Hiya,

Using my manual focus lenses quite a bit recently and, maybe even more so, my manual flash gun from time to time has made me stop and think about the whole analogue digital thing. I don’t necessarily mean the quality of digital vs analogue I’m thinking more about the experience. I’ve readily embraced most modern technology in all my interests but, trying as hard as I can to set nostalgia aside for a moment, there are things that I do miss. Digital gear has made my life simpler in many ways, I can play my digital drums to my heart’s delight with next to no noise and just a pair of headphones on and I can choose from a huge selection of kits for different genres and further customise them to suit my personal taste in a way that I could never afford to do. I can and have talked to other radio amateurs all over the world without having to spend huge amounts of money on transceiver equipment and having to have large external aerials, prone as they are to come crashing down in high winds, sadly I talk from experience 😦 . I still marvel at being able to get 1000 or more images on a tiny memory card and see and work on the images pretty much immediately, I can download music straight to my PC or phone and hear it immediately all of which is more than just a matter of convenience.

However, there are things that I miss, so much of the tech. seems to promote not having to be bothered to learn any theory or, to put it another way an “I don’t care how it does it, it just does it” attitude which I think is a great pity. I appreciate that not everyone wants to get “under the bonnet” and invest any time an effort in learning what makes things tick and how to get the best out of one’s gear and one’s pastimes but it’s something that’s always interested me and the learning process can be incredibly rewarding and relevant. For all of it’s convenience there’s still something enjoyable about slowing down and seeing a shot come into focus or going to a record shop and thumbing through the used (I can no longer afford new) 🙂 “vinyl” on the shelves, spotting an unexpected find and coming away with something in one’s hand. I guess that it’s things like this that have driven the recent trendy revival in film cameras and records decks etc.?.

I’ve tried my best to separate nostalgic feelings from convenience but I’ve found that it can become somewhat detached and soulless if one lets it. Talking of record decks or “vinyl decks” as they’ve now come to be known, I wonder how many people who buy them even take time to understand or bother setting them up correctly so as not to plough furrows in one’s records? or see the arm go skating off of them, I certainly would at today’s ridiculous prices!. in the same way as how many are interested in the exposure triangle and it’s importance in understanding and mastering basic photographic techniques?, how many digital cameras ever come off of full auto mode and/or auto-focus?.

Well, that’s my ten pennies worth 🙂 , we live in a digital world with all of its many advantages and I wouldn’t put the clock back and I’m not dismissing modern technology out of hand much of which has opened up interesting new possibilities but I’m glad that I’m old enough to remember and still savour technology from the analogue world that I grew up in which taught me so much and given me so many enjoyable and rewarding experiences which I feel, on balance, has enriched my life. As a slight aside it’s interesting when I’m out and about with my retro-looking camera gear observing the looks I get from people of different generations, as a generalism, Baby Boomers and Generation X seem to be nostalgically interested in the look of the gear, Millennials/Generation Y seem to think that it looks “cool” and “interesting” whilst Generation Z and even more so, Generation Alpha, largely dismiss it (and probably me) as old and crappy tech. 🙂

Kind regards

Leigh