Amazed at technology!!

[JZaun]

I started in the business machine industry with NCR in 1961. State of the art then was
1. Mutliplication by repeat addition on mechanical parts.
2. Subtraction was by adding compliments.
3. A real computer had tubes and filled multiple rooms.
Then came big change!
Transistors!!! They replaced tubes and that brought computer size down to just 1 room
Our first calcualtor was about 2' x 2' about 10" thick. It did (+) (-) and (x) only.
Then the small scale intergrated circuits came.
1. Calculators were much smaller about 1'X1' 4" thick.
2. Computers became smaller too and were sold to small businesses and only took up 1/2 a room
Then Large Scale intergrated circuits ( the grandfather of what we have today)
1. Calculators became pocket size and functions increased!
2. Computers became dest top units and everyone had one.
3. Computers were so cheap that even refrigerators have one!

What does this have to do with photography? you ask.

The electronics industry, Especailly the business machine industry, made it possible for us to have Digital Cameras.

Just think a minute about the research and technology needed to have 5-16,million light sensitive spots on a sensor in a camera to record the picture seen thru a lens.

After a lifetime in the electronics industry I am still amd AMAZED!!!!

JZ

PS: I think I'll go out with my 20D and use a few of those light sensitive spots

[KevC]

Hehe. This is why I have the utmost respect for engineers

But as a mathematician/physicist (in training, hehehe) I think we're still a tad smarter.

Hahaha just kidding! I love playing with the engineers, they get to have to much fun.

[FlyingPete]

And you 20D probaly has many time the processing power of the vacume tube computer that spanned many rooms!

I have only been in the industry for about 12 years, but I have seem my fair share of upgrades resulting in smaller machines, bank mainframes that take up half a room being replaced by a single rack (old NCR mainframe to new NCR mainframe), several racks of machine being replaced by a 4U server (old HPUX a 9000 I think? to a Quad Xeon box), in both instances with several time the performance.

[PacAce]

Originally Posted by KevC

Hehe. This is why I have the utmost respect for engineers

But as a mathematician/physicist (in training, hehehe) I think we're still a tad smarter.

Hahaha just kidding! I love playing with the engineers, they get to have to much fun.

The mathematicians/physicists look at the world and wonder why things are the way they are. The engineers, on the other hand, look at the world, wonder how they can make things better than they are now and go about make it so.

[GAJulie]

Ok, so I wonder how things will be like in the year 2049? It seems like things are changing very slowly/gradually on a day to day basis, but then again I am only 26. I am sure in 1961 they wouldn't have believed the things we have today. I wish I could look into the furture and see what they will have then! Will I look back and have a gigapixel camera installed in my eyeball that takes a picture when I say "Snap"? Will I look back and say, remember back in the olden days when there were cameras that you had to (fill in the blank) and only (fill in the blanK)?! I already say, "You remember the good old days when you could find gas for 69 cents a gallon!"

Julie

[Skip Souza]

Child, I remember buying gas for 17 cents a gallon. A 7 inch black & white T-V screen in a cabinet as big as an "ice box" (remember those?). T-V programming didn't start until 1500 hours in rural areas, UHF only. 19 inch color T-V $1,000 or more.
A '65 Mustang for $3,200 and a '69 Camaro for $3,500. I was lucky to get 2,000 miles on a set of rear tires.
Man these are the good old days.

[FlyingPete]

Originally Posted by Skip Souza

Child, I remember buying gas for 17 cents a gallon. A 7 inch black & white T-V screen in a cabinet as big as an "ice box" (remember those?). T-V programming didn't start until 1500 hours in rural areas, UHF only. 19 inch color T-V $1,000 or more.
A '65 Mustang for $3,200 and a '69 Camaro for $3,500. I was lucky to get 2,000 miles on a set of rear tires.
Man these are the good old days.

Yep we had a TV shutdown at night until 1995, used to play a cute little goodnight cartoon every evening before shutting down on the two TV channels we had back then!
Fellow kiwi's may remember this:

[Moppie]

It was something special to be allowed to stay up late enough to watch the Kiwi goto bed
Usualy only happened on a saturday.

[Citizensmith]

Originally Posted by PacAce

The mathematicians/physicists look at the world and wonder why things are the way they are. The engineers, on the other hand, look at the world, wonder how they can make things better than they are now and go about make it so.

And then Geologists clean up the mess of contamination all the Engineers left.

Actually the military is far more efficient at leaving massive plumes of methylethyldeath behind than any engineer. Still the Geos that clean it up though.

[KevC]

Originally Posted by PacAce

The mathematicians/physicists look at the world and wonder why things are the way they are. The engineers, on the other hand, look at the world, wonder how they can make things better than they are now and go about make it so.

Very true. Then they hire the mathematicians/physicists to do the work for them

[FlyingPete]

Originally Posted by Citizensmith

And then Geologists clean up the mess of contamination all the Engineers left.

Actually the military is far more efficient at leaving massive plumes of methylethyldeath behind than any engineer. Still the Geos that clean it up though.

Hmmm just spent the day working at a site full of enviromental geologists and scientists, interesting bunch, and they specalise in contamination cleanup.

For the Auckland viewers here, their senior geologist thinks that enviromental contamination will be the least of out worries in the next five years, his money is on us popping a new volcano somwhere on the isthmus(bags not my back yard ), actually he thinks it will be in the harbour somewhere, which can actually be worse than the land due to the heat/water explosive combination.

[Carzee]

Engineers, real stereotype ones, don't solve a problem or redesign or invent something new, or do anything at all, to attract a woman. Show me an unmarried and economically secured but socially ill at ease 35 year old and I'll show you a 'nooclear' engineer.

(The above ignores the existence of modern 'omosexual engineers... because most busy unmarried engineers have not got any spare time to waste on yard sales, boot sales and such, searching out attractive gnomes.)

[tommykjensen]

The most amazing aspect of this is the fact that all electronics works out the very simple concept of 0 (zero) and 1 (one) / off and on .

[Wazza]

Yes, technology never ceases to amaze myself.

Robots are progressing. Just hope they don't become too smart like in i-Robot.

Nice pic Pete. Reminded me of the late eighties, when I had to be in bed at 7:30 or 8:30. And there wasn't such a show as late night tv.

You never know, there could be a large volcano come up at the tip of Whangaparoa, and make the Hauraki Gulf a lake.
Would make an interesting subject to shoot, as every other 1.3 million people are running for their lives.