My Dream DSLR is From 2001

there were only two cameras that really took my breath away last year the first was the incredible package of the Epson rd1 digital rangefinder camera and the second is this camera right here this huge chunky heavy DSLR that finally has everything I've ever wanted in a [Music] DSLR [Music] as you can probably tell this is not your ordinary DSLR it's also not a Nikon I know that's kind of confusing it says Nikon right there on the front uh this is a Kodak the Kodak DCS 760 to be exact and it was released all the way back in 2001 and what's amazing is that back then this was considered high-tech but even today it has features that no other DSLR ever had and pumps out some incredible image quality even 20 years [Music] later this is the second to last Kodak DSLR ever made well third to last the next two models the next one was the Kodak Pro 14in I made a video about that camera sort of this history and stuff that's a full-frame DSLR and then there's a follow-up model that was basically the same thing but in a Canon Mount so basically the second to last DSLR Kodak ever made but I like this one way more and here's why this Kodak DCS 760 uses an apsh size CCD sensor which apsh is not very common at all it's the size in between fullframe and apsc apsc is usually a 1.5 or 1.6 times crop factor and uh apsh is 1.3 I'm not a stickler for sensor sizes I shoot all sensor sizes I'm shooting on micro 43s right now I got 1-in sensors fullframe apsc it doesn't really matter to me but in this case it's actually kind of nice because this camera uses the Nikon F Mount that means I can use Legacy film era Nikon glass on it and I'm getting more of the image Circle than I would on an apsc size sensor also it helps get that signature out of focus background blur that you're used to on larger sensors which is kind of nice now one of our requirements for my dream DSLR is it's got to have an excellent Optical viewfinder if we're not going mirrorless if we're going Optical it's got to be the best well this camera has got to be one of the best viewfinders I've ever used this is essentially a modified Nikon F5 film body that KC slap their digital workings into it even still says F5 here on the side and that means that this camera uses the excellent Nikon F series viewfinders which are large and bright this is the stock dp30 view fighter that's with the camera and it has 100% coverage from what I've read and it certainly shows it is a huge joy to pick up and look through the stock focusing screen is masked to only show the area that's captured by that apsh crop but I figured out it can be removed to show the whole frame which is a feature I like on the Leica DMR and maybe you've already caught on to this but I said this is the stock viewfinder which means there's more the Nikon F5 film body could swap viewfinders and because this is a Nikon F5 film body that means we can do it here too I'm going to show you how swapping the viewfinder works let me take the second to thank the sponsor of this video baay baay is a website where I buy camera gear like this directly from Japanese listing websites I've been using it over a year now on everything from obscure Japanese only cameras to getting great deals on cameras and lenses that are just harder to find in the US I have a whole video explaining the process that I'll link below and I also have a link where you can save some money on your first purchase so you can check that out this is the only integrated DSLR that I know of that you can remove the viewfinder and replace with something like a waste level finder which is what I've done here this is a feature I've dreamed about for so long and thought was never done but here it is I think if dslrs are to have any future they need to focus on making the best possible experience with a viewfinder you can have and that means in part being able to swap the viewfinder I think would be an amazing feature hint hint pinx in practice this means you can shoot waste level shots using an optical finder instead of an LCD screen I know I know you can just as easily do this with an LCD screen but I'd love actually looking through the Optics through a mirror rather than through an LCD and to do that on a digital camera is incredible but the rare cool features don't stop there the Kodak DCS 760 also features a remove removable filter in front of the mirror something I've only ever seen in Sigma cameras this allows you to add an IR or anti-aliasing plus IR filter to the camera and also keeps dust from entering the camera body the sensor doesn't have an AA filter built in which nowadays is standard but back then was not to my disappointment there must be some sort of infrared cut filter on the sensor itself because even when I remove this filter it's not picking up IR light I was hoping to shoot Full Spectrum which would be awesome if you could just remove it put it back on like you can with Sigma dslrs so more investigation onto that in the future I'll publish a future video or post something about that the camera uses PC cards for memory and actually has two memory card slots my used copy came with these two 5 GB hard drives that actually have a spinning disc inside them these Toshiba hard drives are the same generation and Tech that went into the first generation iPod and just one of these would run you 400 bucks back in 2002 which is crazy but they require some extra equipment to read from which I don't have yet luckily I found a cheap and easy solution this is a PC card adapter that can fit a normal CF card I slide that into the camera and it records to the CF card which most cheap card readers support and it works perfect under there is also where the batteries go and interestingly enough there is still one company that's making batteries for this camera third party batteries or they just have a bunch of old stock left out there somewhere but good luck finding a charger your options are basically to find the elusive charger on eBay somewhere or DIY build one yourself which is way above my skills the shutter sound is amazing on this camera which I know it doesn't really matter but it's something that brings me joy every time I shoot it so the experience of actually holding and shooting and looking through the viewfinder of this camera is incredible but what really put the cherry on top for me is that the image quality is excellent Ive never used a camera that consistently puts out such lovely natural colors in my scenes and on top of that this camera is only 6 megapixels but it doesn't feel like a limitation at all most of the time the sensitivity range is from ISO 80 to 400 and I definitely felt the limitations when I was indoors or when the sun was starting to set but that's part for course with these older cameras but for well-lit situations I completely trust this camera to take the image that I'm expecting and that's something really special well I am totally hooked as you can tell I've already sold off a couple of my other older dslrs to make room for this one as my main my favorite old DSLR right now it's just incredible more to come on it if you like cool old cameras then you have to check out my other recent pickup the Epson rd1 which I mentioned earlier an amazing digital Rangefinder just incredible camera check that video out here and until next time as always happy snapping

Channel: snappiness

Views: 147,713

Keywords: old dslr, ccd sensor, kodak ccd sensor, kodak dslr, kodak dcs760, kodak dcs 760

Id: UH_j5baQgt0

Length: 8min 3sec (483 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 27 2024