David Huffstetler , Apr 04, 2004; 08:39 p.m.
I recall hearing once of a device that fits in some slr bodys that
allows it to take digital pictures. It was a year or two ago that i
heard about it and can't recall a name for what its called, any help
would be gracious, thanks.
Dave
Maureen M , Apr 04, 2004; 08:51 p.m.
Wasn't that the "silicon film" that made a big noise while looking for investors, but then never happened?
Bob Atkins 
, Apr 04, 2004; 09:59 p.m.
Vaporware. Lots of hype but it never saw the light of day.
grepmat , Apr 04, 2004; 11:00 p.m.
Sorry, but this was one of the biggest scams the industry has seen in quite a while. Their hype has been around for many years. For all I know they are still milking additional funding from "investors." However, from the publically available evidence, it's likely that no working product ever existed, nor in my opinion would one likely succeed in the marketplace if one ever came to light. It was a naively attractive yet fabulously unworkable idea, and one which the march of progress (namely, the success of fully digital cameras of every sort) has made moot in a most definitive way. Cheers.
Joseph Wisniewski , Apr 05, 2004; 12:59 p.m.
As of February 25, 2004, they have yet another new owner, "Voyager One, Inc". This is a "public shell corporation" of "CMI Companies" of Irvine California.
(link)
Coincidentally, Silicon Film's original owner, "Irvine Sensors", is also an Irvine CA company. That's back in the days when they were called "Imagek".
Silicon Film was owned for a while by Quest Manufacturing, of Spring Grove, Illinois. As far as I can tell, Quest did the plastics manufacturing for the Imagek prototypes shown (but never demonstrated in operation) at trade shows. Apparently, when Irvine Sensors shut down Imagek, Quest got hold of the Silicon Film patents, and immediatly launched a new series of press releases, dramatically increasing the capabilities (resolution, sensor size, etc) of the original product.
Konrad Beck , Apr 05, 2004; 02:27 p.m.
Ross Marks , Apr 05, 2004; 06:39 p.m.
>"A year ago Leica announced to work on a digital back for the R9 to be presented at photokina 2004"
I'll believe that when I see it. It can probably be done OK, I'm not questioning Leica's honesty, but these things seem to be a lot harder to make work than the marketing departments think.
With manufacturers outsourcing the work of making plastic bodies and assembling the bits to low labour cost companies (like Nike etc do for shoes), I suspect the cost of a dedicated DSLR body is likely to continue to fall and be too low to make an insert viable, as an insert will require too much precision work.
Regards, Ross
