Remembering Film Cameras

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. 

Smartphone Camera to the Rescue

Tomorrow the PlayStation 5 will be made available in the United States and I will slowly start migrating all of my game play from the PS4 to the PS5. The PlayStation VR will work with the PS5 but you need an adapter. It is free but you must to request it from Sony. I went through that process this afternoon and discovered I required the serial number of the PSVR. The website does a great job explaining where it is and so I pulled out my reading glasses and headed to get the information.

Unfortunately the older I get, the worse my vision becomes. While I used to be able to read such tiny writing there is no way I could make out the serial numbers even with my glasses. Fortunately I had my phone with me and so I just took a picture of those tiny little numbers on the back of the PSVR control box. Then I zoomed in on the picture and could easily read the numbers. Now my adapter is on the way.

When phones first started getting cameras I thought they were a joke and wouldn't really be that useful. Then I started taking more pictures of spectacular sites simply because I have a camera with me all the time. Now the camera is my go-to device when I need to fill out warranty cards and other services that require serial numbers. Manufacturers always seem to hide them in difficult-to-read places. Just grabbing my phone and snapping a picture is so much easier. No need to hunt down a pen and paper to write the number down. Then when I am done with the picture, I can delete the photo.

Things I am Thankful For

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Generally I don't take the time to write in my blog on Thanksgiving but today I find myself with a bit of extra time by myself. My married kids are spending time with their in-laws and so I find myself alone on this peaceful Thursday. I thought I would write about some of the things I am thankful for. Naturally I am thankful for family and friends but I wanted to highlight some of the technologies that make our lives better.

We live in a marvelous time with a lot of modern conveniences such as refrigerators and microwaves. When I first started spending time on my boat in California almost 10 years ago, I didn't have a lot of these modern conveniences. In fact, my fridge didn't really work that well and I often had food spoil over the weekend. I have since fixed that. I also didn't have a microwave. I do now and use it every morning I stay on the boat. That is how I cook my oatmeal. I also use it to heat up water to clean my breakfast dishes. These are wonderful technological devices that make my life a lot easier.

I am thankful for computers. While they may actually complicate our lives, they do make certain things a lot easier. Connect one to the Internet and you have an infinite source of information. Of course, not all of it can be believed but if you know where to look you can find out anything.

I am thankful for smartphones with cameras. I don't know how we survived in the days before mobile phones. Then they added cameras and now I can take pictures of the beautiful mountain scenes I have experienced every day this week as I have ventured out to do some backcountry skiing. I get to brag a little bit as I send the pictures to my friends back in the Bay Area. I also appreciate being able to look up driving directions and answers to important questions such as if my flight is still on time.

Finally I am thankful for jet planes. Without them I would have to leave the mountains that I love and live full-time in the Bay Area for work. I tell people that the Bay Area is a great place if you are into shopping and good restaurants. It is horrible if you like spending time outside in the mountains. Locals there claim they have mountains but those are really just hills with very limited access. If you like rock climbing and skiing, you have to drive somewhere else or catch a plane.

Yes, there is a lot to be thankful for. Hopefully you are reading this after Thanksgiving and had the time to create your own list of things you are thankful for.

Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas

No I was not subjected to a tradeshow my first week back from vacation but there were several of my coworkers that were. Today a number of them showed up back at the office and gave me a quick rundown of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Last year the show was fairly boring. This year reports are that it was even more boring. I'm not sure if that is a bad thing or if it is good in that I get to hold onto more of my money this year.

The big buzz from the major consumer electronics companies is 4K television. The picture is the equivalent resolution of having 4 HD televisions. That means that when you get close to the screen, you see incredible detail. Unfortunately we are still lacking content for them and so I wouldn't rush right out and buy a 4K television. You also don't see much of difference between HD and 4K when you sit at reasonable distances from the screen.

Another product category making noise this year is wearable devices. There were a number of vendors that had various bracelets that measured calories burned throughout your day. Some of the better ones interact with your smartphone while others can interface with your computer. This seems to be a category that will need a bit of maturity before we see some real leaders.

I was able to watch several press conferences of the CES event and feel that the most innovative technology was in the digital camera space. Sony has their a7 or Alpha 7 camera that does away with the mirror found in most digital SLR cameras. This makes the camera lighter and also allows you to take faster pictures. This is not really necessary for portrait shots, but is critical for capturing the right action ones. CES also showed a number of features from full-featured cameras making their way into our smartphones. There are a number of manufacturers that include cameras with better than 10 megapixels in their phones. We are also starting to see image processing features such as background blur or defocus.

One of the bad things about a show like CES is that a lot of what is shown looks good in a showroom but won't see much use in real life. The hard part is sifting through all of the features and gadgets and trying to predict what will get used. We'll see if any of the things I think are cool gain mainstream adoption.