He doesn't say what the 'Price-Break' is; and I think that's the key.
(It's also a UK development; he'd probably get the numbers he needs better, promoting it in the USA.)
But; I don't think it will go far without a full-frame sensor, and I think its a mistake to try marketing it without one.
It needs to be a drop-in, works like a film, one-shot consumer solution, that works like film.
Having to mask the mirror to frame what the sensor will see in the view-finder... pretty much limits it to SLR's, or at least makes it more hit and miss for range finder or viewfinder cameras.
If I had one, or even two of these widgets; I would, probably want to drop it into my Old XA2 compact, when I don't want to lug the SLR about; or have one in the XA for grab-shots.
Meanwhile, I would be loath to start trying to stick bits of insulation tape onto the fine semi-silvered mirror of my OM4! and risk the glue harming it, should I want to take it off again!
I'd also be a bit reluctant to have a go, having not so steady banana fingers! I'd probably end up with it off center and all wrinkled! Bad enough trying to apply a screen protector to my daughters i-phone!
'Plug and Play'.... it has to be as close as possible. And it's just not 'quite' there, by the sounds of it.
BUT, he says it COULD have a full-frame sensor... if they met price breaks...
OK... I don't know how much this product is likely to cost. Boxes for different colour versions, in the side bar, seem to be implying if you pledge about £200 you get one of the first batch, £250 one of the limited edition colours; £10 just gets you a support pack of info, and I presume first dibs on a retail model if it makes it.
So, what would the retail be? £200?
As Old wet-film hand, I have held off buying Digital SLR until this year; as for the last fifteen years; the technology has been moving too fast; the resolution was too low for the prices, and it was becoming obsolete to quick.
Technology in the last five years has plateau'd, to a degree, and entry level DSLR's with 'acceptable' image quality are now available for approx £300.... so I bought one....
Now, if six months ago, this chap had cought me in the shop and said; "Don't buy that, buy THIS!"... I would have to say I would have been pretty tempted.
BUT... its only 'half' a camera. It would still be my old Olympus or Sigma sat around it, wearing out. Yup; got nice glass to stick around it; and full-frame resolution..... it might make me stop and think about it. BUT.
£300 for an all new camera... with warranty on ALL of it. Against, £250 'Widget' to use my twenty odd year old film-camera, and get digital straight out the back, without wet-processing or scanning?
I think at that point I would start asking impertinent questions; like, whats the pix count, and what are the lab tests like? From MY camera... Would I be getting something that is as 'good' as a full-frame high-pix Digital; maybe £800's worth of camera, for my £250?
And how reliable is it? To spend that kind of money; on an 'old' camera accessory?
It would be instead of a Digi-SLR, not as well as. It would have to be as durable and long lasting as an entry level DSLR, to do the job of being front line, main-use camera.
Novelty, of being able to go play with old film cameras would not be enough.
For something to drop into any old car-boot special, for the fun of?! Yeah, I might be prepared to take a different view. Would still have to be full-frame, drop in consumer friendly; in 'almost' any 35mm film camera...
On which point? What if the Camera is DX coded? Is the case blank? Will it need labels for DX only cameras? Is there an interface between DX contacts and the ASA setting on the widget to tell the camera what to meter to?
I might be prepared for it to offer a lower pix-count and IQ, as a more 'for the fun of' product to exercise some of the old cameras, BUT... would expect the price to be down in the sub £100 bracket, more likely the pocket money, under £50 range, for me to buy it, 'just for a bit of fun'.
What he has at the moment? Well, being a bit brutal, is an experiment that he's taken a bit further than something I did four years ago, taking the lens out of a £15 web-cam, and putting it behind the shutter of my OM4 with the back removed..... and tackle 'some' of the convenience problems.
10/10 for effort and perseverance; but it's not, as far as I can see, as yet 'market ready'... and he's in a danger-zone, where trying to market a 'compromised' half-ready product, he's as likely to generate negative reputation to add resistance to market adoption; and be dismissed as yet another "Yeah, these things keep coming round, making all the promises and never delivering"
HAS to deliver... means full frame, work as the camera intended user-friendliness; drop in and go, no messing filing pressure plates off the camera-back; no masking mirrors; and minimal product 'set-up' before use.
And I see two, possibly products in there, at three prices.
A 'consumer' or 'fun' product, marketing for sub £50,... The 'entry Level' model; maybe with a low pix count, perhaps sub 10Mp; that would sell to folk, buying old 'cheap' film cameras to see if they work and what they can do with them, who wont want to spend more than they paid for the camera for the digi-widget; or folk like me with some old 35mm compacts knocking around, and just want to give them a walk in the park. Something that the perceived 'value' can be entirely rationalised against how many rolls of conventional film it costs, and is in the pocket-money, don't have to think too hard or save up to buy it price range.
An 'enthusiasts' or hobby version; something for keener photographers more worried about IQ and who want something that can compete against conventional level SLR's, where perceived value can be rated against pro's and cons of DSLR's; and significantly
second hand DSLR's, as you are fitting the digi-film into a
second hand or 'old' camera; and the benefits have to be, that it delivers as good IQ as a contemporary, state of the art full-frame DSLR, without the running costs of film, and the bonus of being able to maintain that IQ with, low cost, high quality glass, from obsolete Film SLR series.
Then potentially a 'Geek' or Pro grade version; that offers the real-world equivalency of a Full-Frame DSLR, but adds digital functionality... wi-fi or blue-tooth uplink to a lap-top or similar portable device to get data out of the digi-film without leads or drilling holes and stuff, but allow frame by frame ASA adjustment; 'live' TTL viewing, and whatever else you want it to do.
As it stands? With a 1/4 frame 10x8mm sensor? What would the crop factor be? Somewhere around 3x!
It's just not viable; you'd loose so much 'useful' lens coverage from a crop that high; 50mm 'standard' would become something like a 150mm telephoto. My 12mm fish-eye would give a field of view just a bit tighter than a 35mm mild wide!!!!
So, as is... No.
It needs a lot more work to make it more consumer useable; it NEEDS the full 24x36mm sensor, and it needs to be punted at the right price; and it's just not there, nor close enough, as it stands.
