I think we take the ubiquity of digital cameras for granted. Sometimes we forget about the technology that existed before this new one. Yesterday I started reading a non-fiction book about mountain climbing. An up and coming climber had the chance to meet another famous climber. Someone pulled out a camera to capture the meeting. Only later did they discover the camera didn't have any film in it. Reading that reminded me of how much easier digital cameras have made our lives.
This morning I read an article about how archeologists are using declassified cold-war satellite photos of the Middle East to find ancient Roman forts and outposts. These finds are changing the way we view the Roman empire. The article went on to discuss how the pictures taken by the satellites made it back to earth. I just assumed pictures were taken using using early digital technology. Nope, they used film and would drop canisters that landed in the Pacific ocean. The US Air Force would then locate the film and pick it up for developing. A lot of the pictures were never found but most made it to analysts looking for something other than traces of ancient civilizations. Now we have satellites that can take a high-resolution photo and transmit the digital image to analysts in a matter of minutes.
Sometimes we look back into the past and reminisce about old technology like vinyl records and long for days of old. When it comes to photography, I prefer the new way. Our lives are greatly enhanced by charge-coupled devices (CCD) which make capturing digital images possible. We can take pictures in very little light without having to slow down shutter speeds to the point of endlessly blurry images. We are no longer relegated to a handful of pictures before having to change film canisters. Most importantly we have technology that makes what used to be mediocre photos look downright amazing. Yes, I like my digital camera. I'd say the only problem is that cameras are everywhere making it easy to get caught when you do something wrong.
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