collecting DCS 200c, 420c, 420m, 315, 720x, 760c

Discuss older Nikon-based Kodak digital SLRs, including DCS 100, DCS 200, NC2000, DCS 400/600/700-series, etc. Ask questions, post general comments, anecdotes, reviews and user tips.
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Wolfi
Posts: 37
Joined: Wed Nov 09, 2005 8:33 am
Location: german living in south France

collecting DCS 200c, 420c, 420m, 315, 720x, 760c

Post by Wolfi »

Hi all,

I'm happy to have found your great forum.

I own the mentioned Kodak/Nikon DCS cameras, and I have decided to collect them.

It will be a great pleasure to write more about them, as I also have a really great fun to use them.

Just some words before I'll start reading :)

thanks

Wolfi
Stan Disbrow
Posts: 601
Joined: Fri May 20, 2005 7:33 pm
Location: Raleigh, NC USA

Post by Stan Disbrow »

Hi,

Welcome to the club, so to speak. :) You certainly have a lot of models to collect with the Kodak line. Just take a look at that long list of various units, and be amazed at how busy the developemnt group was. ;)

BTW, I'm still using a Kodak DCS 560 as my 'universal' lens body. The Canon EF mount is very versatile, and the 6 MP Kodak imager works very well as long as the light is good (ye olde ISO 80, you know).

I had been using a Canon 1Ds mk-I for this, but decided that it was a bit of overkill for what I was using it for, so I sold it last week (for a good price, too, in the wake of the mirror interference issues with the new 5D when used with off-brand lenses).

Later!

Stan
Amateur Photographer
Professional Electronics Development Engineer
Wolfi
Posts: 37
Joined: Wed Nov 09, 2005 8:33 am
Location: german living in south France

Post by Wolfi »

Hi Stan,

I am an amateur, I was involved in professionnal photography, restoring/reproducing antique photographs, film and glass plates.

Also some experience in repro photography for offset printing etc.

That's where started my interest in large and middle format, optics and material.

From then I have learnt that there's no camera that can do everything.

The Kodak's have wide fields of use, that's why I have started collecting them.

I love my DCS 460 (no screen), it feels like film, you concentrate on whaT you are shooting with an 80 or 50 ISO film, and you have the pleasure (or horror) to discover what you have shot once back at home.

The possibilities are much larger than with film though, and I am not pleased anymore with film developper, stop bathes and fixer, drying films that hang around etc.....

I do a lot of macro shots of antiques, so I know a little about techniques.

I think that each of these cameras can be used for a special purpose, there's such a great variety.

I'll also consider the canons and other nikons, but first I'll try to explore what I have.

Unfortunately some cameras have problems : The DCS 200c is not working since I tried years ago to replace the firmware by the firmware of a DCS 410 .

The 315 got never out of the basic settings, contact problems I suppose.

A big problem is on my DCS 420m. It came with a working micro drive. I emptied the drive on a macintosh and took it out without throwing it in the bin.

It has messed up the camera which does not recognize ANY card anymore, the microdrive is dead and cannot be formatted anymore. Please help!!!! Can I take out the CCD and put it on a DCS 420m back? Or how can I repair it?

My biggest problem is with my DCS 720x which fell on the ground. It works and records and shoots, but there are only white frames recorded. Can I buy a 620 sensor and replace it? I would love to have it working again, such a fine camera.

My other Nikon/Kodaks work fine, DCS 760, 460c, I've bought a DCS 460m too, but it never arrived.

I live in France, and I'll try to find some here. I think that it would also be interesting to replace parts and re cell batteries etc.....
Wolfi
Posts: 37
Joined: Wed Nov 09, 2005 8:33 am
Location: german living in south France

Post by Wolfi »

Sorry, please read 420c : " Can I take out the CCD and put it on a DCS 420m back?"
drummond93
Posts: 63
Joined: Tue May 24, 2005 6:22 pm
Location: Columbus & Dayton Ohio

Replacing backs

Post by drummond93 »

Wolfi,

Any of the backs in the DCS 4xx line can be swapped with other backs- the body is the same (Nikon N90/F90 or N90s/F90s) and the backs are entirely self contained. However, swapping individual parts (microdrive readers, chips, etc) between 4xx backs would not be recommended as the firmware should vary between each back.

Nathan
Stan Disbrow
Posts: 601
Joined: Fri May 20, 2005 7:33 pm
Location: Raleigh, NC USA

Post by Stan Disbrow »

Hi,

Well, there's a rather critical alignment needed to ensure that the CCD is squared up to the focal plane in three dimensions that you'd have to have some way of performing if you want to get into imager chip swapping.

That's presuming that you don't have any other electronic differences between the color and mono backs. I can't say how many running changes Kodak might have made to a particular model, but if there like any company I've worked at in my career, there's quite a few things changing on a weekly basis. That sort of thing can really bite someone swapping bits around. ;)

You already learned the hard way about changing microcode (aka firmware) between models that 'look alike'. :(

I guess I don't understand why a different memory card wouldn't fix the 420m problem if the microdrive is toast? Is this a Mac vs PC format issue? Sorta sounds like it.....

No, you can't take a CCD out of a 620x and put it into the 720x. There are basic changes to the CCD between the 600 series and the 700 series, and I bet that you'd have confused firmware vs. hardware problems again. You certainly don't want the RGB CFA (color filter arry) CCD from a 620c in place of the CYM CFA 'x' series CCD. That'd be a waste of time, for sure.

You might as well just buy another 720x, actually. These things are cheap enough these days, and there are always new units showing up on eBay every week.

Stan
Amateur Photographer
Professional Electronics Development Engineer
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