[PRCo] Deja vu all over again

[Bob Rathke]

The recent discussion of film vs digital photography reminded me of my 1960's-era friend Fred (not Fred Schneider who is another friend).  !960's Fred was the type of person who had to be the first to own the latest electronic gizmo.  Things like:
- A color TV set with a round 19" screen, plus manual controls for Tint and Hue (remember those erratic color control wheels?). Such a TV set cost at least $1,000 in 1964, and the color was anything but natural.

- Later that decade, Fred bought into satellite TV broadcasts.  He needed to order a small crane place a  3 meter (that's nearly 10 ft. in diameter) antenna on his roof.  Seen any dish antennas that size recently?

- Around 1970, he bought a simple 4-function TI calculator.  It was bulky, couldn't fit in a pocket and cost $100.

- In 1971, Fred proudly showed me his new digital wristwatch that cost $300.  It had 1/8" red LED lights that showed the time.  Period.  I told him that it was neat, but that I would wait until they gave away digital watches in cereal boxes.  You know what?  A few years later, I got a free digital watch in a box of Cheerios!

The point of all this?  Gee whiz technology is great, but we need to give it time (albeit shorter and shorter) to evolve. Digital photography is the future, but in 2005 it's not there yet.  Digital camera capabilities will improve and costs will come down.  In the meantime, chemical (film) cameras work just fine.

Bob 9/18/05