Kodak DCS Pro SLR/n

Kodak’s last digital SLR camera

A review and Photo example of the KODAK DCS Pro SLR/n.

For more information about the affiliate program, please see the link below.

Gallery
Review
Specification
Options
Reference links
Update history
Affiliate link

Gallery

Rollei Planar 80mm F2.8 F-Mount / SAMYANG 35mm F1.4 / Tamron MF 50mm(52B)

1．Overview

The Kodak DCS Pro SLR/n is a digital camera based on Nikon’s film camera F80.
The mechanical parts such as the viewfinder and mirror are from the F80, and the grip and the bottom of the body are packed with digital circuits.

The camera alone weighs 1kg, so it becomes quite heavy when a lens is attached. The sensor is a 35mm full-frame sensor with 13.5 million pixels (4500×3000 pixels) jointly developed by Kodak and Belgian company Philfactory.

As of 2022, it is the last digital SLR digital camera released by KODAK. The “/n” in the camera name DCS Pro SLR/n indicates the use of the Nikon F mount. There is also a SIGMA camera-based Canon EF mount version with “/c” in the product name, but I have never seen this on the used market.

The battery has a special shape and there are no compatible products anymore, so you need to be careful when purchasing the camera.

2．Usage

With early 35mm full-frame sensors, you can get clear images at ISO 160. However, to enjoy the performance, you need to choose the lens you use, and a lens with excellent resolution will give you detailed images.

Because it does not have a low-pass filter on the front of the sensor, false colors will appear depending on the subject. The gallery also shows photos taken at ISO 320 while walking around Kyoto at night. In dark places, noise appears at ISO 320, which is the limit of sensor technology in 2004.

However, as someone who used ISO 400 film with a film camera, I feel that it is normal for this level of noise to appear at ISO 320.

I did not have an F-mount AF lens, so I only used it in manual focus, but the viewfinder inherited from the F80 was easy to see, focusing was possible with sufficient accuracy, and it was a camera with sufficient mobility even outdoors, with about 100 shots per battery.

As mentioned above, this camera is a Nikon F80 packed with digital equipment, so the area around the grip is extremely thick and protruding, and the weight balance is not very good.

3．Add Info.

At a time when it was said that F-mount 35mm full-frame sensors were difficult, Kodak released a digital camera equipped with a 35mm full-frame sensor, albeit based on a Nikon body, which is a testament to their technological capabilities. It is unfortunate that the company could not survive despite their technological capabilities. The brand is still alive and well, but it is unclear how much of their past experience remains. Some reversal films have been reproduced, so their DNA may still be alive.

I owned a DCS Pro SLR/n from 2012 to 2013, and purchased it second-hand eight years after it was released.

The 13.5 megapixels are still sufficient resolution even as of 2022, and although I sold it for next to nothing when I was short on money, it is one of the cameras I wish I had kept.

I investigated the differences with the previous model DCS Pro 14/n, but there were almost no differences. The DCS Pro SLR/n is mainly an internal improvement of the DCS Pro 14/n, such as improvements to the power supply and an increase in buffer memory (256MB to 512MB).

Because it is a professional camera and expensive, it seems that the DCS Pro 14/n has been upgraded in terms of functionality, and there is also a DCS Pro 14/n that has the same performance as the DCS Pro SLR/n after updating it.

Speaking of F80-based digital cameras, Fujifilm’s FinePix S3pro is also in this category, but since it is aimed at consumers and focuses on retail price, it has the weakness of having an APS-C sensor and a lens focal length that is 1.5 times longer.

Specification

Item	Value	Note
Number of pixels (Megapixcel)	13.5
Mount	Nikon F mount
Image Sensor	36mm × 24mm FullFrame CMOS sensor
Finder	Eye Level Pentaprism	Approx. 92% (vs. actual screen) Approx. 0.75x (with 50mm lens at infinity and -1.0Dp)
Back LCD Panel	2 inches, 130,000 dots
Memory card	Compact flash	Supports up to 32GB
Battery-type	DCS Pro Battery、P/N 4E2843	Common to DCS Pro14/n
Camera size(mm)	W x H x D 158 × 131 × 89
Weight(g)	907	Only body