Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/06/29
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Johnny, One of my work friends is a very senior atmospheric scientist. He's a genius at physics, and he's world famous in his field. When some of our newly minted PhD's get frisky enough to be aggravating ( Can you imagine such a thing? A young, arrogant Ph.D.? ) he just loves pointing out to them that the entire history of twentieth century technology can be understood as nothing more that an elaboration of nineteenth century inventions. ( This isn't really true, of course, but that's not the point of the game.) He then goes on to ask a series of loaded questions - When was electricity "discovered?", When did Edison live?, When was the phonograph invented?, Are there any known recordings of Johannes Brahms playing the piano? WHen was photography invented? When was the speed of light measured? And so forth. I'm sure you get the idea. Those of us who know the drill just love to watch the show. Frequently we join in ourselves. Now, I will be the first to admit that this is all a bit of an over generalization, but it's all done in the spirit of good fun. It does make an important point, and it sure gives the young'uns something to think about. :-) Barney Johnny Deadman wrote: > on 6/28/01 10:55 AM, Mxsmanic at mxsmanic@hotmail.com wrote: > > >> film emulsions have improved to an astonishing degree > > > > And what else? It's still shutter, lens, and aperture. > > so are all cameras, really, digital or otherwise. All the rest is bells and > whistles. > > I can't remember, was it George L who said on this forum that all cameras > are ultimately point and shoot devices, even 4x5? That is SO completely > true. It's the nature of a camera. Point it at something and shoot. If > you're not doing that, then you haven't transferred enough of the technical > details into the other side of your brain yet IMO. > > -- > John Brownlow > > http://www.pinkheadedbug.com > > ICQ: 109343205