I’m Back: A digital camera back for your old school film camera.
A new Kickstarter called I’m Back is finding a way to give old school film cameras new life in the digital world. Not that many of those old film cameras need it, but the ability to shoot digital with the older style film cameras has always been a dream of many photographers. Many attempts weren’t successful, though it seems like this one may be.
The digital back idea has been done for many years now but hasn’t successfully taken off at all due to parts, costs, etc. And granted, I’m Back doesn’t seem like it will be perfect either. The Kickstarter says that the camera will have a 16MP CMOS sensor from Panasonic–which tells me that it’s probably a Micro Four Thirds sensor, but it doesn’t specifically state this anywhere on the Kickstarter itself. That may let a number of photographers down unfortunately as the dream is to have something full frame. I mean, why use this when you can take the lenses and put them on your OMD or GH5 camera instead? I’m Back also only shoots JPEG files though it has a storage capacity for 128 GB of photos. Plus there’s WiFi built in as some of the videos show off the camera being used with an iPhone so that they can see through the lens.
In fact, I’m Back doesn’t seem to have much of an LCD screen on the back from the videos, but they’re claiming that it has a 2 inch capacitative touchscreen.
Camera Details (Assembled)
- Sensor: 16Mega CMOS Panasonic
- Lensïĵ7G+IR F=2.5 f=3.0mm
- LensïĵClose-up
- Video ResolutionïĵUHD24ïĵ2880*2160ïĵ QHD30ïĵ2560*1440ïĵ 108OP60/30 720P120/60/30 VGA240
- Picture Sizeïĵ 20M 16M 12M 10M 8M 5M 3M VGA
- Video FormatïĵMP4 H.264
- Picture Formatïĵ JPG
- Storage CapacityïĵMax 128G
- USB interfaceïĵUSB2.0 Displayïĵ2.0″capacitive touch screens
- HDMI Outputïĵyes
- Auto White Balanceïĵyes
- Auto Eve ïĵyes
- WIF:I yes
- Menu LanguageïĵEN FR ES PT DE IT CN RU JP
- Batteryïĵ3.7V 1050mAh
I’m Back will offer compatibility for a number of cameras. Some of them are not the most iconic; and I’m shocked there are is no Canon AE-1 offering.
There have been a number of cameras and Kickstarters trying to digitize the old school film appeal as of late. And if anything, it may be a big new trend in photography. I wish the I’m Back project well, but I’m not sure it’s going to be as successful as it would have been if they had secured a 16MP full frame sensor. Will it still be successful? I’m sure. But if you’re using your old film camera, you often want to be able to use the entire area of those lenses.
Here are some image samples:
You can check out more details about I’m Back over on their Kickstarter page.