Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/07/10
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On Jul 10, 2007, at 6:30 AM, H. Ball Arche wrote: > 200 years? Not that big a deal. > Check out Pont du Gard: > http://tinyurl.com/3xqhnl Obviously the Romans were better engineers than the Brits. But given early 1800's technology, Thomas Telford was a pretty remarkable builder. Many of his structures are still in regular use today carrying modern traffic. A couple of blocks away from my house in Wales, the Telford constructed Menai Bridge spans the Menai Strait. The bridge was the world's first major suspension bridge and offered a land route from the port where the Irish ferries docked to England. The bridge was designed when horseback, wagons, and shoe leather were the major forms of transportation. It is still one of only two bridges crossing the Menai Strait and is in regular use for cars, trucks and town busses. I commuted to work over it every day. Most of Telford's old structures have outlasted their contemporary rivals. Sad to say, that may be true of photographic equipment too. They don't build them like they used to. Maybe if the Romans had invented photography we might still be using their concrete cameras. As it is, my favorite Leica is a mere 70 years old. My first digital Leica failed after three years. Larry Z