Disassembly of DP1m - TOP PLATE

This procedure is to access the top plate of the Sigma DP1m camera. The top plate includes the hotshoe flash connector, power button, mode button, shutter button and function ring. Attached to the top plate is a circuit board activated by these controls. Our purpose is to identify the shutter button contacts and add an electric remote release circuit to this circuit board.

Before starting on this project, educate yourself on static electricity discharge protection procedure and techniques. No matter how good you think you are, you are liable to break your camera doing this work, not to mention any warranties. Do not do this on your one and only Sigma camera, and don’t do it on a camera that you will need next week. I am merely an amateur. This is the first time I’ve taken apart my Sigma camera, and I can make absolutely no warranties of any kind that this is the best way to do it, or that it will work for you.

REMOVAL OF BACK COVER

Remove four screws that hold the rear cover on left and right side of camera. There are four screws around the tripod socket: contrary to intuition, only the “front” two need to come out.

Contrary to expectation, only the forward two screws (at the tripod mount) need to come out.

These six screws around perimeter are the same length and type - a fine thread, small black pan-head machine screw.

The spring clip in the hotshoe is removed with a small screwdriver to lift out the metal a little bit, up around the center contact.

Hot shoe spring clip finagled up and out

Once it is shifted over the center contact, the spring clip can be finagled out, revealing four screws. The rear two need to come out, they are longer, coarser, countersunk flathead silver machine screws. I stored all screws from this first step in a small film canister.

Remove the rear two screws off hot shoe platform.

Carefully separate the back, but know that there is a data cable that connects the back circuit board to a circuit board in the main body of camera. Disconnect at the rear circuit board. There is a very small hinging lever thing (brown color) that spans the width of the connector. Use your small screwdriver to lift that lever/bar, and the flat ribbon “cable” will come free.

Data cable needs to be separated from the back.

Finally you can remove the metal plate inside the camera body on the port (left) side of the camera, that is attached to the strap (I have a strap on my camera). That metal plate came loose when those screws were removed. Also note the small loudspeaker on that side, because we’ll be shifting the position of that later.

This is what your camera now looks like with the back removed.