the Helios 44M-4 lens on it. It looks as if the camera wound a bit dodgy at least once, maybe some light leakage and actually the 4 first photos were unuseable as the camera damaged the film. That and I used cheap Fujifilm film. (ISO200 24 Exp. 5 of them in a pack marked "Holiday Pack" for a fiver). Apparently the film is good until 2011 but it may have not been stored in the best conditions. It's not over yet. Daughter ran 2 of the Fuji Cheap film through a F75 a couple of weeks ago and I have just finished a roll of Kodak UltraMax 400 in a Zorki 4K. We shall see how they come out Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites            Add as favourites (45) |  Quote this article on your site | Views: 232
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| Last Updated ( Wednesday, 30 September 2009 ) | ||||||||
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