Some photographers still debate why film is better than digital and vice versa. But hey, why don’t we have both? Sanasol took his old Nikon FM and turned it into digital. It even has Wi/Fi connection so the photos are immediately transferred to his phone.
So how does this work? Well, I’m not exactly sure about the technical details or magic behind it. But after translating Sanasol’s tweets from Japanese, I figured out that he used something like Silicon Film’s EFS-1. That concept has been around for almost two decades now, revived by other companies, but it hasn’t really become popular.
However, Sanasol built his own solution. He used an M5 camera’s ESP32 module ad 3D-printed some parts himself. The digital cartridge that he made is placed inside the film chamber and its power button is connected with the film advance knob. Since there’s a Wi-Fi connection, the photo is transferred to the phone as soon as it’s shot. Here’s how it looks:
Sanasol kindly shared some of the test shots that he took with us, along with a promise that he’ll also make a more detailed tutorial soon. So, make sure to follow his work on YouTube and Twitter. Update 23 September 2020: Sanasol has shared a video tutorial that shows how he converted a flm camera to digital. He also shares blueprints for 3D printed parts so if you like, you can make your own analog-digital crossover.
[via Nikon Rumors]