The DigiPod is able to fit inside most SLRs because technology has advanced since Silicon’s product.

Jackson researched what went wrong at Silicon and found that they were making a product that was too big and too expensive. He cites a similar attempt in 2000 by a company called Silicon, but failed because of technical problems. “I wanted the Digipod to be as versatile as possible in the space available, so there is no hard memory, everything is saved to a micro sd card, plus it has a mini USB for direct connection to a computer and a built in battery.” “I have for years been looking at a number of old analog SLR camera bodies that I used as a young professional, all of which are precision mechanical instruments, they all hold great memories, and have taken some great images,” Jackson writes in his Indiegogo page. The device was created by James Jackson, a British developer and former photographer who has spent the past five years developing the DigiPod.

James Jackson shows what the DigiPod would look like and how it fits inside a film SLR (above). But if the campaign gets a lot of support and exceeds the goal of a thousand backers, the sensor size could increase to 1 inch (2,000 backers) or 4/3 inch (5,000 backers). The DigiPod will use a 2/3-inch CMOS sensor, which is sort of like putting a point-and-shoot inside your SLR, if it reaches it funding goal of £199,000 (approximately $310,000). Operating it couldn’t be any easier: Just press the shutter and “advance the film” as you normally would (of course, you’re not actually advancing anything, but it’s just to tell the camera you’re ready to take the next shot). Because 35mm film is fairly standard, it’d fit inside almost any brand of camera. The DigiPod fits neatly into the cavity of a SLR where a roll of film normally goes. As you probably guessed it, the DigiPod is a device that turns an analog film SLR into a digital camera. We’ve seen a few analog-meets-digital photography concepts looking for folks to back the projects via crowdfunding sites, but the DigiPod on Indiegogo might be the most intriguing yet, especially for owners of film SLRs.

Alta digipod