[Leica] The Future Is Now

["Mike Nicholls" <mikenic@cyberone.com.au>]

Hi all
Let me know if this is too far off topic. Hopefully, I'll soon get the hang
of it.

Fraid I missed out on the pleasures of the darkroom. Have never printed an
enlargement that way. It's been negs, scan, Photoshop, CD's, Kodak LED
Pegasus for the last few years. I started in digital imaging in the mid
70's,
was a broadcast engineer with ABC Television when microprocessors first came
out. They were a solution to a problem we didn't have, but just look at the
little buggers now.

This was before Big Blue, or Jobs and Wozniak's Apple, came on the scene. To
start computer graphics work I had to design and build a graphics card, and
my associate (works for Silicon Graphics now) wrote the paint software,
because there
just wasn't any to buy. Drawing was done with a modified joystick with a
custom interface. No rodents yet. Wow. People would pay to come and touch
it.

Now it's a boat anchor. The bleeding edge of technology. There definitely
will not be a "rangefinder" style resurgence of this thing. I guess what I'm
trying to say is that digital imaging, like photography, has a history. It
is not the "Johnny come lately" that some may believe and has been around in
the visual domain, in many incarnations, for upwards of 20 years now.

The Computer/Photography convergence is very similar to the
Computer/Television convergence of ten
years ago. For those that are disturbed to see the darkroom passing into
history, there are an equal number of audio techs who want the vacuum tube
back. They can also externalise their (good) reasons. Digital starts out
"just doing the dishes", but ends up running the restaurant. Embrace it.
There is no other choice.

BTW, has anyone built a Bokeh action for Photoshop?  I guess the first step
would be to fully describe it. Any takers?

I am new to the Leica system and the LUG has been an excellent
source of information for me.

Regards all
Mike Nicholls
mikenic@cyberone.com.au